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My tween is now a vegetarian

July 29, 2015

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?

Vegetarian food for my tween

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:

  • Veggiemama
  • VegeTARAian
  • Naturally Ella
  • Meat Free Mondays

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:

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Anything quiche
Prep time:  25 mins
Cook time:  45 mins
Total time:  1 hour 10 mins
Serves: 6
 
This is known as anything quiche because you can add anything you want! Add any ingredients you have in the fridge and voila - dinner is served.
Ingredients
  • 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!
Instructions
  1. Heat the olive oil in a deep, heavy based fry pan that can be transferred to the oven.
  2. 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.
  3. Turn on the oven to 180 degrees.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Cook it for around 30-40 minutes or until golden on top.
  7. Enjoy with a green salad.
3.3.3077

Quiche

 

Do you have a vegetarian tween? What is your go-to meal?

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Ten things I love about tweens

July 15, 2015

It’s so easy to look at the changing face of our tweens, the seeming demise of our relationship with them or to focus on the mood swings from both the boys and girls. It is easy to concentrate on the negative.

But, there are so many positive aspects to the changes in our little humans as they move from childhood to the tween stage.

Tweens can drive us crazy

Inspired by a recent viewing of one of my all time favourite flicks, Ten Things I hate About You, I’ve formulated a list of the things I love about this phase*:

  • The independence. Whilst it’s difficult to let go and watch your children want to fly solo from the family nest, it also means that as parents, we gain more free time. WIN!
  • The strong sense of style. Miss11 knows what she likes and will finally – FINALLY – take care of the clothes she loves.  They are the only pieces not in her floordrobe.
  • The love of sleep. This is something I never anticipated in a household where the children wake at 6am despite what time they go to bed – yes, even on New Years Day.
  • The understanding of consequences. My nephew is a keen sportsman, and since moving into the tween years he has really taken to caring for himself with the understanding that it will help him on the field and on the court. Although this one doesn’t help with hygiene unfortunately, that doesn’t kick in until the late teen years I believe!
  • Keener knowledge of the value of a dollar. Now this is one of my favourite things! Miss11 now asks for chores and offers to ‘babysit’ so she can earn a few extra dollars to buy something that Zoella recommended on Youtube.
  • A new love of grooming. Whilst this doesn’t always equate to hygiene (see above) I’ve noticed that the grooming dial has been turned up significantly.  Her hairbrush has never seen so much action!
  • An inquisitive mind. Although I’ve enjoyed every stage with my kids for different reasons, and they’ve always been inquisitive, things have changed in the tween years.  We can talk about world events, politics and religion and her thirst for knowledge seems to have grown.
  • The subtle love. We went through a short stage of me insisting on ‘lips and noise’ when my tween would begrudgingly wave her pursed lips somewhere near my cheek for a kiss. I insisted that a kiss must include both lips on my cheek plus noise.  Now we’re past that and although she’s not overtly affectionate, I notice the subtle love.
  • Sharing books. We have a rule in this house that we have to read the book before seeing a movie.  Paper Towns is the latest. The tween phase means that we can now share certain books and then chat about them. You all know about my love of reading so this is one of my favourite things I love about my tween.
  • The arguing. Now stay with me on this one, it’s not the arguments per se, but the fact that she comes up with such clever defences to her stuff ups. My tween often has me in stitches or having to agree with her when she justifies certain behaviours with a valid or humorous defence.

Next time your tween is driving you batty, take a deep breath and remember that it is these things that test us, that will also shape them to be strong, competent adults.

*remember it IS a phase, this too shall pass!

 

What’s one thing you love about your tween?

 

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    Meet the Life with Tweens team

    Meet the Life with Tweens team

    Kim, Renee and Caro are parents living with a primary-schooler, a handful of Tweens, the odd Teen, seven dogs, six fish, two cats and a fat rabbit. Each day is an adventure, to say the least.

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