Protein-Rich Meat-Free Recipes

I am a vegetarian mom with four kids, and a husband who does like meat, but does fine not eating it. Sometimes he will fix a small amount of meat for himself and eat it along with what I fix. If the kids want to eat it that's fine. This is the exception though (maybe once every 1-2 months). It sounds to me like you are doing well with your protein consumption. We eat eggs (local and free range preferably), dairy and some fish. We eat lots of beans in various forms, nuts,and whole grains. I try to put lots of protein and iron rich nuts and flours in my baking too. I like "Feeding the Healthy Vegetarian Family," by Ken Haedrich. One of my family's favorite meals is burritos. These are super fast and easy too (your children may enjoy making them with you). We just use canned refried beans or chili beans. We roll them in tortillas and bake them (covered) for 30-45 minutes at 350. We sprinkle them with some cheddar cheese and bake until the cheese melts. You can serve them with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, peppers,olives, sour cream or yogurt--whatever you like. As an alternative we cook several types of beans or sometimes "Boca meat" and spices, and let everyone choose their own filling for warm tortillas. We don't bake those. Some of us are quite fond of fish tacos also. We also enjoy "baked spaghetti" with whole grain pasta, a good sauce, cottage cheese, topped with mozarella. I also have some sneaky ways to get protein into desserts if you're interested. Hope you can get something out of this. I've gone on much longer than I intended. Good luck!!

1 mom found this helpful

Hi P.,
A friend of mine's daughter decided to become vegetarian so she wrote and published a cookbook titled "What, No Meat?", her name is Debra Poneman. Knowing Debra is probably a good book!
Best of Luck,
S.
http://www.YesToSuccess.net/S.
helping families with health and wealth for over 11 years

1 mom found this helpful

Do you blog or follow blogs? If you have, then what I'm about to say is obvious. If you haven't experienced the blog-life yet, then read on. :)

I recently started blogging (It's in my profile for anyone who wants to see miscellaneous SAHM babble.) and realized there is a wealth of awesome information posted regularly by bloggers. Once you find a site you like, you can go to the links they like and chances are that you'll like those too. For example, I used the google blog search for "blog vegetarian kid" at blogsearch.google.com and came up with http://butdidtheyeatit.blogspot.com/ and from there, chose from many of their favorites (like http://www.greatbigvegchallenge.blogspot.com/ )and from that one, many others. Here's a blog that actually asked for people's opinions of their favorite blogs: http://www.veggiechic.com/blog-roll-clean-up-what-are-you...

What I like about reading blogs is that you find recipes, tips, advice from everyday people who welcome your comments and questions. They give commentary on different recipes and about other aspects of their life. There are blogs for all subjects, hobbies, crafts, life. (I found a cookie one that I absolutely LOVE.) Using Google's RSS reader, I'm able to get notification whenever my favorite blogs are updated. It's very addictive and has given me many smiles along the way. I hope you're able to find something also!

I cook alot from Jessica Seinfeld's book "Deceptively Delicious" My daughter hardly will eat meat. Sometimes chicken or fish. With this she is eating her veggies and not even knowing it.

Hi P.

We are looking for the same thing. No cookbooks yet, but....

We tried tofu 'french fries' this past weekend and she loved them. We marinated 1/2" x 1" tofu strips in diluted Braggs and garlic powder over night. My husband fried them in a regular fry pan until they were crispy. She loves mustard and smothered them in mustard and thought they were oh-so-good.

We recently heard from a dad that they marinate tofu slices in orange juice and fry them. They carmelize because of oj sugar---their daughter loves them.

We may try that as well. Good luck and I will be checking your site.

J.

Hi ~ This might be outside your realm of what you are looking for, but I just published my cookbook called 8 Degrees of Ingredients. It was geared with kids in mind. It is a hypoalleregnic cookbook and includes over 250 recipes that exclude the top 8 allergens (wheat, eggs, milk, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish.)

I realize you may be wondering why I am telling you about it. But in my quest to make desirable, delicious meals for my family, i have discovered all these new grains, like Amaranth, Quinoa, and Buckwheat, for example. The cool thing about these grains is that they are LOADED with minerals and PROTEIN! Unlike wheat and rice that need to be fortified, these grains have naturally higher levels of protein and vitamins.

