I should probably explain first that we are a mixed household. While Matt eats a mostly vegan diet, he is vegetarian and will eat dairy or the occasional baked good made with eggs (he doesn’t like eggs by themselves). Emma is also mostly vegan, but is allowed to eat dairy and sometimes has eggs for breakfast. Now that she’s old enough to sort of understand that food doesn’t originate at the grocery store, she is starting to make the connection that chicken comes from chickens that had to be killed for someone to eat it. She’s making the same connection with cheese and eggs and may one day choose a totally vegan diet for herself.

It was my intention to raise Amanda in a similar way– dairy and eggs are okay, but we will eat mostly vegan at home. I am gluten-free 100% of the time and vegan 100% of the time at home. When we eat out, I try my best to stay vegan, but do give myself certain allowances to be sure that whatever meal I order is 100% gluten free. For example: the pizza place that we frequent offers Daiya cheese and a gluten free crust. The gluten free crust does contain egg, but I will order that when I’m there because it is the best option available to me. The gluten free pizzas are prepared in a designated gluten free area on designated gluten free equipment and with toppings kept separate from the gluten pizzas. This isn’t true for the salads, which is my only option for something that would be (potentially) GF and vegan. Sometimes, I have to go with the best available option even if it means straying a bit.

Anyway, in trying to keep Amanda’s diet in line with what her sister eats, she has had eggs and dairy. Dairy gave her eczema and eggs gave her diarrhea (and I think wheat gave her a rash), so it looks like she’ll be eating more like her momma than her sister. That’s fine with me! In this post, I thought I would highlight some of her favorite foods in case others out there are dealing with food allergies and are stumped at what to feed their growing toddlers. I should also note that Amanda has zero patience for baby food or for anything food that she can’t feed to herself. She wants to do it all herself!

Pasta

I was surprised that Emma enjoyed this recipe with it being so green and all, but she told me it was the best rice she’s ever had. Seeing her sister eat everything in sight has made Emma a more adventurous eater. She no longer complains when I sneak baby spinach into her romaine lettuce salad. I use white rice here so as not to overload their systems with fiber.

Sandwiches

Occasionally I will make her a sandwich on gluten free bread. She seems to like them alright, but she doesn’t eat them with as much enthusiasm as she does other foods. Still, I like that they offer her a different protein and fat source. I toast one slice of gluten free bread and spread it with raw, extra virgin coconut oil while still warm. Spread sunflower seed butter on and top with a little jam or applesauce. Cut off the crusts and that’s all there is to it!

Snacks

This is one area where I’m frequently stumped. It’s hard to think of snacks that she can manage by herself with only 4 teeth. Her current favorites are gluten free puffs, baby mum mums, veggie booty, and muffins. I’ve also tried rice cakes, but they were too salty for her. The next time I’m at the store, I’m going to spend a little time looking for cereals or crackery things that might work.

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If after reading this you’re still concerned about what to feed your vegan kids, here are two books that I have that I have found to be really helpful.

(Sorry for the yucky photo. Had to use the flash.)

Easy Vegan Minestrone Soup

1 cup kidney beans, dry

1 cup cannellini beans, dry

1 cup chickpeas, dry

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, chopped (roughly 1-2 tsp)

2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 TB dried basil

1 TB dried oregano

1 tsp dried sage

2 quarts veg stock

1-28 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 head cabbage, chopped

4 cups baby spinach, lightly packed

Any pasta type or shape that you like

S & P to taste

1. Begin by soaking the beans and chickpeas 12 hours or overnight.  After soaking, drain off soaking liquid and rinse with fresh water.  Drain.  Add to slow cooker.
2. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat.  Add all the veggies and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add herbs and saute another minute.  Add to slow cooker.
3. Add the stock and tomatoes to the slow cooker.  Cook on high for 4-6 hours or until the beans are cooked through.
4. Add the cabbage, spinach and pasta* and cook another 1-2 hours.  Season with S & P to taste.

* I prefer to cook the pasta separately and add to each bowl of soup.  I find that cooking it in the soup only makes it super mushy if you have leftovers.  For this recipe, I used quinoa pasta, but you could use whatever you like.

If you want to do this on the stove top, it will probably only take half the time.  Keep a watchful eye on it and add more liquid as necessary as m0re will cook off on the stovetop than in the slow cooker.

Wednesday’s are my farmer’s market days, which usually means that by Tuesday I have either nothing left in the house or some random fruits and veggies that need to be eaten. In an effort to use up what I had on hand before buying more stuff, I did a “clean out the fridge” night and made this pasta dish that turned out pretty good.

Here’s what I had: a pint of cherry/pear tomatoes from my grandma’s and friend’s garden, some herbs from the same friend’s garden, and a jar of marinara sauce about 2/3 full. The obvious direction was pasta…

In my largest, high-sided skillet, I sauteed one clove of minced garlic in some olive oil. I added my cherry/pear tomatoes and cooked them until they started to burst, about 7 minutes on medium-low heat. Add some herbs– I used about a TB of fresh parsley and a TB of fresh basil– and some salt. Then add the marinara sauce. Ta da, as my Emma likes to say! I served mine over some brown rice pasta. I like the brown rice pasta as much as I like regular wheat pasta, so it’s pretty much all I use now for pasta dishes. It’s gluten-free and I eat enough gluten that I could probably stand to eat a little less. Case in point: I have a loaf of wheat bread baking in my bread machine right now. It should be done in about 20 minutes, in fact.

