How We Are Going Vegetarian With A Toddler
Well. Vegetarian-ish. By now you should know how much I adore a good prime rib and we even considered vegan for a second, but then we remembered how much we really love dairy. Cheese makes me say, “Yes, please!”
I talked a little bit here about my family’s desire to go vegetarian and a few days into it, we are really, really liking the change. With a family history of diabetes (me!) and strokes (my husband!) this is a good move for us. Last night we made burritos with black beans, seasoned rice, and vegetables and Harrison chowed down. Tonight’s dinner plan is black bean burgers, sweet potatoes, and green beans and I admit that my tummy is rumbling already.
After chatting with a few gals on Twitter, it seems to me that a ton of mommas are interested in how to go vegetarian with a toddler. Even embracing it because it means no more fighting over meat texture, which is so common in toddlers. The hard part comes in finding new recipes that your family will embrace — even with that texture change. For example, Harrison isn’t wild about the texture of meat, but switching to eggplant in his spaghetti was a shock. Gone was the weird crumbly stuff that he didn’t care for, but what on earth was this slimy chunk? So it’s like anything related to food and toddlers — lots of patience, lots of frustration — but that’s just life with a three-year-old. Remember that.
-
The good stuff is in bread, too
Bread isn't just carbs and going straight to your hips - it can also be rich in nutrients and fiber and iron, as long as you pick whole-grain carbs.
Photo Credit: Flickr -
Make sure he's getting enough Vitamin C
Vitamin C helps the body absorb iron and with the lack of meat in your diet, you'll need more to help with the absorption of plant-based iron. It's not a big deal - just be sure he's getting an orange as a snack, or tomato sauce on his spaghetti, or even a little juice in a cup for the really picky kid.
Photo Credit: Flickr -
Sneak the veggies in
Do a mix of HEY, VEGGIES! on the plate and hiding them. Chop up carrots into spaghetti, but also serve a side salad. Blend spinach into a smoothie, but serve green beans with supper. Need to make it more appetizing? Toss a few mini-marshmallows on his sweet potato, or a little butter on his corn.
Photo Credit: Flickr -
Watch dairy intake
Milk can be an amazing source of calcium, Vitamin D, protein, etc. but be careful that he's not drinking TOO much. You don't want him filling up on milk and skipping dinner.
Photo Credit: Flickr -
Serve stuff he likes
No-brainer, right? Hold off on the fancy tofu dinner and serve spaghetti with meatless meatballs. Make burritos with rice and beans. Make potato soup in the crock pot and keep the orzo and bleu cheese stuffed tomatoes for date night in.
-
Go vegetarian-ish
Still worried about protein and iron? Serve meat occasionally. It's okay if you're not 100% in (we certainly are not!). Any little bit you do to reduce animal product intake helps the planet and your arteries.
Photo Credit: Flickr
More from BA:
Quit letting Chick Fil A raise your kid. (please)
Beth Anne writes words & takes pictures at Okay, BA! You can also find her on the Twitters & Facebook.
My kids (4 & 2) eat a mostly vegetarian diet because I don’t eat meat so there’s no way in hell that I’m cooking it. I’ve told my husband that he can cook the meat if he wants to eat it, but he chooses not to and says that he doesn’t even miss it. The only meat they really eat is from restaurants, and even then they don’t always choose meat dishes. I guess it might be hard going from a family that serves meat at every meal to one where there isn’t much served, but my experience has been that the kids don’t even notice or care if they have it at their meal or not. I would suggest doing some research on soy, though, before you start making tofu for your family or serving soy-based meat alternatives. Good luck!
Oh for the love of baby Jesus in a manger – do NOT encourage “tossing a few mini marshmallows on his sweet potato” to make the SWEET potato more enticing. It’s already perfectly sweet naturally and does not need artificially flavored corn syrup/sugar/gelatin CRAP to make it better. This is why America is fat. PS marshmallows are made with gelatin, which is made from the by product that comes from boiling animal bones. Gross. I know you’re not into going all vegetarian or vegan,but still, that is nasty, especially if you’re trying to serve more healthy dishes and lean vegetarian. The key to your toddler learning to like veggies? Start from the BEGINNING. My 2 year old loves broccoli more than I do and asks for Brussels sprouts(which I can take or leave) because when he started eating solid food, he got what we were having. Not chocolate milk, captain crunch, and fast food chicken nuggets. He has a 2 year old moment and won’t eat dinner? Fine. He doesn’t eat dinner. He gets hungry later? We reheat what we had set out for his dinner earlier….and he eats it,because by then he realizes he is hungry and dinner is what it is. But overall, this is a kid who asks for green beans as a snack, and I believe it’s because he has been presented with real food from the beginning, unadorned with artificial ingredients. If you do the marshmallow thing with your family, fine, but the problem I have is that it is being presented as sound advice for other families.
I have no real issue with your pat of butter on corn, however, so long as it is real butter from a sustainable source. There is a member of my extended family who sets out the stick of butter and actually rolls her corn cob in it every few bites. That is when butter becomes an issue.
@Hannah, that’s awesome that your kid likes veggies. Really! I’m not being sarcastic when I say that I am really, really happy for you that you have a good eater.
But I’m also a firm believer that picky kids are often times just…picky kids. There are some of us who can tell their kid to just not eat dinner & five days later, he hasn’t eaten. I know that’s probably hard to understand until you have a picky eater, but it’s completely true. My kid would starve before he ate something he didn’t like, & that’s coming from a kid that did a mostly baby-led weaning introduction to food. He’ll eat green beans straight out of a can, but would die before he ate a sweet potato unless I made it “friendly” to him. Tossing 2-3 mini marshmallows on a sweet potato? Not the end of his dietary universe.
For example, my family that I grew up in – three kids, all raised the same way with the same food. I’ll pretty much try anything. My oldest brotherwent to bed starving most nights, was thin as a beanpole, & was almost thirty before he had mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, etc. Picky kids? Not always made.
Lillian, I’m definitely not a fan of soy! That’s the main reason we won’t go vegan – I need my milk & cheese that is dairy-based!
Anyone have any good recommendations for websites or resources for kid-friendly vegetarian meals? I’d love to cut out a good chunk of our meat-centered meals, but my 3yo doesn’t like black beans (which I know are a big protein source for veggie diets) and I’m really not wild about tofu, either.