I haven’t really talked to anyone about this outside of my house, but a few months back I decided to kick the animal protein habit completely until the end of the year (and after that… who knows…) and have been challenging myself to cook as vegan as I can.

While not the first time I’ve gone veg, this is the first time after having Ella that I am consciously not eating it (although I’ll admit that I’m not a huge meat eater, period).

Meat and dairy are darn hard on my constitution.  But oh, how I do love a good barbacoa taco, pot roast, osso bucco and carnitas.  I’m just so tired of carrying around the extra weight and often feeling just awful after eating a meal.

But this change has had a completely unexpected result that I’m reminded of quite frequently.  Ella, who is a veggie kid, is OVER THE MOON at the lack of cows, etc. in my diet.  “You’re a vegetarian now, just like me Mom,” she’ll say.  ”Just like Aang, my daddy and lots of other people who LIKE animals but don’t EAT animals.”

It makes her really, really happy.

I really hadn’t anticipated the shortie including her dietary lifestyle as such a large part of her identity at such a young age.  It’s a badge of honor to her, in a way.  She loves trying new foods, thinks veggies (even new, quirky ones we try) are the bomb, is a seitan connoisseur and scarfer of tofu.  Fascinating child.

Our idea was to keep her  little system off of hormones, pesticides and as many preservatives possible through her formative years — and then let her decide her own food eating ways once she was old enough to make the choice.  But with the way things are going, I bet it’ll be a while before she decides to experiment with hamburgers.  She’s intense!

Here are some handy resources for vegetarian parenting and healthy veggie kiddos – a well-balanced, diverse and fresh diet is hugely important.  But totally do-able (and cheaper to boot):

• Vegetarian Resources Group
• Veg Kitchen recipes for kids and nutrition tips
• How to raise a vegetarian kid
• Vegan Lunchbox (we have her cookbook too)
• Vegan Dad (perfect vegan kiddo friendly food ideas)
• Fatfree Vegan (loooooove this blog)