Lunch Ideas for Toddlers??

[Nova]

Hi...I know there are increasing numbers of vegetarians in here and wondered if any of them had small kids? What do you feed them for lunches? My son just turned one last week and eats practically everything, but I took him to the doctor yesterday and he is in a low percentile for weight - not anything serious. The doctor knows that we are vegetarians...I dont eat any dairy, but eat fish sometimes, although I give my son cheese and yogurt. He refuses cow's milk, but loves vanilla soy milk. I try and look up recipes but they are all "low-fat"!! Does anyone have any ideas besides the boring peanut-butter and jelly or grilled cheese sandwiches?? I tried in a Vegetarian Parents site to ask this, got chewed out cause I eat fish, and let my child eat fish and dairy...so imagine the help I got there. I hope you are nicer in here?!?!

[lindrusso]

Originally posted by Nova:
Hi... I tried in a Vegetarian Parents site to ask this, got chewed out cause I eat fish, and let my child eat fish and dairy...so imagine the help I got there. I hope you are nicer in here?!?!

Don't you wish people would just be helpful instead of pushing their agendas and alienating everyone???!!!

I didn't eat meat (I do now - long story) for about 9 years, but did eat fish and dairy also. I didn't raise my kids vegetarian, but we did find a few things along the way that they like when they tried what I was eating.

None of these are spectacularly creative, just ideas to throw out there. What about tuna fish? My son loves it with saltine crackers.

Beans and rice? I used to make a quick and simple dish by using a can of vegetarian baked beans, some cooked brown rice and some shredded cheddar cheese - just mix it all together and heat it up. Looks really gross, but packed with nutrition and protein and it holds together pretty well for those little fingers. Or maybe a vegetarian fried rice with peas (or would these still be a choking hazard for him?), egg, and assorted other veggies. I have a good recipe if you're interested.

Have you tried giving him tofu yet? Being vegetarian yourself, I'd imagine you have.

A homemade mac & cheese? Or noodles with butter?

One other thing my kids love are those Morningstar Breakfast Patties - little sausage-like patties made of veggie protein. Not technically a "lunch" item, but no reason you couldn't serve them at lunch. And there are many other meat-like veggie products out there - "chicken" nuggets, etc.

My boys are 6 and 3, and it's already hard for me to remember what's appropriate for a one year old. Hope this at least got your mind thinking about some ideas. Good luck and everyone is VERY nice on this board!!!


[This message has been edited by lindrusso (edited 09-12-2000).]

[Missi]

Nova,

I really don't have any suggestions for you because I don't have any children (yet!), but I wanted to welcome you to the board and let you know that we welcome ANYONE with ANY questions! So I hope that you will be a regular on the board, and I'm sure lots of others who DO have children will help with your question! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif Missi

[Beth]

My son loves bean and cheese quesadillas. Just spread refried or mashed beans on one half of a tortilla, sprinkle with grated cheese and cook in a pan or on a griddle until the tortilla starts to lightly brown.

Maybe I'm stuck on chili, even though its still 100 degrees here, because I keep seeing all this Halloween and fall stuff, but vegetarian chili is good and can be made mild, and even served with rice or pasta.

The peanutty noodles that we've talked about here would be good, and I've seen another noodles with peanut sauce that has tofu added. What about cheese-filled ravioli or tortellini? Tuna-noodle casserole? CL also had a recent recipe for zuchinni with ricotta and pene pasta that was a veg. entree. Lots of soup and stew possibilities with fall approaching (see the minestrone thread). I'm not vegetarian, but I hope that helps.

[Gail]

I am hesitant to make suggestions since every kid's tastes are different, but for what it's worth, my kid has loved beans and rice since he was very small. You might also check a web site I suggested for another mother: http://www.epicurious.com/e_eating/e02_kids/kidmain.html There are a couple of recipes from Mollie Katzen which got rave reviews from parents of small children.

Good luck!

[This message has been edited by Gail (edited 09-13-2000).]

[Nova]

THANK YOU...all who have responded. (A special one to Lindrusso.) I feel better now. Those were all great suggestions and I am going to try some out. He does eat tofu, but never tried tuna fish....thats a thought...I dont like it, so never buy it! And thank you for the website idea. I will look it up today. Hopefully we can put a few pounds on this boy!

