Changing diet for

[Guest guest]

Hi, I'm MichelleG (aka SavarnaRose). I'm in the Memphis, TN area. I have two

children at home - 13 yob and 7 yog. My oldest 18 yob lives with my parents

while going to college. Now when the heck did he get that grown up? He'll

always be my little blond bundle of energy!

 

I am a very new vegetarian. I will probably eventually go vegan, if I can

find some decent cheese recipes!

 

My family is not crazy about this change. I figure since I do 99% of the

cooking, they don't have much choice . I will be cooking some meat dishes,

I can't see how to completely avoid it. I am going to ease them into it more

I tend to jump into things feet first, so I almost make two meals some

nights.

 

My 13 yo son is very anti-vegetable. He does not eat ANY veg. He only eats

bananas and sometimes apples if they are in a recipe (like oatmeal) and not

too chunky. Most meals he eats the starch (pasta or potatoes usually) and

the meat. He's not that crazy about beans. He started eating them because

they " make you fart. " What can I say, he's a boy. They can be a little weird

.

 

Strangely enough he likes V-8 juice.

 

So, any ideas? He's a bit old for very much of the hiding vegetables trick.

He'll sniff them out immediately! I may be able to sneak some pureed veggies

into spaghetti sauce.

 

DH is not much better!

 

I'm also looking for some lunchbox ideas for my daughter. She's not all that

crazy about meat anyway, but you have to be careful about adding new things

I have explored the Vegan Lunchbox site. Schmoo is one lucky kid!

 

I wanted to mention a website that I love so far. The Low-Budget Vegetarian

http://www.lbveg.com.

 

Thanks!

 

SavarnaRose

" Daughter of the Sea "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi there!

I've had good luck putting blended carrots in cakes (one big carrot can

substitute one of the eggs in a 2-3 egg cake, cut in pieces, then blended with

the wet ingredients), and chopped veggies with soy sauce (to turn them brown) in

veggie burgers. We are vegan, but my friend makes her burgers with half TVP

(dried soy bits) and half ground meat.

Good luck!

Lynnea

 

SavarnaRose <savarnarose wrote:

Hi, I'm MichelleG (aka SavarnaRose). I'm in the Memphis, TN area. I

have two

children at home - 13 yob and 7 yog. My oldest 18 yob lives with my parents

while going to college. Now when the heck did he get that grown up? He'll

always be my little blond bundle of energy!

 

I am a very new vegetarian. I will probably eventually go vegan, if I can

find some decent cheese recipes!

 

My family is not crazy about this change. I figure since I do 99% of the

cooking, they don't have much choice . I will be cooking some meat dishes,

I can't see how to completely avoid it. I am going to ease them into it more

I tend to jump into things feet first, so I almost make two meals some

nights.

 

My 13 yo son is very anti-vegetable. He does not eat ANY veg. He only eats

bananas and sometimes apples if they are in a recipe (like oatmeal) and not

too chunky. Most meals he eats the starch (pasta or potatoes usually) and

the meat. He's not that crazy about beans. He started eating them because

they " make you fart. " What can I say, he's a boy. They can be a little weird

.

 

Strangely enough he likes V-8 juice.

 

So, any ideas? He's a bit old for very much of the hiding vegetables trick.

He'll sniff them out immediately! I may be able to sneak some pureed veggies

into spaghetti sauce.

 

DH is not much better!

 

I'm also looking for some lunchbox ideas for my daughter. She's not all that

crazy about meat anyway, but you have to be careful about adding new things

I have explored the Vegan Lunchbox site. Schmoo is one lucky kid!

 

I wanted to mention a website that I love so far. The Low-Budget Vegetarian

http://www.lbveg.com.

 

Thanks!

 

SavarnaRose

" Daughter of the Sea "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

It may be very hard to go " cold turkey " with your family. I would be

very careful about thinking they have to eat what I make....because it

could turn into a power struggle instead of an adventure. It would be

a shame to hear stories 5 years from now like " remember when you tried

to make us vegetarian mom? " .

 

I think you should try very slowly adding new foods to the diet without

taking things away to show your family that they can enjoy new foods

without sacrificing the things they already like. Then over time you

can slowly eliminate things because people will not notice with the new

filling vegetarian dishes you serve.

 

Also, have you considered introducing " ethnic " style foods omitting the

meat options. Like... " hey kids lets eat mexican tonight....I love

bean burritos mmmmmmm " .

I make so many vegetarian mexican type dishes, my husband, the

carnivore, will often go an entire week or two as a vegetarian and not

even think about it.

 

Get the children excited about cooking. Buy some things you have never

tried and include them in the cooking of the new thing. Say hey we are

going to try XYZ tonight, what an adventure, then ask them what they

liked or did not like. You have to be enthusiastic about everything.

I would not let them know of anything you do not like....it will just

color their judgement.

 

Anyway, good luck!

Diana

 

 

>

 

[Guest guest]

You've got your work cut out, Savarna Rose. Does your son like veggie burgers?

You can

jazz them up with tomato, lettuce, etc. and instead of french fries, try tempura

veggies.

They're not too difficult and hey, it's fried! My pediatrician once told me,

when my oldest was

a toddler and ate NO veggies, that as long as they eat a variety of fruit, you

don't need to

worry too much. Fruit has a lot of the same nutritional content as veggies,

including the

fiber. But it IS time to develop that pallette. Good luck!

Jill