Monday 30 May 2011

Breakfast Club #11 Vegetarian Savoury - the round up

It has been a fascinating experience hosting the Breakfast Club blog event in May.  The theme was Vegetarian Savoury and I have been delighted at your responses.  The event is here to remind us that breakfast should be about more than toast and tea or cereal and coffee.  Indeed, it has given me great inspiration.  I chose the theme because I love a savoury breakfast but so many are aimed at people who eat meat.  I am pleased that there are some lovely vegan and gluten free dishes here too.  Without further ado (though you may still be goggling at my new template if you are familiar with this blog), let us delve into some meat free alternatives:

Cindy from Where's the Beef
Melbourne, Australia

Cindy has been running a Breakfast Serial series to generate some new morning meal ideas.  In this post, she experimented with breakfast wraps, trialling some variations of tofu, cabbage and egg.  The pictured wrap here has fried egg, barbecue sauce, sprouts, caramelised onions, and coriander.

Johanna (me) of Green Gourmet Giraffe
Melbourne, Australia

My first entry (of three) were these pancakes which were fluffy and tasty enough to eat straight off the frypan as they were. The recipe was intended for sweet pancakes but was easy enough to make savoury by taking out the sugar and adding some cheese and chives.

Bea from For the Love of Food
Cheshire, UK

Bea created these beautiful scones, taking the opportunity to get in some vegies in the morning in the most delicious way.  She suggests that, in keeping with the event theme, serving them with a swipe of cream cheese and a sprinkling of black pepper.

Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes
Dundee, Scotland

Jacqueline made these for her little boy but you don't need to be a baby to appreciate these neat little pies.  Full of egg and vegetables, they would be a nutritious start to the day.  She suggests they would be good picnic fare, which translates as an excellent breakfast on the go.

Deepika of My Life and Spice
Philadelphia, USA

Deepika wrote a delightful post about her childhood weekend breakfast traditions and how she is now creating such traditions for her own children.  I was fascinated by her recipe, the like of which I have never seen before.  She soaks and wrings out the bread, wraps it around vegetables and deep fries it - I would love to be at her breakfast table.

Janet of the Taste Space
Toronto, Canada

Janet has recently found herself smitten with savoury oats for breakfast.  Tamari adds great depth of flavour and she addresses her mother's concerns about vegans and B12 by sprinkling nutritional yeast flakes over it.  I was inspired enough by it to try my own version (below).

Nirmala's Kitchen
Chennai, Tamilnadu, India

Nirmala makes this tasty dosa for breakfast.  I have only made dosa once but I read this recipe and it seemed like something I can and should whip up quite easily.

Adam and Theresa
Tarifa, Andalucia, Spain

Adam and Theresa make a lovely scramble to add to their vegan breakfast fry up.  Not only do the flavours sounds great but they also have a clever idea of using both silken and firm tofu to make the scramble both moist and full of texture.

Johanna (me) of Green Gourmet Giraffe
Melbourne, Australia

Inspired by Janet's savoury oats above, I rose above my aversion to porridge and tried my hand at a vegetable version that I could make with very little chopping and cooking.  It has already become an occasional breakfast dish for me that is very quick and handy when there is no bread in the house.

Dinner Recipes, Sonia's Kitchen
Chennai, India

I was delighted to receive yet another version of savoury oats from Sonia.  Hers is quite different again from mine and Janet's.  It has quite a few vegies and is flavoured with mustard, chilli and lemon juice.  Yet another to try.

Mel of Sharky Oven Gloves
St Andrews, Scotland

It is usually sweet breakfasts all the way for Mel, but in honour of this event, she put her mind to savoury ideas and came up with these lovely muffins.  I agree with her that it is hard to wait for muffins to cook at breakfast time but I would be quite happy eating them if made the night before.

Ricki of Diet, Dessert and Dogs
Toronto, Canada

Ricki tells a heartening story of how diet can help lower blood pressure.  When you look at these gorgeous muffins and think you could take these instead of medication, the world really seems like a better place.  Even their sunny yellow hue would cheer you up at breakfast if the great flavours didn't do the trick!  Like Ricki's other recipes, these are suitable for vegan, gluten free and anti candida diets.

