Whether you are a novice vegetarian or a seasoned vegetarian who has just started out with feeding hungry kids, you’ll need some simple and easy ideas that allow you to create a hearty and yummy meal without too much stress.
1. Baked macaroni and cheese and sweet potato fries. This is the more mature version of a kid’s favorite that allows a bit of variety. Cook the macaroni on the stove top. In a separate pot simmer your roux sauce made from flour, milk and butter, adding the macaroni when it reaches sauce-like consistency. Add all natural cheddar and parmesan with added spices to the mix. Grease a casserole dish and mix an egg into the macaroni mixture and pour into casserole dish. Top with gruyere cheese all over the macaroni mixture, and bake at 375 degrees until gruyere cheese is boiling at top. Spread out frozen sweet potato fries on a sheet pan and bake on the same rack as casserole. Alexia makes very good, natural sweet potato fries in the freezer isle.
2. Black bean soup, jasmine rice and whole wheat toast. This is a favorite in my family. It’s quick, easy and the kids really love it. I buy the canned Goya bean soup with green peppers, onions and olive oil. It’s really tasty and because I am not Spanish, I may never be able to make black bean soup this well. I serve it with cooked jasmine rice and toasted bread on the side.
3. Favorite vegetable pizza. Sometimes, I like to turn meals into a fun activity especially when I have preschool kids at home. The only real way to get kids to eat their vegetables is to let them choose. Each night allow them to pick a vegetable that goes as the topping on the pizza. Buy ready-made pizza pies from your grocery store, along with the tomato sauce and cheese. Have your kids join in the fun by adding the ingredients. Bake and serve.
4. Loaded Baked Potato Soup. This is another good recipe for kids to help with. Start by making a simple cream of potato soup with canned sliced potatoes and homemade roux from milk, butter and flour. Once the soup is made, serve and allow to cool. Have your kids add topping such as green onion, cheese, avocado, sour cream and butter.
5. ALT sandwiches. This vegetarian alternative to BLT is a great meal choice for sandwich lovers, There was a time when my kids would only eat sandwiches. So for them, I would choose to put avocado, lettuce and tomato on two slices of whole wheat bread.
Keep in mind these vegetarian recipes are for lacto-ovo vegetarians, strict vegetarians and vegans can choose alternatives to the milk, cheeses and eggs selected in these menu ideas.
