Seven months ago my tween announced she was vegetarian.
I had two choices – support her decision or make a joke of it in the hope she would ‘grow out of this phase’. I chose the former.
It seems the tween years are fraught with ginormous decisions by little humans. It doesn’t feel like they’re ready to walk to school by themselves let alone decide on their dietary requirements, does it?
Together my tween and I investigated the recipes and options, and I have to say we have eaten some mighty tasty meals as a family in our quest to ensure she is getting all of the required nutrients a growing girl needs. In fact, my son and I have shifted from eating meat-free a couple of nights a week to only eating red meat one night per week. So whilst we’re not all vegetarian, it’s certainly a health win all round!
There was one small change my tween made (which I am not ashamed to admit I’m chuffed about) and that is from vegetarian to pescatarian after a couple of weeks. Miss tween has not touched red meat since January, but she does eat fish. For a child who won’t eat mushrooms and only has eggs sparingly, it’s quite a relief to be able to serve her salmon, tuna and fish fillets occasionally. She’s not into other seafood, but even the option of three protein-rich foods makes the whole process simpler.
At the beginning, her ideals were a little lax. As she’s done more research into the treatment of animals she is particular about the type of stock used in meals and whether or not our eggs are free range. And when I say free range, we buy them from a farmer.
I’ve found a few websites that have great veg meals which we all love. Here’s my list of go to blogs:
The number one meal in our house for any time I’m trying to whip together a quick veg feed after a busy day at work is Anything Quiche. We’ve had several versions of it over the last few years, depending on what’s in the fridge:
- ¾ cup of self raising flour
- 3 eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup of milk
- 1 cup grated cheese
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cups of anything else you want - I add broccoli/onion/carrot/zucchini/chives/red capsicum/corn/salmon/ANYTHING!
- Heat the olive oil in a deep, heavy based fry pan that can be transferred to the oven.
- Cook off the onion, veggies and whatever else you want to put into the quiche for about 5 minutes or until they start to turn slightly golden.
- Turn on the oven to 180 degrees.
- In a bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the milk and continue to whisk. Slowly add the flour and beat it through until thoroughly mixed. Finally fold through half the cheese then pour it over the cooked veggies still in the fry pan on the heat.
- Continue cooking the mixture for about 8 minutes on a low-medium heat or until it starts to separate from the sides of the fry pan. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the quiche and put it in the oven.
- Cook it for around 30-40 minutes or until golden on top.
- Enjoy with a green salad.
