The following breakfast ideas include vegetables and all the flavours you love over the holidays. It’s easy to get creative with these recipes as well. All of them can be enhanced with cranberries, for example. You’ll delight yourself as well as everyone else with your imagination.
Hash Browns
2 TBS olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 green onions, chopped (use the green and the white parts)
1 bag of hash browns
2 cups veggies (combo of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bell peppers, zucchini – whatever you have around)
1 tomato
Salt and pepper
Fresh basil
In a large skillet, heat olive oil until hot. Add onions and cook until they sweat, then add garlic. Cook until the garlic is fragrant. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Add a bag of hash browns. Stir together with the onion and garlic. Sprinkle with a bit of salt. Let cook on the first side until crispy and brown, turn over, then add the mixed veggies.
Cover and cook for about five minutes until the veggies are bright. Sprinkle with fresh basil, salt, and pepper to taste, and serve with a slice of tomato. Hint: If you use bell pepper, carrot, or other long-cooking veggies, cook with the onion and garlic.
Overnight French Toast
1.5 cups unsweetened soymilk
2 ripe bananas
2 TBS corn starch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 French baguette
1/3 cup Earth Balance vegan butter (from the sticks)
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup pecans, chopped
2 zucchinis, peeled and shredded (put into paper towels and squeeze out the water)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Maple syrup
Extra Earth Balance for pan
In a small blender, blend bananas, milk, starch, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, and vanilla until smooth. Then tear the baguette into one-inch cubes before lining a well-buttered 9×13 dish. Pour the mixture you made in the blender over the bread. You’ll want to press the bread down to make it soak up the mixture. Cover, and put in the fridge overnight.
To prepare, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter on medium-low heat. Add the sugar and whisk. Keep stirring until the mixture starts turning caramel coloured. Turn off the heat, and add the nuts, nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. Meanwhile, add the shredded zucchini to the bread mixture by stirring it in. Now, spread the butter topping over the casserole. Bake it for 40 minutes until it puffs up and turns golden brown. Top with maple syrup and enjoy. If you have any seasonal fruit, you can add that too.
Sweet Potatoes
4 sweet potatoes scrubbed and dried
4 tablespoons vegan butter
6 tablespoons chopped pecans
4 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup vegan vanilla yoghurt
Pierce each potato with the tines of your fork or insert a potato nail. Bake your sweet potatoes in a 375 degrees F oven uncovered without foil in a parchment-lined pan for about 50 minutes, until a fork is easily inserted and comes out almost clean. When the potatoes are done, take them out of the oven and let them cool for about five minutes. Cut open and put the above ingredients in, starting with the butter and ending with the yoghurt. This is the perfect breakfast for a busy day.
If you think outside the box, you’re sure to come up with lots of veggie Christmas breakfast ideas that really taste great and are simple to make. Don’t overlook eating leftovers for breakfast. You don’t always have to eat something that is a common breakfast item; you can mix it up. The important thing is that it tastes good.