Children At A Loss Re: What to feed them!

[VeggieLady]

Hoping somebody can help! My children (six and four) are impossible to feed anymore. I'm not really sure how it happened, other than we got really busy. We've been vegan for three years.

Mostly, my children will eat white rice with every spice in the pantry on it (skip the veggies, though!), mashed potatoes, pizza, and cambells tomato soup (yuck!!), peanut butter and soy sauce on noodles, or vega...n mac and cheese. They will not even eat cereal anymore, but will eat tons of bread or waffles, or pancakes. I'm trying to switch them to a gluten free vegan diet and it's not going to work like this!

The only healthy things they will eat, have to have peanut butter. Celery and peanut butter for my son, apples and peanut butter for my daughter. Banana's and peanut butter. They would eat peanut butter all day if they could.

I've tried making my own version of cambells soup but they can tell the difference (I could not) and won't eat it. I've tried different kinds of soups, but they say yuck to everything.
We've tried making quinoa in place of rice, but it's "yucky" too.

I can *sometimes* get them to eat Chili, if it has a sprinkle of Daiya and some "tostito" chips to eat it with. I am throwing my hands in the air at a loss. Tonight for dinner, they are eating rice cakes with peanut butter because they wouldn't eat the dinner that we made for them hours ago.



Recipes are welcomed. Creativity is encouraged.

 

[Second Summer]

Ouch, that sounds like quite a challenge! Will they at least taste the food? My wife works in the childcare biz and has a rule that the children have to at least try the food she cooks. If they ask why, the answer is "because that's the rule". I'm not sure that would work with a six year old tho. Another idea is to try and involve the children more in the cooking process. Maybe the grocery shopping as well. Then there are all sorts of things they could learn, everything from handling money to cutting vegetables, and serving the food etc. I think they will like it better if they had more "ownership" to the process. And lastly, of course they could learn a bit about where the food comes from, why you eat vegan food, a bit about nutrition and healthy vs unhealthy food and so on.

 

[Blobbenstein]

I'm trying to switch them to a gluten free vegan diet and it's not going to work like this!

why do you want them on a gluten free diet?

I thought that gluten was a good source of some of the protein amino-acids we need(except lysine).

 

[VeggieLady]

why do you want them on a gluten free diet?

I thought that gluten was a good source of some of the protein amino-acids we need(except lysine).

Well, mostly because they both turn into possessed demons when they've had gluten. Seriously, screaming for hours, hitting, kicking, over-the-top behaviors that are not age appropriate. They can not concentrate or communicate very well when they've had gluten. But when times are tough financially, we find ourselves reverting back to our flour-rich foods.

There's times I expect their heads to turn 360 degree's while they scream like bainshee's.

Take away the gluten, and they're more like the children that I raised. Calm, talking things out, playing nicely together, speaking clearly, not as emotionally sensitive, etc.

 

[Freesia]

You could try baking gluten free muffins for them.
Polenta pieces...
Chinese stir fries with rice noodles
Rice paper rolls stuffed
Felafels
Dishes with gluten free pasta

 

[Calliegirl]

Get them to help with dinner. A lot of times kids will eat what they've helped to make. Or tell them they each get to pick one new recipe (make it sound like a big privilege) for the next two dinners, and let them help shop for the ingredients. Kids get really excited when they get to help pick out and be a part of things.

When my granddaughter was 3 years old, I let her help make lasagna using tofu as ricotta. She was so excited to help stir the mixture, she decided she had to taste test it and actually ended up eating a few spoonfuls of it. Until then, I never would have imagined she would willingly eat spoonfuls of tofu.

 

[ledboots]

She calls these lunchbox ideas, but there are lots of good food ideas here. http://peasandthankyou.com/2012/08/30/40-vegetarian-lunchbox-ideas-giveaway/

These are all gluten-free as well as vegan.
http://www.healingthrufood.com/vegan-recipes-kids-love-and-eat/

Don't know this pinterest, got it from Google, but looks delicious at a cursory glance. http://m.pinterest.com/owkids/kids-meal-ideas-gluten-free/

Enjoy those little ones!