My book teaches you how to easily incorporate them into your diet, as well as where to find them. Buckwheat noodles, (which are SO good for you) can have a robust flavor, so I suggest using this with a robust sauce. Similarly Amaranth (nicknamed the SuperGRain) has a strong flavor that I mask in my PUmpkin Bread. Quinoa noodles are a great substitute for butter noodles.

Anyhow - it might be worth glancing at my website at www.EightDegreesofIngredients.com. There are recipes for things like Veggie Chili, Hush Puppies, Onion Rings, Veggie Burgers, Spaghetti Oh's, various pasta dishes, Sweet potato cakes, and more. And I slowly teach the user about alternative grains.

I know this is not targeted to Vegetarians, but thought I would just let you know it is out there...Cheers!

penutbutter is high in protien you can get 50/50 reduced suger it is really good um eggs are good and you can by this proteen powder at gnc it is totaly safe you just add it to what ever also have them take b12 and or a multie vitumen I really don't now that meney resaopies godd luck if you find some let me know pleas I don't eat a lot of meat ither only chiken very rarly so yeah hugs G.

I have found quite a few delicious recipes in "The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet" by Nava Atlas. My 3-year-old especially loves Hummus and Shake and Bake tofu.

Another good protein source is for Falafel. There was a recipe in the February 2007 Family Fun magazine. You might be able to find it online at the Family Fun website.

Good luck with your switch.

Hi P.,
Our family is vegetarian. One food your kids might like that is high in protein is seitan, also known as wheat gluten. We use this in many recipes that call for chicken. It is found near tofu in the cooler section of the grocery store. White Wave makes one that we use a lot. As for kid friendly recipes, I would check on-line. We have a 20 month old who is getting to be very picky right now, so we've resorted to more of the staple mac n cheese, PB&J for the time-being, hoping he'll grow out of it.

A good vegan cookbook is Vive le Vegan! The author has 2 small children. Some recipes have a lot of stranger ingredients, but I like it because she doesn't always rely on soy protein. She uses hemp, nuts, etc.

Good luck!

Hello! I am not a vegetarian, but I LOVE Jessica Seinfeld's new cookbook called "Deliciously Deceptive". I know it is the "hot" thing right now, but it is totally awesome! it shows you how to sneak veggies into all kinds of kid friendly food. all you need is a way to steam vegetables, and a food processor. I got a mini-cuisinart for $30, and I LOVE it! I even make my own baby food (I have 8 month-old twins). Anyhow, the cookbook is full of kid-friendly recipes. some have meat in them, BUT you could easily substitute tofu or some other meatless food, or simply leave the meat out. I have made three recipes from the book so far. I let my older children (8,10,12) rate a new meal on a scale from 1-4 stars (but then they aren't allowed to complain anymore). They have given all meals from this cookbook "1 million stars!". Usually, my veggie stir-frys, etc. would get one star. my oldest son said the best thing about the mac and cheese I made was that we didn't have any veggies. little did he know that it was chock full of cauliflower (puree)!!! the meals are kid friendly, healthful, and yummy. check it out! C.

Hi P.,
There is a cookbook called "The Sneaky Chef" that uses beans in chocolate chip cookies as well as other recipes. The cookies are pretty good. The author also gives recipes for sneaking in cauliflower, spinach and other fruits and veggies. I've heard Seinfeld's cookbook uses a lot of the same techniques but I haven't seen it myself.
Good luck!

Have you tried substituting in soy meats? Go to the freezer section and you'll find many options - fake ground meat, sausages, patties, hot dogs... Hubby might not notice a difference if you season it right. :) I also cook with a lot of ground turkey and chicken. I just substitute and don't cook anymore with beef or pork. It's healthier for all of us and easy to get used to.

Meatless spagetti
1 jar organic spagetti sauce (or your favorite)
1 pkg frozen cauliflower & broccoli
1 pkg thin spagetti
heat sauce
boil noodles and last 2-3 minutes add frozen veggies
serve as you would regular spagetti.
This worked really well when I was on the fit for life diet.

Stir Fry
Add almost any veggies you like
heat skillet with 2 tablespoons olive oil
add
broccoli
onions
mushrooms
sugar snap peas
carrots
bok choy
celery
stir all for 3-5 min. until crisp tender
Depending on how big
add
1-2 can cambells chicken broth (this is richer in flavor than most others)
use some of the broth to mix with corn starch to thicken.
Also from the fit for life diet.
This is really good and fast.
Serve over rice or angel hair pasta.

Hope you like these.
B.