Hey my lovelies.. Hope everyone reading this is fabulous and happy! I promised a parenting post and this one is super special because it's about two of my passions so I hope you enjoy some Tuesday night reading :)
As most of you could already tell, I love to eat/cook and I am obsessed with my son. I am solely responsible for the cooking in our family and being vegetarian (with very limited dairy) I need to ensure Romeo in particular is getting all he needs to grow into a healthy boy. I often get asked if Rome is also vegetarian and the answer is yes. Once he is old enough to make his own educated decisions he can eat what he would like too.
We became vegetarian 2 years ago and it was one of the best things we have done for our physical and mental health. Our decision was based on research. The Internet is a wonderful invention and allows you to look beyond mainstream media.
Before I get into some of Romeo's favourite foods, I want to say the amount of people that have reduced and completely cut meat out of their diet since speaking to me makes me so happy. Thank you to the ones that support me, all the social media interactions and new found friendships. I started this blog in the hope to make a positive impact on people's lives and the environment and I really feel like I am.
Ok now that my emotional burst is over let's get back to it. In my opinion, like anything, reducing meat may seem complicated at the start but give it a week or two and it won't seem as daunting. Personally I believe you just need to be a little more creative with your meals. And a good way to think of it is just replace your meat with another form of protein like tofu, beans, fish if you're pescatarian, broccoli, etc.
Romeo is a big grazer. He doesn't just have 3 meals a day. I can literally offer him food any time of day and 9/10 he will eat it.
I need to constantly think of healthy snacks to feed him in between the main meals and it helps getting inspiration from other mammas so I hope you find some inspo from this. Happy cooking and eating !
Breakfast
- Half an avocado
- 2 Scrambled eggs ( I don't add any cream or milk and I only eat eggs from my parents place as the chickens are organic and free range)
- Half a banana or other form of fruit like strawberries, mango, etc
- A small glass of warm or cold organic almond/coconut milk unsweetend or sparkling water
- Oats with non-dairy milk, chia seeds and hemp seeds
If we are short on time, an alternate breakfast is baby organic cereal which I add to organic almond milk and cut up fruit.
Snack
- Smoothie with Organic almond/ coconut milk (unsweetened). I add fruit, baby spinach leaves and hemp seeds
- Baby Mum Mum Organic rice rusks. Available in Woolworths, Coles, IGA etc
- Wholemeal bread with vegan Hummus or another vegan dip
- Organic rice cakes with 100% natural peanut butter
Lunch
- Whatever I eat or leftovers from the night before such as fritters, lentil curry, vegetable soup etc
- More fruit like a banana, blueberries, lychees. ( I try and buy fruit and veggies that are in season as these are the most tasty and best for you).
- Cucumber sticks or baby tomatoes cut into 1/4
Treat
- I do give Romeo treats every now and then but I always try and stick to healthier options. He has had a few cubes of Loving Earth raw chocolate before which is vegan and organic and he loved it
- Lentil chips which you can buy the health section in Woolworths
Dinner
- Romeo eat's whatever we eat for dinner. Whether it be tofu veggie stir fry with nooddles, Mexican with beans, vegetable curry with rice, pasta with veggies. You can get some dinner recipe idea's which are all toddler friendly here.
If I am short on time or we are out with limited healthy options I pack fruit and snacks for him and sometimes take one of those Organic pureed pouches you can buy in the baby section although he has currently gone off them.
If you guys want some easy baby recipes let me know. If you have a great toddler recipe please DM or email me as I would love to try it.
Much Love,
TDH
xx