Category Archives: Breakfast

Breakfast for Two?

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Potato, Tempeh, & Tofu Scramble ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“And now leave me in peace for a bit! I don’t want to answer a string of questions while I am eating. I want to think!” “Good Heavens!” said Pippin. “At breakfast?” ― The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkein

Hot and hearty Potato, Tempeh, & Tofu Scramble, from Betty Goes Vegan, page 33. I love this breakfast because everything’s in one dish, so it’s easy to prepare. The tofu, red potatoes, tempeh bacon, bell peppers, green onions, and spices are all whipped into a truly yummy scramble that takes about 10 minutes to cook. Served with English muffins, fresh strawberries, and ketchup.

This breakfast is Kitchen Kitty approved!

Camping Fare

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Camping Fare ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong.” — George Carlin

Keith and I recently got out of town for a couple of fantastic nights of cabin camping on the coast. We always like to prepare our food in advance before we go camping so it’s easier to relax and enjoy ourselves while we are there. Then we just have to fire up the old camping stove, heat, and eat! :) This was our menu this time around…

Breakfast: Some sweet-tart Cran-Apple Muffins from 1,000 Vegan Recipes page 410, served with fresh fruit, tea and espresso.
Lunch: Smoky Mac and Cheese from The Vegan Slow Cooker, page 115. This is our go-to macaroni and cheese recipe. It is so cheesy and melty you wouldn’t believe it. We added some roasted broccoli & red peppers for good measure.
Dinner: Thick and savory Seitan Beef Stew from Cookin’ Crunk, page 78. This stew is amazing and was just what we needed on those chilly evenings by the fire.
Dessert: Chocolate Banana Walnut Brownies with Holy Chocolate Icing from ExtraVeganZa, page 228. Yum, yum, yum! And for second desserts, some toasted vegan Dandies Marshmallows.

Camping Facts: Camping has been a recreational sport for over 140 years. However, the roots of camping go back hundreds of years. It can be traced back to Native Americans, the first settlers of the United States.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

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Fresh Strawberry Pie ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This strawberry bombshell was made with a homemade whole wheat pie crust, oodles of fresh strawberries, sugar, and with cornstarch as a thickener instead of the bovine gelatin that is traditionally used in these pies.

We used the Fresh Strawberry Pie recipe from Cookin’ Crunk, the fantastic new vegan Southern cooking cookbook by Bianca Phillips, page 147.

This luscious pie was remarkably easy to make and even easier to eat… all you need are seasonal strawberries and a few pantry staples. That being said, this is definitely one to make in late Spring or early Summer.

Serve as you like with fresh cashew cream, Mimic Cream, or your favorite vegan ice cream.

Strawberry Facts: Strawberries are a member of the rose family (they are not “technically” berries).

Country-Fried Tempeh Steak w/Buttermilk Biscuits & Soy Milk Gravy

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Country-Fried Tempeh Steak w/Buttermilk Biscuits & Soy Milk Gravy ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.” — Bette Davis

Each of these recipes are from the wonderful new cookbook Cookin’ Crunk, by Bianca Phillips. The Country Fried Steak with Soy Milk Gravy are on page 94, and the Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits are on page 136.

This meal was just too decadent and delicious! What says “comfort food” more than batter-fried tempeh steaks with a creamy sage gravy and warm, buttery biscuits?

Served with a side of pureed, roasted turnips topped with dairy-free butter. You could also serve this with pureed, steamed cauliflower or mashed potatoes.

We added a bunch of chopped chives to the biscuit dough because we had some in the fridge. We also substituted hemp milk for soy milk in the gravy recipe.

Country Fried Steak Facts: The precise origins of the dish are unclear, but many sources attribute its development to German and Austrian immigrants to Texas in the 19th century, who brought recipes for Wiener Schnitzel from Europe to the USA. Lamesa, the seat of Dawson County on the Texas South Plains, claims to be the birthplace of chicken fried steak, and hosts an annual celebration accordingly. John “White Gravy” Neutzling of Bandera in the Texas Hill Country also claims to have invented the dish.

Veggie Breakfast Scramble w/Tempeh Sausage Patties

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Veggie Breakfast Scramble w/Tempeh Sausage Patties ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Lewis Carroll

These recipes are from The Karma Chow Ultimate Cookbook, and they are both easy to make. The Veggie Breakfast Scramble is on page 31, and the Tempeh Sausage Patties are on page 35.

The scramble is bursting with bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, garlic, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, summer squash, chard, and spices. This is such a healthy, delicious scramble filled with yummy veggies and no tofu!

The savory sausage patties were rich with flavors of onion, fennel, and sage, and honestly the best I’ve ever had. They were extra tasty with some hot sauce.

We ate these dishes with an English muffin on the side, but you could wrap the scramble up in a warmed corn tortilla for a gluten-free version.

