Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Response to comment

Well, you're in a really tough position with the tree nuts and peanuts, and sesame seeds means store-bought hummus, but you can make your own and leave out or replace the tahini. Do you know for sure he's not allergic to pumpkin seeds, because they have a super-high protein count and are generally very healthy. Also, minimally processed soy (edemame and tofu) should be helpful. You really can do anything with tofu--you can make amazing chocolate pudding (or pumpkin pudding) by mixing cacao powder or pumpkin with silken tofu (you'd sweeten it with whatever you use). You can marinate firm tofu is olive oil, vinegar, lemon and garlic and then grill or saute it. Also, get to know your high protein veggies--I believe that broccoli and asparagus each have a few grams a serving. And don't forget those whole grains! Oatmeal and whole wheat pasta (or buckwheat) will give you 5 or more grams a serving. Here's a sample menu:

-breakfast: rolled or steel-cut oatmeal (with whatever): 5 grams
-mid-morning snack: pumpkin seeds: 9 grams
-lunch: whole wheat pasta (8 grams) with red lentils (10 grams) and vegetables
-mid-afternoon snack: edemame (5 grams) or chickpeas with salt and pepper (9 grams)
-dinner: brown/red/black rice (3 grams) or quinoa (6+ grams) with vegetables

So, those are protein counts for a full serving... but if you halve them or mix things up, you still come out with 25 grams.

As for cookbooks, do look into Veganomican, the Kind Diet (macrobiotics don't use a whole lot of nuts), the New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook, Mark Bittman's latest (the Food Matters Cookbook), and the Bean Book by Rose Eliot. The last two are not entirely vegan (I think the Farm cookbook is), but you have plenty to work with. For websites, check out 101cookbooks.com and http://theppk.com/recipes/. If there's one forbidden ingredient that's not too key, just leave it out (the black-eyed pea curry on that last site looks amazing, and I imagine it would still be good without the plantains). New Farm is really good for basics/staples.

If you (i.e. anyone) feels the urge to comment that a toddler shouldn't be eating curry, spare me. That's how kids learn to eat food rather than "chicken" nuggets: they eat what adults eat.

I have a TON of recipes, both online and in cookbooks. Most are vegetarian and can easily be made vegan; some are already vegan. I usually make red lentils one of a few ways, two being moussaka and lasagne--I can send you both recipes. Both call for cheese, but I've been making them without cheese for years, and they're just as good (now, the moussaka has wine in it but the alcohol cooks out). The lasagne is amazing (and you can use the lentil base as a sauce for any pasta if you don't feel like making lasagne). Or you could do lasagne and cover with vegan cheese.

I tend to say 'pulses' generically, but you can really do anything with chickpeas and black beans--they're really versatile. I like black-eyed peas and navy beans, but they have a more distinct flavor so you have to be more selective about pairing them. I'll be making black bean chili for a cook-off at work next week, will share the recipe if it turns out well.

A lot of Thai recipes will be off-limits because of the peanuts, but your basic Thai curries won't be, and coconut milk is super healthy--particularly for a kid who's not already getting a ton of saturated fat.

1 comment:

Tmomma said...

thanks a, you're awesome! i love your tidbit about teaching the kids to eat what we eat; that's how we've always done it and our oldest will generally eat anything, though he's not wanting chicken recently. i really need to use beans more and play with lentils, lentils have never been a part of my diet but that's no reason to avoid them. we've been snacking on pumpkin seeds i cooked and i'm going to try to turn them into pesto, i'll let you know how that turns out. and we need to test out coconut sometime when we're brave since he originally tested allergic to it. the allergies are really a blessing in disguise, they've totally changed how we cook and eat and i'm happy about that, just not the terrible allergies!