Alan & Brenda Leonard

> Jude, Can you help me and possibly others if they are interested in menu
> planning for Vegans and Vegetarians. I am concerned about the kids getting
> enough Calcium for their growing bones and they bruise easy like me or is
> that just a kid thing? Amy

Amy,

Are you looking for menu ideas or help balancing a basic meal? My son (6
years) is a vegetarian, and I use the food pyramid, loosely. We think of
proteins heavily in terms of beans, cheese/milk products, tofu, TVP, peanut
butter and such, and just ignore the meat. We've learned that no matter how
much starch and veggies my son eats, he's hungry in an hour if I don't load
some protein into him along with it.

Have you searched calcium on Goggle? There are a LOT of foods with calcium
in them, including some you probably eat every day and never think of as
having calcium. I was worried about iron, but as my new (and much better!)
doctor pointed out, it's not like my 6 year old son is a menstruating
female, and they're generally the ones that have iron deficiency problems!

I bruise easily, and so does my son. I eat meat, he doesn't. If you have
one child that bruises particularly easily or badly, perhaps it's something
to run by the doctor sometime. But if you all bruise easily, maybe you have
fair skin and it just shows bruises more.

If you are looking for recipes that help you plan meals, drop me a line off
the list and I'll see if I can help. I had a number of vegetarian recipes
before my son became a vegetarian, but I have lots more now. It's been fun
to search out new recipes.

brenda
who served peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes tonight for dinner!
protein, starch, and fun, all in one!