Pre-ThanksLiving Breakfast of Champions...

I don’t know why, but I’ve really been feeling breakfast lately. Those of you who’ve been following the blog for a while now know that I’m not really a food in the morning kind of person. I much prefer a smoothie if I’m going to have anything. Of course there are those rare exceptions when I wake up ravenous and just want to tear into a big ‘ole plate of waffles or a tofu scramble. I typically make a hearty breakfast about once a month - if that - and the rest of the time I subside on smoothies, juice, water, tea or some homemade granola for breakfast. But lately I seem to wake up hungry a lot, and so I’ve been making breakfast about two or three times a week, and it’s been a lot of fun. You know, despite not being a big AM eater, I sure do love breakfast food. I think when you’re really in the mood for a big meal in the morning, it’s the most satisfying and enjoyable meal of the day. Nothing puts a smile on your face like a plate of pancakes am I right?

I know everyone in the United States is gearing up to celebrate ThanksLiving tomorrow. Everyone’s got their crock-pot seitan roast at the ready. Pumpkin pies are baked, potato are peeled, veggies are prepped, everything’s in the works, but I’ll be honest, I’m not feeling the holiday spirit this year. Maybe it’s because this has been a rough year - and particularly a rough month and a half - for me, or maybe it’s the fact that I never cared all that much about American Thanksgiving anyway, or maybe I’m beginning to see the holiday for what it is. A supposed celebration of thanks built upon a tradition of murder and violence. Maybe I just feel really sad for all those poor turkeys, and just want to shun the holiday all together. Whatever the reason I just don’t feel much like celebrating.

That being said, nothing’s ever stopped me from going all out and preparing a big meal. Every American Thanksgiving - except last year - my husband and I go to his aunts house. In previous years I brought vegan food for us to eat during dinner, along with appetizers and desserts that everyone could enjoy. This year since I’m not in a celebratory mood - and since I already put on a big lavish Thanksgiving spread back in October - I just didn’t feel like doing that again. So when I told my husband we would eat something simple at home and asked him what he wanted me to cook, imagine my joy when he said “Breakfast.”

This man is amazing y’all, and I love him to death. He’s not in too much of a celebratory mood himself these days, I think for many of the same reasons as me. So I really like that for ThanksLiving we’re doing something totally off the wall and different. Brunch instead of dinner. No roast, no Veganized Thanksgiving. We’re just going to have a good time, eating good food, and say to hell with tradition. Who knows, maybe this’ll be a new trend? I’d honestly prefer not to be reminded of turkeys at all during this time, and so brunch is perfect, for me there is no connection between the two, and I needed feel sad, or guilty, or helpless.

Anyway, what’s all this got to do with anything? Well there are so many great breakfast foods out there, so many amazing recipes! When I was trying to figure out what to make I just couldn’t decide and so I decided to do a little pre-ThanksLiving-Breakfast this morning, and it was so killer I wanted to share it with you.

I made the Green Chile and Cheese Omelet and The Perfect Hash browns from Lane Gold’s “Vegan Junk Food” This is not a book I use often, in fact I rarely use it, but something about this omelet recipe just spoke to me. In the past I had no luck flipping egg or tofu omelets and so it’s not something I ever think to make, but it just sounded so good that I was determined to give it a try. This is probably the easiest vegan omelet recipe I’ve ever made, and they came out absolutely perfectly! Not to mention mind-blowing, mouth-watering delicious! All you do is blend some tofu with soy milk, oil, flour, baking powder, salt, and turmeric. Add in some chopped chives, green chilies and daiya cheddar cheese. Then you simply cook ie up in a 12inch skillet much like you would a pancake. Simple!

The hash browns were the best I’ve ever had, and my husband said the same thing. They are super simple, potato, onion, salt, pepper, garlic powder and Earth Balance, but they were so amazing. They were buttery, and crisp, yet soft. I’ve never been a hash brown person - never got the appeal - but these were melt in your mouth perfection.

So yeah, yay for vegan breakfast!  For all of you who are celebrating ThanksLiving this year I hope you have a wonderful time.

Lastly, I encourage everyone to consider participating in Farm Sanctuary’s “Adopt a Turkey” program this year. It’s a wonderful thing, you make a $30 donation which goes towards sponsoring a turkey of your choosing. It’s such a great gesture at this time of year, and the turkey’s really need your love, your support, and your compassion. They’re beautiful creatures with wonderful spirits. My husband and I have been doing this for the past three years - we ‘adopted Tulip this year - and it’s really a wonderful thing.

You can learn more about the program here....

Farm Sanctuary - Adopt A Turkey!

Vegan Mofo #27- Joni’s Bacon and Egg Breakfast Burger...

Vegan Mofo #27- Joni’s Bacon and Egg Breakfast Burger 

The Book - The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet
The Author - Joni Marie Newman
The Recipe - Bacon and Egg Breakfast Burger
Page # 22
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - Roughly 30-40 minutes

One morning a week or so ago I was looking for something relatively quick and easy to make for breakfast that would also be delicious and filling. If I could some how manage to find another recipe that would fit into Mofo as well as fit into the parameter of those guidelines so much the better. Half heartedly and not expecting to find anything I picked up my copy of The Very best Veggie Burgers in the world and gave it a flip- through. The picture of the Bacon Egg Breakfast Burger immediately caught my attention. I’d seen the photo before of course, I’ve owned the book nearly a year and flipped through it on many occasions, but something about seeing the picture on that morning had me craving a bacon egg burger.

The recipe is pretty simple. The dough comes together fast and then it needs to rest for fifteen minutes which is no big deal. During that time if you wish you can saute up some onions and peppers as suggested in the book, which is what I did. Once the dough has rested you form it into patties and fry on each side until nice and golden, then you serve on a toasted bun or bagel - bagel in my case, and serve with fixin’s of your choice. I decided to give my bacon egg breakfast burgers a bit of a Mexicali feel and took the suggestion of adding salsa.

I smeared one half of the bagel with vegan mayo, the other half with salsa, added a patty topped it with sauteed peppers and onions then finished it with spinach. Delicious! It definitely had the texture of and egg burger, though I thought the bacon flavor was a bit mild, and it could have used a bit more black salt in my opinion, but with the toppings it all came together really well, and my husband and I devoured these morsels.

The one thing I really liked about these was that they were tofu based rather then gluten-based. They’re simple to make with a block of tofu, all purpose flour, vegan bacon bits - I used home made ones - onion powder, garlic powder, mustard, sea salt - black salt in my case - turmeric and that’s it. Only a quarter cup of bacon bits is used although next time I might be tempted to use a third cup instead.  Over all though these were a really surprising and delicious breakfast, and I think a little avocado would go pretty well with them too!