My vegetarian wants to go Vegan and I don't think I can do it.
 

My 10 year old dd is a vegetarian and has been for quite some time. (she has been strict for 7 months now, wasn't a vegetarian the previous 5 months though still didn't eat a lot of meat and just chicken when she did, then was strict the previous 12 months).

She wants to be a Vegan because even just not eating meat still isn't being kind to animals. Eggs are baby chicks, cows don't like to be milked all the time like they are.

I am in school full time for another 8 months, plus I work, plus I know nothing about Vegan-ism. I told her not this year, I don't have it in me to figure it out. Make special meals, etc.

She keeps mentioning it though. Not in a bugging - let me do it way, just in a conversational way. Talks about Veganism. And I want to support her passion and her desire to be kind to animals.

I told her maybe she can be a Vegan-tarian. Not quite a full vegan. Maybe baby steps. She doesn't want to give up yogurt (yay) anyway and honestly eggs are so easy and she can make them herself and I said well, if you get eggs from free range chickens - those are happy chickens and the eggs are not fertilized so they really can't grow be baby chicks if you didn't eat them. :shifty

So if you were transitioning from Vegetarianism to Vegan what little tiny steps would you do first from a animal kindness stand point (as opposed to a being Vegan for health reasons stand point)? Maybe give her something to focus on; have her feel she is making a difference.

Re: My vegetarian wants to go Vegan and I don't think I can do it.
 

I think my dd is headed to the veg route. I'm following along. As a former veg, I'm not super excited about this.

Re: My vegetarian wants to go Vegan and I don't think I can do it.
 

Unless there are other issues I think age 10 is a great age to start making the family dinner one night a week. And she can make it vegan!

Re: My vegetarian wants to go Vegan and I don't think I can do it.
 

Switch from cow milk to nondairy milk (lots of choices to try). If you have a good blender she could make her own nut milks.

Leave cheese off of her part of dinners?

Eat free range eggs as you said. Is there a farmer's market where a small family farm might sell their eggs?

Re: My vegetarian wants to go Vegan and I don't think I can do it.
 

This is a good idea. She already cooks for herself sometimes, I think she can move up to making 1 meal a week for all. And we already have vegan meals in our pool because asian vegetarian dishes are vegan anyway, etc. And she has a vegetarian cook book. It might have a vegan section, iirc, Ill have to look.

I like the idea of her drinking non-dairy milk. We did that for our son when he decided he didn't like milk for awhile. And that definitely helps with the cows being milked all the time problem she doesn't like.

We have a blender, but, again, the energy to teach her, help her clean up nut milk ATM.

I can leave the cheese but I already use it as a replacement for her protein since she doesn't eat meat. Plus a lot of my dishes the cheese doesnt come out (like lasagna). And taking out cheese leaves out a lot of choices for her packed lunches at school. Again, I know it can be done, but the energy to make that change doesn't really exist for me now.

We do have a farmers market nearby in the nice weather months. We used to get free range eggs regularly bc another mom in the 'hood picked them up and i just had to get them from her home. But she moved away last summer and I didnt bother to find a new source. She loves the farmers market and its really close to our home (a little over a mile away).

Ok, so 1 meal/week.
Non-diary milk.
Free range eggs.

Thats a good start without costing me energy I don't have!

Re: My vegetarian wants to go Vegan and I don't think I can do it.
 

delicious vegan cheese that takes 5 min to make

1 cup water to boil
add 1 teaspoon agar powder (hfs/amazon) and
1/4 cup psyllium husk flakes (walmart)

whisk for a minute

add to blender
add 1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 nutritional yeast (high end grocery store)
1/4 cup vegan protein powder (optional/must be plain! not choco/vanilla)
<I use collagen here> (I don't know about texture without this or other subs)

3/4 tsp mineral salt
1 tsp onion salt
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
2 teaspoons tahini
1/4 teaspoon sunflower lecithin (optional but great for health)

blend

put into to container to set

eat!

it's spreadable cheese like laughing cow cheese. can be used in enchiladas

very good!

from Trim Healthy Mama page 484 (they were vegans and raw vegan)

Re: My vegetarian wants to go Vegan and I don't think I can do it.
 

I'd have her do some research on it. Find out some recipes, try them out, find out what substitutions can be made. Protein isn't really a problem- it's very hard to get a protein deficiency if you are eating enough calories of decent food (even if just grains, veggies, fruits, etc)

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...0D17&FORM=VIRE

This movie is funny but the research is there- she should be fine even just leaving out the eggs/dairy out of stuff.

I think you should tell her if she wants to do this, she'll have to do most of the extra work herself. But it's not hard to make a tiny pan of lasagna with no cheese.

Re: My vegetarian wants to go Vegan and I don't think I can do it.
 

Nut milks are very easy to make and require so little cleaning. The effort part is straining the but meal, but I don't do that at all. If she is using the but milk on cereal and for cooking, there is no need to strain at all. (I do know some peoe drink the unstrained milk, too - I just don't drink my calories unless it is a meal, like a smoothie). You just need to rinse the blender container and pop it in the dish washer.

Just a thought.

Re: My vegetarian wants to go Vegan and I don't think I can do it.
 

You can replace some of the ricotta with basil pesto. Most grocery stores sell it these days, so you wouldn't even have to make your own. (Pesto is such a strong flavor, though I wouldn't do it 1:1. Sub half the ricotta with veggies, half with pesto.) A loaf pan is the perfect 2-serving size pan.

If you're worried about protein intake, you could focus on stocking up on nuts and seeds and then point her toward a few recipe categories - granola, nut butter - and let her find the specific recipes she likes.

My oldest just turned 11 and she makes dinner for the family once a week.

Re: My vegetarian wants to go Vegan and I don't think I can do it.
 

Ok, so her vegetarian cookbook has a section that lists which of the recipes are also Vegan, so she is making a grocery list and will help with the cooking to include more vegan meals.

She is also on board with the milk alternatives and free range eggs <-- which I really want to get back to doing anyway so that's good excuse for me to find a new source for that.

As for making cheese or nut milk right now, I don't think I adequately emphasized how stressed out adding anything new to my load will make so I appreciate the support but lala'ed a bit over the details. :giggle

Now she is thinking she is going to go Vegan and will just cook all of her own meals on non-vegan days - because many vegetarian dishes are Vegan anyway by default. And there are a lot of snack foods she can make ahead to have around in her cookbook. Whether or not she is strict is up to her. Right now it's easy because she has nothing going on. But once school and soccer and broadcast starts up next month she will find herself with less time but I told her she can do baby steps and next summer we can hit it full force if she can't manage it on her own right now. But she is going to give it a try and she may do it. She is very determined when she wants to be.

Wish her luck!

Re: My vegetarian wants to go Vegan and I don't think I can do it.
 

I'm dying laughing at that video! I'm going to be singing that song in my head all. day. long.

---------- Post added at 11:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:09 AM ----------

She'll do great! :tu

Re: My vegetarian wants to go Vegan and I don't think I can do it.
 

Vegan Smythe has lots of cool songs! So fun!

Re: My vegetarian wants to go Vegan and I don't think I can do it.
 

We loved it too.