10 Vegan Breakfast Ideas (Compilation #13)

It's everybody's favorite blog series: Breakfast! Lately I've been drinking my breakfast a lot, and some of my solid breakfasts have been a bit more dessert-like, but sometimes that's life in a pandemic. Don't miss the last entry, which is probably my favorite new discovery, and includes finely shredded raw beets, of all things.

1. Blood Orange Smoothie (Gluten Free)

I only had blood oranges on hand when I wanted to make this smoothie at Kristine's Kitchen, but that didn't stop me. It did make it much deeper in color than it would likely have been with plain oranges, but I don't think it affected the taste much. This was nice for a morning I wanted something light.

2. Vanilla Banana Nice Cream (Gluten Free)

The most basic of nice creams: Just blend frozen bananas, a tiny bit of plant-based milk, and vanilla into something the consistency of soft serve ice cream. Top with sliced berries, cacao nibs, and hemp seeds, if you want.

3. Sausage Links, Mustard, and Tater Tots

I wasn't sure what to call this breakfast, but I feel like the main things you'd need are some sausage links (these are Field Roast maple breakfast sausages), some Dijon mustard to dip them in, and some tater tots, so I went with that. I like to drizzle ketchup over my tater tots so the ketchup gets nice and warm. Fill out whatever else you want around these things. I had this with a buttered (margarined, really) English muffin (the butter is I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Vegan spread), chunks of fresh pineapple and strawberries, and a cup of tea.

4. Tropical Tofu Smoothie (Gluten Free)

I try to avoid falling into stereotype and thus avoid giving you multiple smoothies in a single breakfast compilation, but it's been so hot and I've been so lethargic that I've eaten a lot of smoothies. This smoothie has tofu to give it more substance, for those days when you truly do plan to just drink your breakfast as opposed to grabbing a slice of toast to go with it, and you're on the hungry side.

5. Cream of Wheat with Berries

Do you recognize this porridge from yesterday's post? I hadn't had Cream of Wheat in a long time, but I found that I could get it delivered to me, so why not? It's so delightfully comforting. I have a lot of ideas for how I'm going to use it over the next several breakfast compilations, but for this one, I just went with the basics--I prepared the cereal as directed on the package, using soy milk and adding a teaspoon of sugar, and then topped it with some fresh berries I bought when they were on sale. I attempted to arrange the berries artfully; I do not think I fully succeeded but better luck next time.

6. Stove Top Cherry Cobbler

It may be a bit unconventional to have cobbler in the morning, but if you've eaten biscuits and fruit for breakfast, you've likely eaten something similar anyway. I ate this for breakfast a few times, though I didn't tell you that when I gave you the recipe for this single-serve cobbler. Add some coconut whipped cream if you want something really decadent. 

7. 'Otai (Gluten Free)

This isn't meant to be smooth like a smoothie, though mine turned out to be. 'Otai is a Tongan watermelon drink made from coconut milk, watermelon, pineapple, shredded coconut, and lime. It's generally more chunky than this and would have crushed pineapple and shredded watermelon suspended in it. I know you've picked up on the fact by now that some mornings are just not about food for me, so on such days I reach for something really light. Judging by how many drinks this compilation has, I've been reaching for a lot of light things lately, but I made up for it on the days I needed something more substantial.

8. Ham and Cheese Tofu-Chickpea Flour Omelet with Mushrooms (Gluten Free)

Speaking of substantial breakfasts, one lazy Sunday I made this omelet recipe from Bianca Zapatka's blog. It made a huge omelet, so I just had half at a time. What I liked was that it combined chickpea flour (a perpetual love of mine) with silken tofu for a bit fluffier texture. I stuffed this omelet with some sauteed mushrooms, Yves veggie ham, and Daiya cheddar. I had some tomato and an English muffin on the side. Note that the omelet is gluten free (as indicated), but my English muffin is not.

9. Peaches and Cream "Burrito"

I adapted this idea from the Peaches and Cream Breakfast Tacos at Mountain Mama Cooks. I cooked my buttered (margarined?) tortilla with cinnamon and sugar in my toaster oven, filled it with sliced fresh peaches, and topped it with some coconut whipped cream. It was like an easier version of crepes, but crispier! I found this messy to eat but still fun.

10. Pink Breakfast Bowl (Quinoa, Beets, Berries, and Seeds) (Gluten Free)

Out of all the breakfasts in this list, I think this one is most likely best for my health. It's also beautiful in its own way, and highly unusual. The recipe is from Ricki Heller's blog, and preparing it was pretty straightforward--I took some cold cooked quinoa (which I cooked the night before in my rice cooker) and mixed it up with soy milk, raw shredded beets, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, cinnamon, and dried goji berries. After it was well-mixed, it got one last splash of soy milk. I did use a regular (sweetened) soy milk in this rather than the unsweetened indicated in the recipe, and I appreciated the bit of sweetness from the milk but it didn't need anything else. I don't often buy beets but this made me want to buy them more often! In this midst of this season where we take what we can get and it often isn't what we're used to having, something like this being so outside my norms and yet perfectly delightful was really, really good for my mental state.

Have you had anything new for breakfast lately?