[karen w]

Nova, I have three kids(4, 3, and 13 mo.) Pasta seems to go well with all of them. You can try different sauces and add soft vegetables for the 13 mo. old. They also enjoy pancakes for lunch and dinner, too. You can have fun with these by adding thin slices of fruit to the pancakes(apples or bananas are good) or mixing fruit, raisins etc... into the batter. If you opt to give your child meat or fish, I like making my own fish sticks, chicken fingers, and meatballs for my kids. I use orange roughy for the fish since its firm and mild tasting. For meatballs, simmer in broth for 13 mo. old so it does not get a hard skin. You can make them in a big batch, freeze individually on a cookie tray, and then keep in ziploc bag in the freezer to take out whenever you need.

[Beth]

First, I apologize: I had it stuck in my mind that your son was 3. That makes a diference, and some of what I wrote last night may not be appropriate for a younger child (I can't remember whether they say kids can have peanut butter after one year or 2, but the peanutty noodles are not too spicey...my 4 yr old liked them). It's so hard to tell with kids (my son ate soup like crazy as a toddler, but won't at all now).

The pizza post here made me think of pizza also, with lots of cheese and veggie options, and lots of ways to make the crust a lunch-time quickie (even English muffins).

Baked potatoes might be an idea to consider. You could also use smoothies as a more potent beverage or snack instead of plain juice, fruit or yogurt. Do you eat eggs? Some kids love scrambled eggs or omlettes. Of course, mine won't even think about touching them. Best of luck to you both.

[Terri-Lynn2]

Hi Nova,

I have a 2 1/2 year old and he is just beginning to eat meat now, he finds it very hard to chew. I have always made homemade soups filled with every vegetable I can think of. I always include lots of pasta or rice or sometimes both. We also make different soups that include tofu in them. We also relied heavily on Chinese Congee (a cross between soup and cream of wheat) ,if you would like me to post a recipe for it I would be glad to.

If your child eats fish you could open canned salmon and mix with mayonaise and spread on a tortilla with a cut up pickle in the middle. You can use other fillings but this is my sons favorite lunch, I then cut it into small rounds.

One last thought is that I leave out small bowls of food during the day for my son to munch on he doesnt always eat that well at meal time but loves to munch throughout the day on Muffins I've made, fruit and veggies, cheese and crackers and any other finger food I can think of. They do much better eating throughout the day then just eating breakfast and lunch.

I Hope this helps, its not easy thinking about foods that are easy for them to eat at that age. We are always on the lookout for new ideas, but we were lucky our boys are both in the 95 percentile for height and weight, the only thing is I think they are going to eat us out of house and home!!!!

Terri

[sozo]

Hi Nova~
One person mentioned smoothies, and I'm a big fan of them. My 3-1/2 year old has always loved them. I make them with either soy milk or juice, tofu or soy protein powder, a spoon of sugar, and frozen fruit to make it icy cold and slushy. You can buy bags of already frozen fruit, or do your own. Favorites here are strawberries, mangoes, grapes, bananas and pineapple. I've even heard of banana and peanut butter smoothies if you want to pack in some more calories. And if your child looks and acts healthy, don't worry about his percentile. Somebody has to fill in the bottom half of that chart in order for others to be on the top! ~Grace

[bijoux22]

My son just turned 2 and one of his lunch time favs is YOBABY organic yogurt, fruit and graham crackers. The yogurt is the full fat version.

[jillr]

I recently found this recipe in a parents mag. I think my 3 y.o. and my 1 1/2 y.o. will like it, I'll try it soon.

Spread cream cheese on a tortilla
Thinly slice bananas and strawberries
Place the fruit on the cream cheese
Roll up the tortilla

Something that works well for both my little people is thick soups. I have a Lentil soup that was originally a CL recipe. I make it thicker and without chicken. One of the great things about soups is that you don't have to worry about how many teeth a toddler does or doesn't have. Another advantage is the option to add veggies, rice or pasta.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

[Nova]

Hello everyone!! Boy...this is great! I'm glad I asked in here. Your ideas are wonderful. I tried to give him some quesadilla today with black beans...of course he didnt like the cheese, but he did eat the beans and some avocado. Thank you all again for your help. Terri-lynn - I would like to see that recipe for Congee...It sounds interesting. And Grace aka Sozo, do you have a recipe for smoothies that you could post? I would just like to know the proportions of tofu and fruit you use. This might help with getting extra fat into him. I'm not really worried at this point, since the doctor doesnt seem to be. He is in the 95% for height, but only 10% for wieght..so he looks like a bean pole!! But he eats all day, so I dont know. I also still breastfeed him twice a day too, and that has lots of fat in it. He is really active, though. He was walking at 11 months. Thank you again everyone for your suggestions! They are appreciated.