For some extra protein, I threw in about a cup of cooked chickpeas. I cooked up a huge pot of them recently and had 2 quart jars stashed away in the freezer. It took about an extra millisecond to thaw some and throw them in, so I figured why not?! Maybe tomorrow I’ll take a photo of my farmer’s market goodies to share with you all.

I’ll admit that it’s not the best photo but that’s because the food was so hot that I kept getting a picture of the steam coming off of it.  This dish was really easy and is perfect for those clean-out-the-fridge nights.  I sauteed one small red onion with one clove of garlic in some olive oil.  Once soft, I added some frozen artichoke hearts, some chopped broccoli and cauliflower and sliced zucchini (broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini all organic from the farmer’s market).  After allowing it to cook for a few minutes, I dumped in one jar of organic marinara sauce and let it simmer for about 10 minutes or until the veggies were soft.  A little basil from my garden and the sauce was done.

We had this with some brown rice noodles, a gluten-free pasta that I picked up from Trader Joe’s.  I’m toying with the possibility of going gluten-free in an effort to fix my thyroid (that’s another post for another day), so I’ve slowly been buying G-F cereals, pastas, etc to try.  This is similar to how I transitioned to a vegan diet and I found that it was the best way for me to transition.  I’m not saying that I’ll for sure go G-F, but cutting out some sources of gluten certainly won’t hurt me.  Anyway, we all really enjoyed these noodles and I think I will buy brown rice pasta from now on.  No one was able to tell that it wasn’t wheat pasta.

I also made these cookies last week.  They are not G-F, but they were pretty tasty.  The recipe is a slight adaptation from the Cranberry-Walnut Oatmeal cookie recipe from Vegan Planet. I’ve made this recipe a few times– once with raisins and pecans– and this time with dried cranberries, pecans and white chocolate.  I think I preferred the first one with the raisins, but I liked this one too.  If you’re wondering where I get vegan white chocolate (good luck finding it in any store), I have to special order it from Vegan Essentials.  I order my vitamins from there too and usually do a big order once every three months.  If I’m low on the white chocolate, I’ll throw that into my virtual cart too.  Here’s a tip for ordering from Vegan Essentials: sign up for their email newsletter that they sometimes include discount codes in.

Have a good weekend everyone!

For mine, I used some spinach lasagna noodles that my cousin-in-law brought back for me from Argentina. These noodles are wider and shorter than normal lasagna noodles, so I cut them in half to give me two longer, skinnier pieces. Also, my noodles are the “no boil” type, but since they need to be soft for this dish, I soaked them for a few minutes in some hot water. I bet you could take a similar approach with regular “no boil” noodles or use the boil type and cook per package directions.

The tofu ricotta that I used in mine are based on this recipe, but I changed the recipe just a tad.  Here’s how I made mine:

Tofu Basil Ricotta

1/2 lb tofu, packed in water (use the kind that comes in those twin packs and just use one side)

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

2 TB nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp. salt

15 large basil leaves

Pat the tofu dry and add it and the rest of the ingredients to your food processor.  Process until completely smooth.

Step 1: Begin by preheating the oven to 425 degrees.  Liberally grease your ramekin dishes and place them on a baking sheet.  Take one noodle and layer it in the bottom of the dish so that the edges of the noodle hang over the edge of the dish (again, since my noodles were wider and shorter than normal noodles, I overlapped the two pieces at the bottom):

Step 2:  Place another noodle in the bottom of the dish, but the in opposite direction to form a “X” in the bottom of the dish.  Top with a generous amount of tofu ricotta (recipe above– I put mine in a piping bag to make it easier to dispense into each dish):

Step 3:  Put a generous amount of marinara sauce on top of the tofu ricotta.  I used about 3 TB.  Top that with a layer of sliced zucchini (or other vegetable of your choice– eggplant slices or spinach leaves would be yumy).

Step 4:  Fold over one set of the noodle edges.

Step 5:  Top with a little bit more tofu ricotta (not as much as used in Step 2; maybe half that amount).  Top with about 1 more TB of marinara and more zucchini slices.

Step 6: Fold over last set of noodle edges.  Top with another TB of marinara and vegan mozzarella of your choosing.  I used Diaya, which I had been keeping in my freezer (just to explain why it looks a little funny in the photo).

Step 7:  Bake uncovered at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is golden and the sauce is bubbly.

Step 8:  Allow to cool for a few minutes, then use a large spoon to scoop it out of the ramekin and place onto a plate.

I made this for dinner last night and it was SO EASY to make and was also really flavorful (and my kid ate it with minimal complaining).  Feel free to add whatever veggies and fruit you like or have on hand.  It’s a great use-up for those that may be on their way to the compost bin, if ya know what I mean.  Grapes or nectarines would be a really yummy addition.

