favorite vegan breakfasts

[Will]

Hey all. Lately, I've been trying to show my gf what a good father I can be so she'll marry me :) To that end, I've been getting her 2 1/2 yr. old dd's breakfast every morning. Has to be quick because we both work so here is my favorite easy yummy kid-friendly granola. Easy to make in bulk, and stores well.


Mix 4 cups of rolled oats and up to 1 cup of mixed coarsely ground or cracked grains (rye, spelt, wheat, corn) with about 3/4 cup of liquid -- I like to boil (then cool!!!) some apple juice with some sliced fresh ginger and whole spices (cinnamon, star anise, cloves, and cardamom, depending on how eclectic your kids' tastes are). You want to cool the juice so that you don't overcook the oats -- they'll toast in the oven. Toast in a low oven (250 at most, but we use the pilot light) for several hours, stirring occassionally. Take out, crumble into whatever size pieces you like in a granola, stir in some dried fruits and/or seeds and nuts if you like. Store in a cdp! We never used milk substitutes, so we always poured apple or orange juice over, but Elly adores this with nut or rice milk. You can also use maple syrup as part of the liquid if you don't mind the added sugar. Elly really loves it this way, but I try to make that a special treat.

Any other kid-pleasing easy breakfast ideas?

[sophie]

My kids like a basic oat porridge with fruit in it, raisins or dried apricots are good, or blueberries for a special treat. Also just plain porridge with dehydrated cane juice sprinkled over, and creamy soymilk or ricemilk.
Your granola sounds amazing, if you made that for my kids every morning I'd probably marry you:D

[Erin Pavlina]

Emily really loves oatmeal, especially when her daddy makes it. Here's what we do.

We put a scoop of oats in a bowl, add some raisins, and add water so it just floats. Microwave for a minute or two until the water is absorbed and the raisins are plump.

Then we add a little rice milk to thin it and cool it. Stir and let sit until cool enough to eat. She can't get enough of it. Sometimes we'll use a sweetener like maple syrup, sometimes cinnamon and apples. yum!

[Sylver]

Hi! I like to make muffins in advance and freeze them. Then whenever I need one, I just defrost it in the microwave. Or sometimes let one thaw overnight in the fridge if I plan to give it to dd for snack at school. Pancakes usually freeze well too. Here's a recipe for whole wheat muffins:

Whole Wheat Muffins
Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp. cinnamon
1cup water
Directions:
Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl. Next combine wet ingredients in a bowl and then mix well with dry ingredients. Pour into prepared muffin pans and bake at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes.
Preparation time: 30minutes
These are not terribly sweet, which make them good for breakfast.
Take care!

[Will]

My gf's daughter Elly is used to having pancakes or french toast as a treat on saturday mornings, so I am going to search for some recipes -- any favorites? Shannon is skeptical, so this is my chance to devastate her with my culinary skills!

[Erin Pavlina]

French toast is really easy. Take some thick sourdough bread (or any kind really, but thick is good). In a bowl I put cinnamon and rice milk, dredge the bread in there, and then just cook it on the griddle. Comes out fine.

For pancakes, I have a recipe lying about someplace but it isn't very good. My pancakes come out SO flat, it's amazing. Anyone have a good pancake recipe?

[inkiepoo]

I hope someone out there has a good pancake recipe because I need one too. But I do have a fantastic waffle recipe that is SO good and has such good flavor!! I use this one all the time and my kids love it.

OAT WAFFLES

1/2 c. water with 1/4 c. cornmeal. Combine in saucepan on stove and cook.

In a blender put: 1/2 c. water and 1/2 c. roasted and salted sunflower seeds. Whiz for at least 2-3 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 more cups of water, washing down sides of blender.
Then add to blender: 1/4 c. soy milk powder (or tufu or any)
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. salt
the cooked cornmeal
Whiz good and then add all at once: 1 1/2 c. oats (can be quick or regular). Whiz until blended.

You will need to use PAM or some kind of cooking spray on your waffle iron. If batter gets too thick, just stir in a little more water. Mine usually does. Makes 4 medium size waffles or 3 large. You will never be sorry for making these waffles. Oh, and they freeze well. I stack them and place them in large ziplock freezer bags!!! When ready to use them from freezer, I put them in a baking dish and place them in a warm oven (220 or 225 degrees) They are a little limp but work fine. My kids are teens now and I can't keep these frozen!! They love them.

On our waffles, we put peanut butter and then thickened fruit such as blueberries or blackberries, peaches or raspberries. There is no better breakfast and it is good for you!!

