My daughter (aged 12) came home Friday and announced she was a vegetarian.

C

carianna-in-wa

Well-known member
Not vegan, which would make things extremely complicated, but still there will need to be some changes and additions made for as long as this is what she wants. We're being supportive as long as she's willing to eat some things that she didn't previously.

What are some of your favorite vegetarian cookbooks?

 
I'm not wild about any of the vegetarian cookbooks around.I have great recipes though, so just ask.

 
I still use Molly Katzan's "The Enchanted Broccoli Forrest," though it may be a bit dated.

She's published others since. Her first book was the "Moosewood Cookbook," which was based on her experience working at the Moosewood Restaurant. Later, the restaurant put out their own books.

I think you might find a lot of ideas in Mediterranean cookbooks. So many of the traditional recipes are vegetarian or vegan.

 
At 12 years old, this is a great time for her to learn how to cook. Vegetarian resources:

I love Heidi from 101 Cookbooks. She's vegetarian, her recipes work and she's penned two books. Her site is a treasure trove of recipes.

2 book recommendations: The Moosewood Collective and Passionate Vegetarian. Both books cover a wide range of options and alternatives. Moosewood was my first cookbook and I consider it very approachable. Same with Passionate Vegetarian.

Deborah Madison is another vegetarian author, but for some reason, I can't get into her books.

Annie Summerville's Greens is a popular book. Again, for some reason I can't get into it.

If your daughter likes Indian food, which is mostly vegetarian, I find Julie Sahani's "Classic Indian Cooking" indispensable.

 
Mark Bittman's books are skimpy on directions and assume you already know how to cook.

 
You know, I love your daughter already smileys/smile.gif. I have a ton of vegetarian cookbooks,

But I find myself using recipes from vegetarian blogs more often. Like veggie num num, a site which has great recipes.

I eat vegetarian while DH doesn't, so I try to flex my dinners around one theme for both of us.

I make spinach lasagna for me, regular lasagna for him: I use the same tomato sauce and bechamel sauce for both lasagnas. It saves a lot of work.

Also, I substitute lentils (green or red) for minced meat, bits of Quorn instead of chicken ( it's made of muschrooms ) or I use mushrooms instead of meat in dishes. Most of the time, this works wonderful.
In the beginning, I made separate dinners for me and my DH, but life just got too busy and there was no way I could spend hours in the kitchen every day.

BUT, my DH is a great sport and he'll eat a vegetarian dinner if he's served one. Therfore, once or twice a week we'll have vegetarian dinners. Then we'll eat vegetable soup, pasta with tomato sauce and roasted vegetables and pancakes (- we eat crepe pancakes for dinner with blueberry jam smileys/smile.gif

As the summer seasom is approaching, we'll barbeque more. Hamburgers are so easy. You just substitute the burger with home made bean burgers (beans are also a great substitute for meat in soups and stews.). Also, vegetable skewters are great served with rice and a light sauce like tatziki or salsa.

I try not to use too many soy products or meat substitutes, so I often eat falafel. Falafel can be eaten with salad in a pita bread, you can eat them with taco vegetables in a soft taco bread, or just served with rice and a tomato sauce.

Quiches and pies are easy too. Just make a large spinach and cheese pie or a mushroom pie, and freeze the leftovers in single portion packs. That way you can just re-heat pie for her when you are cooking meat or fish for the rest of the family.

Just remember that she will need to take a B12 supplement, as she won't get that from meat anymore and it's difficult to get enough B12 vitamines through a vegetarian diet. Since she is so young and still growing, she should probably take a multi vitamine every day just to make sure she gets everything she needs.

Good luck with your young vegetarian smileys/smile.gif

 
Carianna, she's blessed to have a Mom who can cook and understands...

...that eating a healthy vegetarian diet is more than just cutting out animal proteins -especially for growing kids.

We've seen two families in our circle struggle with getting their vegetarian children to eat responsibly with regard to getting the nutrients their bodies need to grow properly and stay healthy. Both have had to resort to fish and chicken to "supplement" their diets.

Michael

 
I enjoy the moosewood cookbooks as well as Bert Greene's cookbook.

I have Greene on Greens and Greene on Grains. Nice recipes. Easy and flavorful.

Nice of you to support her. I have a few others, including a vegetarian Italian cookbook, but the one's above are the one's I actually use, vs. peruse.

Best,

Barb

 
At 12, they can change their mind weekly so you are good to respect her decisions

It is also a healthy way to eat and even if she goes back to eating meat, she will have discovered there are other healthy choices and it will broaden her food experience. Definitely get her in the kitchen making the dishes and explore new recipes with her - it can be a great bonding time!

 
You're getting excellent advice, as usual, here so I won't go there. But I'm

just curious as to why she made this decision. Do you know?

 
Well, of course. That's a given. But she's been raised by fine parents

who I'm sure have encouraged her to think. I'm curious if there is something that triggered it. Of course she'll change her thinking in many ways over time.

 
At 12 she should be able to cook her own food if what is being served is not to her liking. That's

what we did as kids; if we didn't like the meal we were free to cook ourselves an egg. Then she could eat any veggies being served.

 
I think every one of us could stand to eat less meat and more veggies.. I'm not a vegetarian

and I don't like forbidding anything, but it's good for a family to have alternate recipes in the repertoire.

Less meat cab be healthier, less expensive and easier on the environment.

 
Having done this myself, please make your daughter responsible for

keeping track of her protein.

I decided one bright and sunny day to become a vegetarian and 10 months later ended up at the doctors because of weakness.

Turns out I was eating hardly any protein, just potatoes or canned corn or bread and that was a problem.

Agree to your daughter's wish ('cause she's going to do it anyway) but ask that she be responsible for charting her daily vegetarian protein because you love her and you don't want her to end up at the doctors like a friend you know.

Instead of just avoiding meat, it will become a learning process and a challenge to learn about "vegetarian protein". She'll learn how to combine beans with grains to create a "complex protein" that is as good for you as meat or fish protein and use quinoa for a protein meal when her friends won't even know what the word means.

You might want to check on soy levels for a girl her age. I'm not sure if that will impact her hormonal level.

 
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