The Top 3 Breakfast Recipes Every Vegan In Virginia Should Know
Ashburn, VA: My son called and said he’s bringing his vegan boyfriend home to meet us over breakfast. I wanted my son’s boyfriend to feel very comfortable and well-fed during his visit, but I had no idea what to cook. I live in a rural area in Virginia. We are an old-school, hard-working, meat and potatoes type of family, so I had zero ideas of what to make. Plus, I didn’t have the patience to experiment with the thousands of vegan recipes online.
So I Did Something Crazy
I called over 10 of the nation’s top-ranked vegan restaurants, asked to speak with their best chef, told the chef my dilemma, and asked for help. The chefs were surprisingly open and helpful. After speaking with the chefs, I noticed there were some commonalities in their suggestions. Most all the chefs suggested some version of the following:
- Vegan Pancakes
- Vegan Meat
- Vegan Tufo Scramble
Some of the chefs were so kind as to tell me how they make the dishes. I took notes, practiced making the dishes, and when the morning came for my son and his boyfriend to arrive, I was ready. I served breakfast to my son, his boyfriend, and my husband. After tasting the food here were their first comments:
- My Son’s Boyfriend (With a Mouth FULL of Food): “Ummmm……So What Time Is Breakfast Tomorrow?”
- My Son: “D*mn Mom! (Takes Another Bite of Food). D*mn Mom This Is Good!”
- My Husband: “This Isn’t as Bad as The Last Time You Made It.”
2 out of 3 ain’t bad. Overall the breakfast and visit were a hit. Below are the recipes for everything I learned from those helpful vegan chefs.
Easy Vegan Pancakes
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 cup oat milk, almond milk or soy milk
- ½ cup water
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
Recipe:
- Place flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl and whisk together.
- After you’ve whisked everything together, put the oil, milk, and water into the bowl. Stir it with a big spoon. Tip: Do not over-mix. Otherwise, your pancakes will not be fluffy. A few lumps in the batter are ok.
- Grab a pan, griddle, etc., and place it on the stove over medium-high heat. Grease your pan with coconut oil or vegan butter. Drop a little batter (about ⅓ cup or so) into the pan. Cook until you see bubbles then flip and cook until it’s a nice golden brown. This process takes 1-2 minutes. Do the same thing with the remaining batter.
- You can serve the pancakes with vegan butter, pure maple syrup, fruit, etc.
Shockingly Delicious Vegan Bacon
I noticed most of the store-bought vegan bacon looked like dog treats. Good thing multiple vegan chefs mentioned they ordered their bacon from a place called Herbivorous Butcher. I ordered their Hickory Smoked Bacon. This stuff is surprisingly delicious! If you live in Minnesota, you can pick it up locally. Otherwise, they will ship it to you.
America’s Best Tofu Scramble
I spent most of my time perfecting this recipe, and it was the dish my son’s boyfriend loved the most. The vegan chefs all had their version of a tofu scramble, but after tying them all, I was not that impressed. The scramble needed a kick, and I found a simple way to take this dish to the next level. My husband does BBQ competitions as a hobby, and his team has won many of them. His strongest category is chicken. He uses this salt-forward, little-known but delicious seasoning as his secret. The seasoning is called Bald Buck. It’s his go-to for smoked chicken, but I use it on everything (fries, potatoes, veggies, etc.)! I simply added this seasoning to the tofu scramble recipe and BAM! It gave the scramble this unique, delicious flavor that my son’s boyfriend loved but couldn’t figure out. Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
- ⅓ cup almond or oat milk
- 2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup diced yellow onion
- 14 ounces extra-firm tofu, patted dry and crumbled
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Bald Buck: Bold Taste
Recipe:
- In a bowl, whisk together the milk, nutritional yeast, turmeric, cumin, garlic, mustard, and ½ teaspoon of Bald Buck: Bold Taste. Set aside.
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium. Put the onion in and add a pinch of Bald Buck and black pepper. Cook until soft (takes 5 minutes or so). Add your tofu, stir and cook for 3-5 minutes. Set the heat to low and stir in the milk mixture. Let it cook for 3 minutes while stirring occasionally. Season to taste with more Bald Buck & black pepper.
I hope these recipes help you. Also, there are tons of videos about Bald Buck seasoning on YouTube, but below is the video my husband watched to find it. WARNING: The video below is about using Bald Buck for chicken, but I still think the video gives the best insight into the seasoning. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!