[Robin]

For french toast batter, I put a few cups of soymilk in a dish and whisk in a few teaspoons each of nutritional yeast, sugar, and cinnamon.

As for pancakes, the Bisquick brand mix is vegan, I just use Ener-G egg substitute and soymilk instead of eggs or milk. That's when I'm in a hurry- when I actually have time to make a good breakfast I use a recipe from Vegetarian Times for buckwheat pancakes. I don't have it with me right now but I can post it another time if anyone's interested (and if that doean't violate copyright laws??) :)

[Robin]

Oh, also, here's my crepe recipe, I picked this up from a kid's cookbook and veganized it and now I just have it memorized.

1 c flour
2/3 c water
2/3 c soymilk
3 Tbsp. Ener-G powder
4 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. oil (plus additional for pan)

Whisk ingredients together to make batter. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium or med-high heat. Drop a spoonful of batter onto the hot pan and move it around so it spreads out to form a thin layer across the entire pan. Let cook for 30 sec-1 min., flip, and cook 15-30 secs on other side (these are estimates, it depends on how hot your burners get!) Enjoy, my bro and I make these all the time!

The batter stores well in the fridg for a day or two.

[yemenmocha]

Bisquick Reduced Fat is vegan, and I think the regular box isn't. I use the Egg replacer too, but for the milk I use the same volume in liquid but it's half soy milk and half water. Straight substitute of soy milk doesn't work that great.


Also, follow the directions on the box (real easy). But after mixing the mix with soymilk/water, I then add another 1/3 cup water. You have to add this after the original ratio mixes, otherwise it gets lumpy.

Works with PAM on the griddle or a little vegetable oil. I prefer the oil. They usually turn out nice and golden, fluffy, and the right thickness. Vanilla soymilk in the recipe is highly recommended.

This is almost as easy as making instant oatmeal. Real easy.

[alexis]

i really like breakfast cereals with thinned mango juice so it's not sickeningly sweet...on saturdays i like to eat oatmeal, hashbrowns, tofu scramble, toast and mango juice.... haven't had french toast or pancakes since i turned Vegan....i'll try the recipes...i've been eating like that since i was 12 and it's still a favourite...

[duckie1978]

The ones from Peta's website are really good, and all things you normally have on hand but I didn't like their french toast recipe. It is hit or miss for me when I make french toast, sometimes they are gooey inside but the outside is nice and crunchy.

PETA Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup soy milk
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
Preparation:

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Mix in the soy milk and oil, and, with an electric mixer or wire whisk, beat just until the batter is smooth.

Measure 1/3 cup batter onto a hot, oiled griddle. When bubbles appear on the upper surface of the pancake (in about 2 minutes), lift with a spatula and flip the pancake. Cook the pancake for another 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and keep warm while you make the remaining pancakes. Serve warm with maple syrup or fruit syrup.

Makes 6 to 8 pancakes.


Splurge some time and get the Van's wheat free frozen waffles. They are really good and are vegan (only the wheat free line), plus come in flavours like berry and apple cinnamon.

[Erin Pavlina]

Duckie (and everyone else), try not to post entire recipes because they are copyrighted. If you want to share a recipe from a book, ask people to privately email you or just tell them what page it's on in the book.

We don't want to infringe on people's copyrights. Thanks!

[Christa]

I won't post the recipe for the copyright reason :) & b/c I am too lazy to go upstairs from the basement to get it out of my kitchen, but The Joy of Cooking has a pancake recipe that is really good. It is not vegan, but I just substitute soy milk for the milk and Ener-G egg replacer for the eggs. Everything else should be fine unless you are avoiding sugar - there is a little, but you could probably use some kind of vegan sugar substitute.

Anyway, the pancakes come out fluffy and my husband says that they are better than Bisquick. The Joy of Cooking also has a vegan orange cake recipe (it is even labeled vegan!) that is just awesome. It uses orange juice, zest, apple cider vinegar and a couple other things. When I made it into muffins & sent it into work with my hubby, everyone asked for the recipe.

And I remember thinking that my mother was off her block for giving me the Joy of Cooking since it is definately not a vegan cookbook!

[duckie1978]

While I called the pancakes "Peta Pancakes," that recipe is not exclusively theirs b/c I have seen the same recipe in several other places but I will try to just link it next time. I don't want to step on anyone's toes re: copyright infringement.

Does your SO's daughter like bagels yet? If so the tofutti cream cheeses are AWESOME! It tastes so much like "real" cream cheese. You could also try to give her the mock meats, there are some really good sausage ones from lightlife, links and a tube.