I feel your pain! My 6 year old is suddenly getting fussy too, and not eating even the “normal” things that most kids crave for! (Yes, I’m willing to make some of that stuff.) I tried to be a vegetarian– even a vegan, and it just wasn’t good. But there are a few things that were good that I still give my son. Morningstar Farms makes excellent “chicken” nuggets and patties. They are really soy, but you can’t taste the difference, and after a while, you actually like them better than the prepackaged chicken patties (less fat, more protein, etc.) Even my carnivore husband likes them. If you get the original GardenBurgers in the same frozen food section, they are pretty good. I also have a sister who is vegetarian. Oddly enough, it wasn’t a conscious decision like not wanting to eat animals, but rather she just never liked the taste of the meat (or poultry, or pork, etc.) She doesn’t mind the flavor, so she’d have chicken soup sans chicken, and she’d eat spaghetti sauce that was cooked with sausages, but not eat the sausage. As a kid, she was the peanut butter queen! That was her main source of protein. As she got older, she did add some seafood to her diet, but not much. (I still can’t add seafood, can’t stand any of it.) If you have a chance, pick up or look at Linda McCartney’s vegetarian cookbooks, and there are lots of great recipes that everyone can enjoy. I still use some of them myself. 😉 Marilu Henner also put out some vegan things that aren’t too bad either.

Ah yes, the pickiness begins. My two and a half year old son used to eat everything, too. Then he turned two years old and it all went down hill from there. But, he loves steak!! And edamame, go figure. If he likes something in the morning, it’s a good chance that by the afternoon it is no longer a part of the palette. Very frustrating indeed. Vegetarian, hmm? I was there in college and beyond for quite a few years. As for protein, maybe she’ll like beans? Tofu is definitely gross and tempeh no better. Peanut butter rules! There are some fake sausages that aren’t too bad. But still, the prep work alone is a bitch! Maybe she’ll come around, or maybe it’s time to teach her how to cook her own meals…

First, regarding the protein thing, tacos are great with ground turkey… and they’re among the ugliest animals around.
As another alternative, Gimme-Lean soy based sausage and “ground beef” is vegetarian friendly, has good protein and tastes pretty darned good. I use the soy sausage in my sausage gravy for biscuits and the kids love it, actually preferring it to the real sausage because it’s not as greasy.
Regarding pickiness, do as you wish, but most of the time, I make what I make and the kids eat it or they don’t… usually they do, whether they want to or not.
That said, we have special nights where I’ll “open up the kitchen.” Usually, I do this for breakfast, but sometimes for dinner, too (or even better, when we have breakfast for dinner!). I will print up a menu, and I will take everyone’s order from the menu (I try to make a big deal out of writing their orders down, getting them drinks and the works), cooking whatever they order. This gives the kids a chance to choose, but limits the scope to things I’m prepared to cook. This works great for breakfast, where I can easily whip up omelettes or other eggs, french toast, pancakes, waffles or any number of other things very easily.
To this day, my kids LOVE it when I open up the kitchen, and my daughter’s even getting involved in helping to prepare the menus.
It also served to reinforce for them that being choosy was a special thing, and that generally we eat one meal for the family… a valuable lesson when they were younger.
Good luck.

I hear you on picky eaters. Unless we are pre-growth spurt the boy would cheerfully subside on nothing but Goldfish (the crackers, he’ll only eat fish if it’s covered in batter and I tell him it’s special chicken without feathers.) He used to eat anything hummus, curries, veggies…
I try to include one thing every meal that he’ll eat. (rice, noodles.) That way at least he’s not starving. He has to try at least usually three bites of everything else. It has mixed results.
My two cents. Pretty sure you don’t need them.

i am not looking forward to my nephew’s picky eater phase- and his dad is like your sister with his vegetarianism. argh! the whole toilet disaster sounds craptastic. (excuse the pun!)

i think it’s hilarious when kids say “cwap”. I can’t stand self righteous vegetarians. I tried to be one (not the self-righteous part, mind you) but it didn’t stick. I think it was all those protein alternatives that changed my mind for me, as well.
My soon-2-b 7 year old son has not eaten beef for about 3 years now. He can’t stomach it and since he loves chicken, pork and turkey, I don’t try to force him to eat the cows.

I don’t have that problem too much. Mine generally eat anything… and know what it’s from…and the fact that you have to kill the animal before you eat it!! If we have whole fish I have to cut the heads off to stop them playing with them!!
On time we were watching a wildlife program and a furry bunny got it from a bunch of eagles that flushed it out and ate it. X (our eldest) was about 5 at the time says to me…do we eat rabbits? “Yes” I said. But we don’t eat the fur she askes “No, if you have any sense you get the butcher to remove it. Do you want to try some rabbit.” Yes she says! So all her friends she them as fluffy pets…not X…it’s dinner!!

Great post. Allie is still eating ok, but I can see the downward spiral happening….she is slowly but surely pushing things off her normaly extensive menue. It’s only a matter of time before she’s eating nothing but pizza and nuggets.
I was a vegitarian for a year after watching a stupid movie on slaughter houses. But then I realy realy missed a nice red juicy steak. Maybe it’ll be a faze. Although I hear ya on the whole short order cook thing. I always said that I never let that happen to me. Although that was a PRE-Child comment. You know how those go.