 

[thefadedone]

Have you checked out www.vegweb.com? There are thousands of recipes on there.

What about replacing the white rice with brown rice, using sweet potatoes for the mashed potatoes, and making things like tacos and burritos? Do they like hummus? Baby carrots and hummus is a good snack. Will they eat fruits (besides bananas) and veggies at all?

 

[VeggieLady]

Have you checked out www.vegweb.com? There are thousands of recipes on there.

What about replacing the white rice with brown rice, using sweet potatoes for the mashed potatoes, and making things like tacos and burritos? Do they like hummus? Baby carrots and hummus is a good snack. Will they eat fruits (besides bananas) and veggies at all?

They used to love veggies and hummus. Not so much anymore. I guess we buy hummus so often, that it lost it's appeal. They are not open to trying new things either. My son has sensory issues, which gives all of this an extra challenge. If it looks a certain way, forget it. I did buy some organic brown rice, because I've heard some bad things about white rice and rice in general. I will likely try it on them tomorrow but I'm nervous about using it! I won't let them know that, of course.

We do make a lot of wraps, but they always want the same things: Hummus, Daiya, olives, peppers, green leaf lettuce, hot sauce. It's something, sure. My son screams at the sight of tomatoes in anything, was furious that I put kale on his wrap last week, and is just all around a sensitive kid. Since my daughter is the younger of the two, she has started really copying his behaviors. They're finally starting to learn that it is okay to like different things, though.

 

[Freesia]

Have you ever made them mock tuna? you can have it in a salad or as a gluten free sandwich. It is made out of chickpeas, mayo kelp powder and little chopped pickles/capers etc. You can add chopped raw onion too but only if you like raw onion in things.

 

[IamJen]

How old are your kids VL?

FWIW, I never said "because that's the rule" (because that sort of arbitrary **** goes against most every belief I have regarding child-rearing). With my nanny girls, I was sure to serve some things that I knew they liked, and often some that were more um, challenging. They didn't have to try everything, but I did have them try something before getting seconds of anything. It came to be just a standard way of thinking "What did you think of the peas?" "Did you like the beans the way we made them today or the other day?" Etc.

wrt to eating the same things over and over..I think that's not too bad, to a certain extent, as long as it's relatively healthy stuff. We eat so much freaking cold tofu and blueberries here that I think I need to buy stock in a tofu factory. But the bean is getting good stuff from those foods, so yeah. Now she's only one, but we eat the same 20 or so foods a lot.

 

[VeggieLady]

Four and Six (next month), and One but he eats anything so no worries there. I really want them to eat things like quinoa, or organic brown rice instead of processed, non-organic white. We eat rice noodles, both the chinese style and the regular gluten free style. Just one year ago, they were eating very healthy. They would salad, anything with vegetables, vegetables on their own, fruit with every meal and in between. Now they won't eat anything unless it's highly processed and dense. I want to get them back to the healthy and happy children that I know they can be.

I suppose the biggest change is with my husband and I. We started cooking less once the baby came along, we moved (when we were eating so healthy, we had our own back yard and deck that we sat at to eat almost every meal, it just has a completely different feel) now we're in a stuffy feeling apartment. I can't seem to get anything organized, or leave the little one to play for even two minutes at a time (he's quite the adventurer). My husband gets up at 5 am for college and doesn't get home until 8 pm. Money is an issue now as well, since we just got a vehicle (but at least now my husband can be home no later than 5 or 6. I guess what I'm saying, is I know what has to change. So thank you for letting me talk it out with all of your wonderful company and suggestions. Now if I could just figure out HOW to make those changes...

 

[Wolfie]

Maybe mix brown rice with white rice at first? Quinoa needs to be rinsed before cooking or it can be bitter. I am not real big on it myself on its own but like it in place of rice in dishes. As long as I remember to rinse it.