We also doubled the recipes so we’d have gourmet breakfasts for a few days. We almost always double recipes, as this way we actually end up cooking a lot less that we would otherwise and we always have healthy food ready to eat.

Breakfast Facts: Breakfast (literally means to break the fasting period of the prior night; in Old English the term was morgenmete, meaning “morning meal”) is the first meal taken after rising from a night’s sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day’s work.

Carrot Bread w/Cranberries & Walnuts, Spread w/Dairy-Free Cream Cheese

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Carrot Bread w/Dairy-Free Cream Cheese ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.” ― Paul Cezanne

From 1,000 Vegan Recipes, page 406. This moist, wonderful bread is chock full of carrots, cranberries, and walnuts.

We decided to go “carrot cake style” and top this with some dairy-free cream cheese, which complimented the bread nicely.

We substituted hemp milk for soy milk for a soy-free version, but you could substitute any of your favorite dairy-free milks here.

Carrot Factoid: In the 16th century, Dutch carrot growers invented the orange carrot in honor of the House of Orange, the Dutch Royal Family. They did this by cross breeding pale yellow carrots with red carrots.

Biscuits & Creamy Sage Gravy

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Biscuits w/Creamy Sage Gravy ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” ― Laura Ingalls Wilder

Biscuits and Creamy Sage Gravy, served up Little House on the Prairie style in our dining room with some meat-free sausages, hot sauce, and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

From Vegan Diner, page 47. We substituted hemp milk for soy milk for a soy-free version.

These cutout biscuits were so light and flaky, and the creamy sage gravy was to die for! Easy to make and even easier to eat. Such a tasty, savory breakfast. :)

Persimmon Blondies

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Persimmon Blondies ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“If it be not ripe, it will draw a man’s mouth awry, with much torment, but when it is ripe, it is as delicious as an apricot.” ― Captain John Smith (who’s life was twice saved by Pocahontas) on persimmons

From the inspiring cookbook Vegan Desserts, by Hannah Kaminsky, page 151. This “best-blondie-everrrr” recipe uses hachiya persimmons, five-spice powder, chocolate chips, and walnuts. We ate these every day for both breakfast AND dessert until they were gone because they were so yummy. I only wish persimmons were in season year-round so we could make these more often.

Captain Smith’s quote above is true, too! Hachiya persimmons should be eaten when they are very soft. If you’ve ever taken a bite out of a crunchy one you will know what starchiness and bitterness are all about, but if you let them ripen in a paper bag until they are nice and mushy you will taste pure heaven.

Ocean’s Blueberry Orange Muffins

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Blueberry Orange Muffins ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“Animals do not ‘give’ their life to us, as the sugar-coated lie would have it. No, we take their lives. They struggle and fight to the last breath, just as we would do if we were in their place.” ― John Robbins

The recipe for these bursting-with-pure-sunshine muffins is from the incredible book May All Be Fed, written by one of my greatest heroes and the reason I became vegan, Mr. John Robbins. This recipe is named after his son, Ocean.

If you like blueberries and oranges and oats then these are the muffins for you (and me!). We poured some of the batter into our Le Creuset heart ramekins and made giant lovey-dovey versions. We also substituted spelt flour for regular wheat flour for lower-gluten muffins. Keith enjoyed these with an espresso made using his coveted Alessi espresso maker.

Blueberry Facts: Blueberries contain significant quantities of both antibacterial and antiviral compounds, and have a reputation in northern Europe of fighting infections. They may also help protect against heart disease.

Breakfast Benedicts Florentine

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Breakfast Benedicts Florentine ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

Picture this… layers of buttery toasted English muffins, braised spinach, grilled Canadian bacon (vegan style, mais oui!) golden heirloom tomatoes, and a tarragon-white wine hollandaise sauce to die for. Topped with smoked sea salt and cracked black pepper. From the beloved cookbook Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson, page 48. What a scrumptious breakfast!

Vanilla-Yogurt Pound Cake w/a Blue Bottle Caffè Americano

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Pound Cake ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

This recipe is pure genius… truly the most heavenly pound cake to ever grace one’s plate. From Veganomicon, page 254. We sprinkled shredded coconut on top because we’re cukoo for coconuts. We also used rich and creamy coconut milk yogurt, which is the cat’s meow!

Served with a Caffè Americano made from Blue Bottle organic beans, the finest coffee in the land.

As the skull candle reminds us, memento mori, or “remember your mortality” and eat cake while you still can!

Fall Harvest Fruit Butter

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Fall Harvest Fruit Butter ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“I won all the blue ribbons for canning at the state fair.” –Loretta Lynn

This is a festive fall treat made from seasonal organic pears, apples, home roasted pumpkin, agave nectar, and warming spices. Another great recipe from The Vegan Slow Cooker, page 33.

This scrumptious fruit butter contains all of the flavors that you associate with autumn. It is the perfect accompaniment to crumpets, English muffins, toast, or even a humble pb&j.

