10 Vegan Breakfast Ideas (Compilation #6)

As I continue on toward my goal of nice breakfasts every weekend, I have several more to share with you. At first I thought I'd never be able to expand my repertoire this much, but it just goes to show you what setting your mind to something can do. Though you'll still see some chocolate here (where would I be without that?) this is far less decadent than my last round up--more of an everyday life compilation than a holiday break compilation.

1. Peanut Butter Banana Breakfast Pizza (Gluten Free)

You might consider this a pancake, but calling it a pizza is more fun. Besides, who would ever be so meticulous about their pancake toppings? I found this recipe over at HummuSapien, and I knew I had to try it when cacao nibs went on sale. It's essentially a sweet version of a chickpea flour pancake and I can't wait to make it again when strawberries are in season.

2. Sour Cream and Onion Tater Tot Waffles (Gluten Free)

Thaw some tater tots. Put them down into a hot waffle iron. Close the waffle iron (hard, so you squish the tater tots). After it's cooked for a bit, check to see if there are any gaps that need filling with more tater tots; fill the gaps, press down, and cook until crispy on the outside and hot and steamy on the inside. Top with non-dairy sour cream, sliced scallions, and maybe some Bac'n Bits. You can't have just one. (Okay, so you could just top your hash brown patties instead, but what fun is that?) Hopefully you have a bigger waffle iron than I do, and can make a bigger waffle, because you'll definitely want more than just this little one. (I made another one after finishing this off.)

3. Blueberry Almond Oatmeal (Gluten Free)

I've shared this recipe with you already--a warm bowl of protein-rich goodness with fruit and grains to boot for a day you need something to stick to your ribs, sweetened with a bit of bee free honey or agave nectar.

4. Toast with Tofu Spread and Cucumber

I'm in the process of falling in love with tofu spreads. This one, with sun dried tomato and scallions, is something like a cross between a veggie cream cheese and a ricotta dip. It's perfect for a quick, savory toast. Thinly sliced cucumber, salt, and pepper round it out nicely.

5. Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce

I was inspired to make this bread pudding when I read the recipe at Simple Vegan Blog. Though I had more stale bread on hand than I usually end up with (I typically eat my bread before it goes stale), I didn't have nearly as much as would be needed for that recipe, so I cut it in half. I also made my own vanilla sauce instead of the brown sugar sauce Iosune suggested on her blog. Bread pudding can be as decadent or as health-conscious as you want it to be. I'll be making more bread puddings in the future, I'm sure. Nobody around here will be surprised when I add chocolate chips.

6. Blended Peanut Butter Chocolate Chia Pudding (Gluten Free)

Having discovered that I can have not-lumpy chia pudding by making it in the blender, I branched out a bit further and tried this recipe from A Saucy Kitchen, but blended. I topped it with a maple-peanut butter sauce and some dark chocolate chips. I think a berry chia pudding is still my preference, but this was nice!

7. Banana "Nutella" Muffins

Actual Nutella is not vegan. But there are several non-dairy chocolate hazelnut spreads for you to try. Justin's is thick, like the nut butter it is, and is probably the healthiest one I've tried. But when I found Niccolata non-dairy chocolate hazelnut spread, I was amazed because it had the same texture and flavor of the definitely-not-health-food Nutella I remember. I love both for different things, and I know there are others out there to experiment with, too (let me know what your favorite is). If you're feeling industrious and have the right equipment, you can even make your own! In any case, if you want to use chocolate hazelnut spread somewhere other than on toast or graham crackers (both amazing, of course), these banana muffins from Chocolate Covered Cake pack a fun surprise inside.

8. Strawberry-Banana Nice Cream (Gluten Free)

When you're in the mood for a lighter breakfast--lighter even than my usual smoothies would be, because I tend to put nut butter in those--go for "nice cream." You could call it a smoothie bowl if it had some sort of dairy-free milk in it, probably, but if you just blend up frozen bananas for a while you get something the consistency of soft serve ice cream, and it's pretty sweet on its own so it doesn't actually need any other flavorings. I put frozen strawberries in this one to jazz up the banana a bit and topped my strawberry-banana nice cream with kiwi, blueberries, and coconut flakes. This is not really suitable for cold winter days, but hey. Sometimes you want ice cream for breakfast, even if it is cold out. Just chase it with a cup of hot tea to avoid giving yourself the chills, or save this idea for warmer days.

9. Toast with Almond Butter, Pears, and Granola

I saw a combination of toast, almond butter, sliced pears, and granola suggested on a few websites, and at first thought it sounded pretty odd to put granola on toast. But there came a morning when I had all these things and gave it a whirl. (The granola, if it matters, was the coconut chia granola by Nature's Path, so hence the visible chia seeds.) It turned out to be amazing. I would happily have this again, and I'm rarely a pear person. But the creaminess of the almond butter and the pears is set off so nicely by the crunchy granola. It's a beautiful thing. I think it's my favorite out of the breakfasts in this post.

10. Blueberry Mug Cake

The somewhat sad thing about mug cakes is that you need the mug to be so much larger than the cake (in this case, really more of a muffin). So for my style of blogging--which is a realistic view of what I have actually eaten--it doesn't look that awesome. I guess I could have scooped this out into a ramekin or something, but then you wouldn't get those fun and alarming blueberry streaks down the sides of my mug. In any case, sometimes you don't want to make a batch of muffins. Sometimes you just want to take a few moments to microwave a mug cake. This was nice with a glass of orange juice on the side.

What should I try next?