[robinf]

Carrying the rice and beans/chili to the next step, my daughter (Jordana, now 3 1/2) always loved nachos. I used to put a single layer of baked chips on a plate, cover with veggie chili (some of the canned ones are actually pretty good) sprinkle on some cheese - soy or cow - and nuke for a few seconds. The chips get a liitle soggy which is good for kids and are fun to eat.

Another of our favorites is avocado. It was on Jordana's first solids. She liked it either in slices or mushed up like quacomole. I never tried it but I bet you could crumble of some baked tofu in it for extra protein.

Do you eat eggs? Omlettes are good for lunch. I make faces with veggies, cheese shreds, fruit and the like on the top to encourage eating.

It may be too early yet but how about veggie lunch meats? Yves' veggie pepperoni doesn't last long in our house!

Are you familiar with Mothering Magazine? It often has great articles on raising a vegetarian family

At her highest, Joradana was only in the 10th percentile for weight, and was often lower. Since I have battled my weight all my life, I try very hard to NOT get crazy about how much she eats. It can be a hard balance. It sounds like you are doing a good job!

[Beth Y]

I have a 2 year old, who, luckily eats anything. Like your child, she is on the small side and I also wonder, as she seems to eat plenty! My doctor is a bit old school and says as long as she is eating and healthy, don't worry about it.

On the whole, as she is 2, she is eating what we eat (which is largely CL recipes). But the things I gave her before are cottage cheese (in the little 4 packs, she loves them); "Wonderdog" tofu dogs, cut up, scrambled egg; Boca's new soy "chicken fingers"; Boca burgers with cheese melted on top, cut up; any type of soup, particularly cream soup; Yobaby yogurt (her favorite, as someone above said it is full fat and decadent for adults but great for kids, Stoneyfield also makes a version, but she calls it all Yobaby!); Psghetti (or something like that.. it comes in cans at our local Whole Foods grocery, it is canned spaghetti with either no meat or TVP, she loves it and I would think it would be soft enough for a 1 year old).

I know these are largely conveinence foods, but, as I am sure you know, kids often can't wait until everyone else eats and it is nice to fix them something good for them, but quick to make, before they start that fussy thing.

Good luck.

[Terri-Lynn2]

Hi Nova,

I will try this again I have been experiencing some problems with the BB. I am glad that you got such great suggestions! I really liked the smoothie idea and when I typed it into my search engine I got a whole slew of web sites but I really liked these 2 and thought that I would pass them along.
http://soar.berkeley.edu/recipes/beverages/smoothies/

and
http://www.quiknet.com/~mpenwell/smoothie.html

Here is the congee recipe as well:

CONGEE:

1/2 c. uncooked white rice
1 large stem of broccoli, flowers only cut small
1/2 cauliflower, tops only cut small
1 carrot, shredded
1/2 tsp salt

Wash and drain the rice and let stand for 30 minutes. Place drained rice, salt and veggies in a pot and add 2 1/2 cups of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and continue cooking for 40 minutes. Cook until water thickens and rice becomes heavy and soft.

Variation: You can make with other veggies such as presoaked chinese mushrooms and Bok Choy. But this is harder to chew for the little ones.

Could also be made with meat.

Terri

[sozo]

Sorry, but I don't follow a recipe for my smoothies. I just use whatever fruits I have on hand, and then decide whether milk or my current juice flavor would taste better with the fruit. For my son, who is 3-1/2, I start with almost a cup of liquid. If I'm using tofu, I would guess I use about 4oz. If I'm using protein powder, I use about half a scoop. (Side note: My favorite is Energy from Nature's Plus--it's full of vitamins and extra stuff, and it makes the shakes really creamy w/o tasting like spackle.) Then 1/2 to 1 cup of fruit. If you use fresh (not frozen) banana, don't use more than half of one because they make the shake really thick. A blender is necessary to puree the fruit well and make it frothy. This makes a lot, probably 12-14oz., so you may want to halve it. CL had a good smoothie recipe a few months ago--maybe Tropical Tofu Smoothie? It was in the article where they followed a woman through a busy day and showed how you could still eat right and exercise. Hope this helps.