The recipe also says that this can be frozen for future enjoyment, but we decided to go old-school and can this in jars to preserve it. Canning is so easy, fun, and rewarding!

Carrot Muffins

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Carrot Muffins ~ From vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

From Vegan with a Vengeance, page 46. We substituted spelt flour for regular wheat flour and agave for sugar. We didn’t have any raisins (which the recipe calls for) but these were fluffy, moist, and delicious nonetheless. These are the perfect breakfast muffins!

Carrot factoids:
The Ancient Greeks called the carrot a philtron, which translates to “love charm.” They believed the carrot made both men and women more amorous. These muffins were lovely, indeed! ;)

The scene from the movie It Happened One Night in which Clark Gable leans nonchalantly against a fence eating carrots while talking to Claudette Colbert inspired the creators of Bugs Bunny to give him the same nonchalant, carrot-eating demeanor.

Heirloom Apples ~ Pink Pearl & Red Gravenstein

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Apples: Pink Pearl & Red Gravenstein ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“My best traveling was done during winter months when the cold has settled in and my feet are bared; the icy earth quickens my step.”  – Johnny Appleseed on why he went barefoot.

How do you like them apples? I know I did… gorgeous and tasty pink pearls and red gravensteins. These heirloom apples appeared at our local health food store extraordinaire, Rainbow Grocery Co-op last week. Neither Keith nor I had ever seen pink pearls before. They were so pretty I just had to take a picture of them to share with you. They were creamy pink on he outside, and fuschia on the inside! The gravensteins gave the pearls a run for the money, too. They were a beautiful vivid ruby red in color, with green accents. Both varieties were crunchy, sweet, and juicy, and were perfect lunch break apples. :) Be sure to eat your apple a day, as apples are high in fiber and vitamin C and apple pectin is powerful at cleansing the body of residual radiation (and we all know that we’re getting more than our fair shares of radiation from wireless devices and nuclear fallout these days).

Blueberries & Cream Muffins

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Blueberries & Cream Muffins ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

Blueberries are nutritional powerhouses and they taste great baked into muffins, so Keith and I developed this recipe for Blueberries & Cream Muffins to share with you. These are made using spelt flour, which is much lower in gluten than regular wheat flour and a great option for those with gluten sensitivity. We also added almond extract, which mingled really well with the other ingredients, but feel free to use your favorite extract. Vanilla, lemon, or orange would also taste great in these light, moist muffins!

South American Chili w/Bak’n, Cheeze, & Roasted Pepper Corn Muffins

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South American Chili w/Bak'n, Cheeze, & Roasted Pepper Corn Muffins ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog.

We brought this to work this week and ate the muffins for breakfast and the chili for lunch. We always try to cook enough on the weekends for breakfast and lunch during the week, which is a real time-saver for us. The hearty and healthy chili recipe is from Quick and Easy Vegan Slow Cooking, page 140. It is made using pinto beans, fresh corn, potatoes, amaranth, and quinoa. The corn muffins were made using our own recipe.

Revolutionary Spanish Omelet w/Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

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Revolutionary Spanish Omelet w/Roasted Red Pepper Sauce - from Vegetate, Vegan Cooking and Food Blog

Isa Chandra Moscowitz has done it yet again… this is one of my favorite dishes ever. The omelet is made from potatoes, onions, tofu, and saffron, saffron, saffron! It is baked until eggy (I just made that word up) and soft. Served with a roasted red pepper sauce made from fresh roasted red bell peppers and almond meal. From Vegan with a Vengeance, page 184. Yum!

Vegan Bake Sale Booty

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Vegan Bake Sale Booty - from Vegetate, Vegan Cooking and Food Blog

I’m sorry to say that these aren’t homemade, but happy to say that we enjoyed every last one of them (in less than 24 hours).

There was a vegan bake sale in our neighborhood so we took advantage. ;) Who wouldn’t? Just look at all of that decadent bake sale booty!

Muchas gracias to the inimitable blog, Vegansaurus for keeping us in-the-know about all of the tasty happenings in the Bay Area.

Tahini Zucchini Bread

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Tahini Zucchini Bread - from Vegetate, Vegan Cooking and Food Blog

This is my favorite sweet bread, hands down. The tahini adds a richness that is carried through by the sesame seed topping, and the zucchini ensures that the bread stays moist. We omit the cinnamon so the main spices in the loaves are vanilla and ginger. This great recipe is from the Vegan Planet cookbook.

Strawberry Jalapeno Corn Muffins & Papas Guisadas

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Strawberry Jalapeno Corn Muffins & Papas Guisadas - from Vegetate, Vegan Cooking and Food Blog

Tangy tomato/pepper potatoes with homemade sour dressing (from Vegan Deli), tasty strawberry jalapeno corn muffins (from Extraveganza) with house almond cream cheese (from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook), store-bought tofu sausages, and a butter boat!