Two years ago, Lidia Kemeny’s daughter Laura came home from school with a daunting proposition: she challenged the family to go vegetarian for a month. The 10-year-old’s class had been participating in a series of eco-friendly challenges, and going veggie was next on the list. The Vancouver mom had her doubts. “Both my husband and I grew up in very traditional meat-eating families,” says Kemeny. “When she asked if we could do it, my first response was, “Wow, this is going to be really hard. Now what am I going to cook?’ “

Clinical dietitian Susan Buhler says going veg is an increasingly popular choice among preteens, something she sees more and more in her Edmonton practice.

Sometimes swayed by friends at school or celebs on tv, preteens who make this choice often do so for ethical reasons. “Kids of that age especially are influenced by issues related to the environment and the treatment of animals,” says Buhler. While sometimes a short-lived kick, Buhler says if your child sticks with it for more than two weeks, it’s time to sit down together and do some meal planning ““ otherwise kids may gravitate to palate-pleasing white flour options or, says Buhler, simply eat more of the non-meat items on the dinner menu. “At that point, they’re missing major nutrients from their diet,” she warns. Of particular concern are protein, iron, vitamin B12 and, especially for vegans, calcium.

It’s a lesson Halifax mom Sherma Richards and her son, Joe, learned the hard way. Diagnosed with an animal protein allergy at a young age, Joe was taken off meat and never went back, even when he was cleared to reintroduce it. By eight he began to gain serious weight, a trend that continued through his preteen years. At 14, Joe was five foot four and almost 300 pounds because he filled up on all the wrong things. “He ate a lot of pizzas, cookies and potato chips,” says Richards. After mother and son researched healthy eating, Joe made big adjustments in his menu and got active. In just a year, he dropped more than 100 pounds.

In the Kemeny household, that one-month challenge became a way of life. The whole family is still vegetarian. To simplify the dinner decision process, Kemeny recommends trying different meals, then keeping a running list of winners. Vesanto Melina, a Vancouver dietitian and author of several vegetarian classics, including Becoming Vegetarian (Wiley), agrees. “Parents don’t need to reinvent their whole cooking style or learn dozens and dozens of new recipes,” she says.

Melina adds that it may help to look beyond our borders for meal options. She recommends trying basic ethnic recipes from cultures that typically use beans. For example, preteens love tacos with refried or chili bean filling, grated cheese, chopped veggies and guacamole, she says. Fajitas have become a favourite in the Kemeny home. Vegetarian chili is also a good bet. The non-heme source of iron in beans is absorbed with the help of ascorbic (citrus) acid, so legumes are best served with a tall glass of tomato or orange juice.

Stir-fries were a major help in getting Joe back to good health, says Richards. She uses extra-light olive oil and throws in anything she has in the fridge ““ spinach, zucchini, celery, onions ““ adds tofu and serves it over brown rice. Or for a little comfort food, she recommends a winter vegetable stew with potatoes, yams, carrots, garlic, oregano, thyme, Parmesan, and peas or lentils for protein.

For other kid-pleasing options, Kemeny suggests vegetable lasagna, which she cooks with pre-made noodles, tomato sauce, Swiss chard and three cheeses. She also makes a simple spaghetti dish by topping jarred tomato sauce with Parmesan and parsley. And if in doubt, she says, throw together a little mac ‘n’ cheese, easily made from scratch with butter, flour, milk, cheddar and nutmeg. “There’s not a kid in the world who doesn’t like macaroni and cheese,” laughs Kemeny.

The best thing about all these dishes? They’re versatile. Cheeses and milk can be replaced with readily available non-dairy options for vegans. And in most cases, the carnivores in the family can add meat ““ although with all of these great vegetarian options, who knows if they’ll even want to.