ok - i'll be there with my slightly soggy dog!

the rain is tell falling, but it seems that the sky is getting a little brighter every minute - maybe by noon it will have all blown over

see all you dog lovers there...

This was so much fun! We saw lot's of friends, lot's of pups and ate awesome veggie food! The dogs are pooped, asleep at my feet. Once again, great job to the organizers and volunteers, you should all be proud of what you do.

My twelve-year old daughter went with some friends today, and came home and announced at dinner that she was becoming a vegan. While I admire her courage in taking this step (and will support it), it's going to be a colossal pain for my wife and me to make sure she gets enough protein in her diet. She has agreed to make one exception and drink the raw milk that I get from a local farm, so that will help.

But if anyone has tips on helping a girl that age eat right on a vegan diet, I'd appreciate them.

from my adventures with my two teen vegan girls:

try every brand of veggie burger and stock up on the ones she likes - that way she's always got a "center of the plate" item for when you just can't deal with making a second entree.

it's all about the beans - put 'em in and on everything ---chick peas on the salads, kidney or white beans in the vegetarian vegetable soup

lentils and spagetti and pasta ceci are the parents-of-the-vegan's best friend

we always have a lot of nuts in the house - almonds and peanuts especially

if she'll drink the milk, she'll probably eat the yogurt - so make yogurt with the milk and you will have smoothies as well as a nice sour cream substitute for baked potatoes and who knows what else

invest in two cookbooks
1. vegan with a vengance - super simple super tasty, not wacky, everyday vegan fare...we use this book all the time and i've never made anything out of it that wasn't truly tasty - except for the recipes using tempe which no one in our house can stand

2. quick-fix vegetarian by robin robertson - the book doesn't say that it's vegan, but it is. no dairy at all and everything can be on the table in 30 minutes. this is our go-to when no one has the energy to make anything..nothing kooky, nothing complicated. everything we've made from this book has been fabulous too. a lot of these could be made by an ambitious 12 year old as well!

my research on this tells me that concerns about protein are pretty unwarranted...someone eating a diet with plenty of grains and fruits and veggies will get plenty of protein - most americans (children and adults) consume way more protien than their bodies can possibly use.

good luck.

Lincoln,

Check if she's a human being? Really?

I'm so glad you've decided to pick on teenage girls and the parents who try to do the right thing by them. You must feel very good about that.

Thanks, everyone. That's very helpful. We had already planned to make an appointment with her pediatrician, and I will get those cookbooks, Gigi. I'm printing out this thread for her as well so she can read it herself.

ps
Becoming vegan is very different than a lacto-ovo(which is what I am).
Vegans do not consume ANYTHING that comes from an animal(dairy, eggs, etc). There are many ingredients that contain animal bi-products that most are not aware of. Altoids, for example. They contain gelatin which comes from an animal. As do starbursts, skittles, jello, some puddings, dips etc. While I fully support vegans(and wish I could be one myself), it is a very difficult lifestyle to achieve without dedication. I do consume dairy and eggs but make sure to purchase eggs from a cage free, veggie fed farm(or my sis' fresh eggs) and my dairy comes from Organic Valley(a cow-friendly company). I've often thought of becoming vegan but it is such a strict diet, I don't think I can make it happen. Again, good luck. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I can also send some of my recipes:)

Amy and I went, we had a blast! I have a boat load of photos, here's some of the more AWWWW! inspiring.

more on my flickr

here is the Flickr Group for the Pet Rock Festival

http://www.flickr.com/groups/petrockfest/pool/

wow dude.

congrats on establishing an 'ignore' feature on a board i never thought would need one.

Are you saying this dog isn't awww inspiring??? I'm hurt :)

I'm a bozo, I totally blew it, for some reason, I got all the images mixed up!

Sry.

I have a total soft spot for dogs with mismatched eyes.

On Jim's question about 12 year old. I decided at a young age to not eat meat, still at seafood until I was about 13. It was hard then because my mother left it up to me to make my meals and the only place in the town that sold vegetarian friendly food was expensive and limited. Limited because that was 15 years ago and Garden Burgers and Boca's did not exist. I think today it is much easier to make the conversion. With so many mock meats that are high in protein. I do not believe that anyones needs to drink milk and you can get calcium from other means. I love soy milk, rice milk, almond milk. But Gigi's idea of "center of the plate foods" I have my freezer stocked with veggie crumble and fake chicken, cause it makes it easy when on a time strain.
Also I have Vegan With Vengance cookbook also and there is some great receipes in there. But I know in the vegan/vegetarian cookbook section of Barnes that there is at least 15 books dedicated to children and teenagers that want to make the switch. They help teens learn how to eat well and it is easy that they can do it themselves also. But as a teenage vegetarian I was eating things that were not that great for me only because of limited choices, now it is sooooo easy to be meat free. A total of 17 years of my life as a vegetarian, trying hard as hell to give up cheese (I try). Beans are a big staple in my diet...I think my diet consist of way to much fiber but all is good.
I think it is awesome that your daughter wants to eat healthier for her and the planet. Let her try it out, some stick with it and some do not. But I think with very much open minded parents all will work out wonderfully.

It would be worth your time and money to visit a registered dietitian. (I am a retired one). Your local hospital has outpatient dietitians and you can also find one in private practice through the ADA website:
www.eatright.org
"find a nutrition professional":
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/home_4874_ENU_HTML.htm
The Vegetarian Resource Group has wonderful articles and recipes; they put out a journal (Vegetarian Journal) and it is all online:
http://www.vrg.org
Raw milk is NOT safe! take a look at the BarfBlog (Kansas State University): http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu
especially the section on unpasteurized (milk, juice, cider).
Finally, rice milk and almond milk are NOT equivalent to cows milk; soy milk is.