I’m not sure why posters are responding with meat answers.

Anyway, we do
Peanut noodles
Couscous with roasted veggies and chickpeas
Fried rice with egg or peanut
Pasta with asparagus and lemon
Quiche or frittata

People obsess over protein but it’s not as important as people would have you think. My son, raised on the above, is d 6’ tall, so clearly he got enough nutrients to grow somehow.

Anonymous wrote:Minestrone soup with lentil pasta

https://cookieandkate.com/classic-minestrone-soup-recipe/

Rajma with Quinoa (use canned kidney beans)

https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/rajma-masala-recipe-restaurant-style/#wprm-recipe-container-139551

Veggie Lentil Loaf

https://tasty.co/recipe/veggie-packed-lentil-loaf

Thank you so much; these are just the kinds of recipes I was looking for! And the rajma looks like it will be a huge hit around here. Going to make that this weekend.

Minestrone soup with lentil pasta

https://cookieandkate.com/classic-minestrone-soup-recipe/

Rajma with Quinoa (use canned kidney beans)

https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/rajma-masala-recipe-restaurant-style/#wprm-recipe-container-139551

Veggie Lentil Loaf

https://tasty.co/recipe/veggie-packed-lentil-loaf

Anonymous wrote:When my daughter was about 3 I started giving her an “appetizer plate” of whatever raw crunchy veggies I had with some dip (hummus, PB, ranch etc) and she would chow it. Then if she didnt eat as much at dinner I knew she had a large serving of veggies. Raw crunchy veggies have always been overwhelmingly preferred by my kid and she eats nearly everything.

We do this right after school and sports, basically whenever the kids are ravenous we do vegetables and bean dips. Even raw broccoli gets eaten when they're really hungry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baked ziti with spinach, salad, garlic bread.

What do you do for protein in a meal like this? Does the cheese (assuming cheese in the baked ziti) fill you up enough/long enough?

Sure does! There are at least two types of cheese in baked ziti - ricotta and mozzarella.

Maybe your meat doesn't taste good. Try breading and frying/sautéing thin sliced chicken. Its sold thin sliced at most groceries. every kid likes chicken tenders. Or do ground beef with Mac n cheese. Rotisserie chicken.

When my daughter was about 3 I started giving her an “appetizer plate” of whatever raw crunchy veggies I had with some dip (hummus, PB, ranch etc) and she would chow it. Then if she didnt eat as much at dinner I knew she had a large serving of veggies. Raw crunchy veggies have always been overwhelmingly preferred by my kid and she eats nearly everything.

Tofu is great and bonus that it's easy to get the kids involved with meal prep because they can cut it with a butter knife. Mine started chopping tofu for stir fries at age 3 or 4. You can also crumble it for scrambles, which is fun, just wash their hands well beforehand.

Anonymous wrote:Baked ziti with spinach, salad, garlic bread.

What do you do for protein in a meal like this? Does the cheese (assuming cheese in the baked ziti) fill you up enough/long enough?

Anonymous wrote:Keep serving them meat - they are toddlers, their appetites and tastes are changing a lot. They are experimenting with new things, including trying out rejecting things. That doesn't mean they will never want to eat meat. For the majority of people, a diet with meat is healthier than the alternative.

Also give them egg dishes, scrambled and fried, hard-boiled, quiche, etc. They don't need a lot of protein but they need some.

Should have noted! We/they eat plenty of protein (eggs, lentils, beans, chickpeas, shrimp, etc.) and I do keep offering them meat. But I would like to not be eating meat every or most days, especially since the kids don't like most of it, so I was curious for new recipes to try along that vein since I already have plenty of ways to prepare meat.

To everyone who offered mix dinners (tacos, grain bowls, etc) I'm curious about what your prep looks like -- do you prep the vegetables all in bulk one day, or are you always doing a lot of chopping (and steaming for the littler one) right before dinner? I'm finding myself gravitating toward meals that can be pulled straight out of the fridge or just quickly microwaved before making it to the table (at least for the leftovers nights, which I want to get at least 2-3 out of).

Baked ziti with spinach, salad, garlic bread.

My kids very happily eat anything that they can pick what items they want and make a plate themselves:

Tacos or burrito nights with roasted sweet potatoes, black beans, cheese, avocado, chopped cucumber and tomatoes

Grain bowls with any type of whole grain (my kids love farro), any type of beans (try crispy chickpeas!), any vegetables you want -cooked and/or raw - and some type of dressing or dip

Scrambled eggs with vegetables on the side

Keep serving them meat - they are toddlers, their appetites and tastes are changing a lot. They are experimenting with new things, including trying out rejecting things. That doesn't mean they will never want to eat meat. For the majority of people, a diet with meat is healthier than the alternative.

Also give them egg dishes, scrambled and fried, hard-boiled, quiche, etc. They don't need a lot of protein but they need some.

Tacos or burritos (black beans, vegetarian refried beans, seasoned sweet potato chunks, corn, lettuce). Make fish tacos if family will eat that.

Couscous with butternut squash, dried cranberries, and feta

Pasta with asparagus, wilted baby spinach, and feta

Cubed or diced roasted root vegetables, squash, and broccoli are super easy and can be eaten as a side or mixed into a pasta, rice, or other grain dish. Works well as a side to Impossible meat meatballs and pasta. You could sub spaghetti squash for the pasta.

I have two toddlers who will not eat meat and I would like to move to a more plant heavy diet generally. But I don’t have much time to cook in the evening (plenty of time to make stuff a few times a week so big dishes that keep well in the fridge/freezer are good however) and have been falling back on more processed stuff or easy favorites like mac and cheese or chickpea curry. I would love to expand our regular recipe list. What do you like, especially things that are semi-deconstructable (both my kids will eat vegetables but they like different ones so I want to get in the habit of incorporating multiple veggies at meals and just have all of us eat more veggies in general)?