10 Vegan Breakfast Ideas (Compilation #55)

Cooler weather has been slowly making its way in, and I am beside myself with joy over the possibilities that opens up! I may be the only person I know who longs for winter and gets excited about the sun being down when I wake up, but so be it, I'm weird. Cool weather means the oven gets switched on sometimes and I get to have muffins and cake and such. It's worth a celebration, I think!

There are vegetables here as well as lots of fresh fruit--in both conventional and unconventional presentations--so there's probably something here for everyone.

1. Upside Down Oatmeal Plum Cake (Gluten Free)

This is so pretty, but not too hard to make--plus, it's primarily fruit, oats, and nuts (in this case almond flour), so it's great for breakfast! The recipe is from Ela Vegan. I made this on the first chilly morning all year. It was a wonderful way to get the oven going again.

2. Seedy Fruit Salad (Gluten Free, Nut Free, Soy Free)

I went a tad bit wild in the produce section after my low spend month was over, and this is the result: a big bowl of mixed fruits with seeds! This is quite a feast: Clementines, kiwi, blueberries, blackberries, cherries, and red seedless grapes with sesame seeds, hemp seeds, and chia seeds. If you have one of those mornings where you just want a huge bowl of fruit (hey, it happens), but you want to add something to it to make it less of one big sugar rush, this might work out really well. And in any case it is delicious!

3. Spinach Mushroom Crepes with Almond Cheese

This was a recipe from Domestic Gothess. One lazy weekend morning, when I felt like I wanted brunch more than breakfast and therefore it didn't matter if it took a while to make it, I decided these would be on the menu. For me, the crepe batter (which I made with soy milk) was thicker than expected, but I still got pancakes thin enough to fold. The almond cheese was perfect here, too. If you're in the mood for something savory and want a recipe with nothing "weird" in it to serve to omnivores, I think this would be perfect. (We won't tell them about the nutritional yeast in the almond cheese, just in case that turns out to be "weird" in their estimation--I'll admit, I would have thought so before I was vegan.) It's just some basic ingredients I generally always have around, but together they make something magical.

4. Whole Wheat Watermelon Chocolate Chip Muffins (Nut Free)

Here's another of those things that I only get to have in the transition between summer and fall, when watermelon is still seasonal, but the season when I get to turn on the oven is making its way in. Most people wouldn't then decide to put watermelon in a muffin, but I'm not most people, and fortunately, neither is the recipe's author, Akum Raj Jamir, on the At My Kitchen blog. I followed her advice to substitute a plant-based milk to make it vegan, and used soy. These whole wheat muffins are tender and fluffy, and the watermelon flavor is delightful. I get giddy when I find something like this--an unusual but delicious recipe that makes me feel like I've entered into some magical secret world--and although I know they sound very odd, trust me: These are worth it. I had my muffins with a soy latte, a banana, and a clementine to round out the meal.

5. Chocolate Hazelnut Latte (Gluten Free)

Here's a relatively easily veganized latte recipe from Girl Versus Dough! Use vegan chocolate hazelnut spread (I used Justin's) and plant-based milk and you're set. I made this with Cafix, but of course you could use coffee if that's your thing. If you do use a denser chocolate hazelnut spread like Justin's--one that's more of a nut butter than Nutella is--it's likely best to mix the coffee and nut butter with an immersion blender, rather than just stirring it up, but if you have a creamier type that shouldn't be necessary. 

6. Silken Tofu Spinach Smoothie Bowl (Gluten Free, Nut Free)

There are a lot of ways to add protein to your smoothies. I prefer the not-protein-powder ways. One of those is silken tofu. I modified this smoothie recipe to make it thicker so it could be a smoothie bowl. It's a base of silken tofu, kiwi, banana, and spinach topped with more kiwi, fresh cherries, hemp seeds, and chia seeds. This was delicious! I threw on some granola and almond butter to eat it, though it was fine without that, too. It was a wonderful way to start a morning on a warm day (which we do still sometimes get this time of year, sigh).

7. Arugula and Cheese JUST Egg Omelet (Nut Free)

I finally mastered omelets, I think because I have the perfect pan for them now. I had some arugula that needed using, so I chopped it up and put it, along with some dairy-free mozzarella, into this JUST Egg omelet (omelet recipe from Nora Cooks). I served it with sliced tomato, chives, and salt and pepper. This was great! I had some skillet potatoes cooked with peppers and onions on the side, but you don't see them because I didn't have room for them on my plate, and they had to be really on the side. But I have no regrets about filling half my plate with beefsteak tomato. Summer tomatoes are awesome.

8. Blended Cherry Almond Overnight Oats (Gluten Free)

Cherries and almonds complement each other really well, so why not put them together in your oats? I found this recipe at Three Little Chickpeas. Because I am myself, I blended it up before letting it set in the fridge overnight. The colors got a little muted by morning, but the flavors were still amazing--in part because of that almond extract in the mix (genius). I topped my oats with some non-dairy Greek yogurt, more fresh cherries, and mini chocolate chips. I loved this!

9. Beet Juice Pancakes with Non-Dairy Vanilla Cinnamon Yogurt

I had some beet juice on hand, so I decided to make the lazy version of beet pancakes: Beet juice pancakes! I just substituted beet juice for water in my favorite vegan pancake recipe (the glorious one at Nora Cooks). I topped my hot pink pancakes with some non-dairy vanilla cinnamon yogurt and garnished them with some fresh blueberries. Beet juice pancakes taste pretty much like regular pancakes, but they're hot pink and therefore a lot more fun! I had some stewed plums with these, so I also had the syrup from the fruit, which was a perfect breakfast alongside some decaf black tea with soy milk.

10. Blueberry-Cherry Almond Cheese Toast

This is sort of a fun red, white, and blue theme, although my almond cheese is more beige than white. I had some feta-style almond cheese on hand I'd made from this recipe at Domestic Gothess, as well as some delicious fresh cherries and blueberries, so that was a natural multigrain toast to make. It was delicious! Not too sweet, and great with a soy latte made from grain coffee.

What have you had for breakfast lately?