Easy Peasy Creamy Pasta Salad

2 cups dry pasta, any shape

1 cup carrots, chopped

1 cup peas, frozen

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup cucumber, seeded and diced

Dressing:

1/3 cup vegan mayo of your choosing (I use Vegenaise)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 large lemon)

S&P to taste

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  When boiling, salt the water and add the pasta.  I used penne, which took about 9 minutes to cook through.  When your pasta has about 3-4 minutes left on it’s cooking time, add the carrots to the boiling water.  When it has about 2 minutes left, add the peas.  Cook until the pasta is tender, then drain and rinse with cold water.

While your pasta is cooking, whisk together the dressing ingredients in the bottom of a large bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients and the pasta/carrot/pea mixture once it has been drained and rinsed.  Toss to coat with the dressing and refrigerate until ready to eat.  If the dressing made just enough to cover everything, you may want to consider making a little extra since the pasta will absorb it and your leftovers may be a tad dry the next day.

To go with our pasta salad, I made Tofu Fish Sticks from Vegan Lunch Box.  These are so simple to make and are really good.  While the texture isn’t quite the same as I remember real fish sticks being, the taste is spot on.  I made a quick tartar sauce to dip them in by mixing some Vegenaise with sweet pickle relish.  Really, could our meal have been any simpler to prepare?!  I love easy (and relatively inexpensive) meals like this one.

The pasta salad could even stand alone as a meal itself, if paired with a simple green salad or something.  It’s got good protein in there from the beans and peas (yep, peas are pretty high in protein), as well as a good mix of veggies.  Like I mentioned above, the addition of some fruit would be really good.  When my mom made pasta salad when I was a kid, she always added grapes or nectarines and it was so good.  Seriously, you have to try it!

]]> http://www.missionvegan.com/easy-peasy-creamy-pasta-salad/feed/ 0 http://www.missionvegan.com/citrus-cous-cous-salad/ http://www.missionvegan.com/citrus-cous-cous-salad/#comments Wed, 24 Mar 2010 23:33:39 +0000 maida http://www.missionvegan.com/?p=2623 This is an interesting take on a pasta salad.  The pasta here is Israeli cous cous (or you could use regular) and I made a citrus dressing to toss it all in.  It was pretty darn tasty too.  It’s great for picnics and summer parties because it doesn’t contain anything (mayo) that will go bad if left out.

Citrus Cous Cous Salad

1 1/2 cups Israeli cous cous*

1/2 large cucumber, seeded and diced

1/4 cup dried cherries

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

1/4 cup chopped green onions

For the dressing:

Juice and zest from 1 medium orange

Juice of half a lemon

2 TB white wine vinegar

2 TB olive oil

1 tsp agave

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.   Add your cous cous and cook until tender.  While cous cous is cooking, mix together the dressing ingredients in the bottom of a large mixing bowl.  When pasta is cooked, drain well and toss in the dressing.  The hot pasta will soak up all of the yummy dressing, so it’s important to add it before it has cooled.  Add remaining salad ingredients and refrigerate until ready to serve.  (Since the cous cous is still hot, you may want to wait until it has cooled before adding the mint to keep the mint from wilting.)  Serve either cold or at room temperature.

*If you are unable to find Israeli cous cous (the large type of cous cous), you can use regular.  Cook according to package directions, then follow the steps above.

Anyway, I boiled up some rigatoni about a minute shy of the package directions.  Poured over some organic sauce from the jar and sprinkled in some fresh basil.  Topped with 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs mixed with 1 TB olive oil and baked (uncovered) at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes.  Yummy!!!  And it’s such an easy way to jazz up pasta with sauce from a jar.  Be sure to put on more sauce than usual because the noodles will absorb it in the oven while they finish cooking.

I veganized a dish from Superfoods: For Babies and Children. The cannelloni are stuffed with a tofu spinach ricotta (I halved the recipe and had the perfect amount to stuff 5 noodles), topped with jarred marinara sauce, then a thin slice of FYH cheddar cheese (to represent turned-down sheets).  Chow mein noodles are used for the hair, sauteed mushrooms for the heads, bits of olives for the eyes and red pepper pieces for the smiles.  Whole olives are the “feet” sticking out of the bottom of the blanket.

For such a cute idea, I’d love to report that this went over better than it did.  Emma is very wary of trying new things and, after a big tantrum, she was sent to bed without any dinner.  *sigh*  This is the first time we’ve ever had to resort to that, but she needs to learn to eat what’s served in a reasonable amount of time.  Anyway, Matt and I really enjoyed this and I’ll definitely be making it again.  After she’d calmed down, Emma told me that she wanted to eat the “faces,” but by then she was in bed and it was way too late.  I think she may be more receptive to it next time.

Constructing all of the heads and stuff really did take a lot of time.  If you were planning to make this meal on a weeknight (totally doable– everything else came together very quickly), I’d suggest having everything already cut out and ready to be assembled.

I boiled my cannelloni about a minute shy and baked everything for about 20 minutes at 425 degrees.  Then I stuck it under the broiler to help melt the cheese.  The hair, heads and feet all get added after the dish is done baking.