MangoCheeks of Allotment to Kitchen
Scotland

MangoCheeks presents me with yet another reason to buy a waffle maker.  I love the sweet kind but am excited by the idea of making waffles with black buckwheat flour - I had never heard of it before but I want some now.  Paired with mushroom gravy, it sounds great, and are suitable for vegans.

Johanna (me) of Green Gourmet Giraffe
Melbourne, Australia

My third entry was a batch of Ricki's breakfast sausage patties made with walnuts, rice, flaxseeds (linseeds), onion and sage.  They were crispy on the outside and soft inside with lots of flavour.  My little girl, Sylvia, was quite keen on them fresh off the grill.  I can just picture them in a breakfast sandwich and hope to return to this recipe soon.

Ren of Fabulicious Food
Hertsfordshire, UK

Ren remembered her dad's scrambled eggs with this dish.  He always added chives.  Ren serves hers on sourdough rye, in the manner of her Polish ancestors, and adds some Goat's Cheese from Childwickbury Farm that she found in a local deli. Sounds lovely.

Sarah of Maison Cupcake
London, UK

Sarah celebrates Spring in the Northern Hemisphere with some dippy eggs and asparagus soldiers.  I loved her photos of all their egg cups and hearing how her son, Ted, gets to choose an egg cup each weekend for his boiled egg.  Sylvia has just started eating boiled eggs so I hope to start an egg cup collection just like Sarah's.

Vatsala of Show and Tell
USA

Vatsala's latest favourite in her kitchen is the Thalipeeth, an Indian flatbread or pancake made with multigrains.  It is a nutritious start to the day and very popular in Maharashtra.  I loved the step by step pictures of her making it with a piece of paper.

Helen of Fuss Free Flavours
London, UK

Lastly Helen, who is the founder of the Breakfast Club event, sent in this wonderful bread.  If like her, you have brie that has seen better days, you could a lot worse than roll it up with some spinach in a loaf of sourdough bread.  I am sure this smelt fantastic coming out of the oven.  Unless like me you still haven't managed to conquer sourdough like me.  I can only dream of making such loaves - and I will!

Well that wraps up our round up of the Vegetarian Savoury breakfast dishes.  Thanks to everyone who participated and to Helen for inviting me to host.  I have lots of recipes to make and I hope you feel inspired to try some too.  Though I am not in the Australia, I am envious of the prominence of the Vegetarian Society in the UK and am happy to post this on the last day of their Vegetarian Week.

To find links to round ups of other Breakfast Club events, head over to Helen's Breakfast Club page.  Nanya at Simply Food is hosting the June Breakfast Club with the theme of berries and would welcome your participation.

18 comments:

  1. I like your new blog layout, though was a bit disorientated at first ;-) Thanks for a great round-up, there are some great ideas here. This is a really useful resource for us vegetarians looking for something a bit different for breakfast.

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  2. Mmmmmm, wonderful ideas to be found here! Using an egg as a dip for green asparagus? :D :D :D

    I just made "eggins" (muffins made from just eggs) last weekend, using a recipe from a friend, and they were sooooo good! I could add these to your list from above. :)

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  3. That's a great roundup Johanna, I am mightily impressed. Going to have to explore a good few of these.

    Liking the grassy border too :)

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  4. Wowee, love the new template - you have been busy. What a great brekky roundup - lots of fab ideas here, especially with winter truly here (first frosty morning today).

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  5. Wow--so many amazing ways to eat a savory breakfast! I really must get on the "savory oatmeal" bandwagon--I've tried it only once and wasn't a huge fan. Maybe it's time to try again. And that sourdough sure does look appealing! :) Great roundup, Johanna, and what a fun event!

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  6. oooh everything looks so scrumptious! And love the new bloggy look!

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  7. TOTALLY loving your blog's new look, Johanna!!

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  8. (a) The blog looks AWESOME! I love how green it is! My favorite color.

    (b) Amazing round up! Everything is so inventive!

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  9. Just a note about your comment regarding nutritional yeast and B12 - nutritional yeast isn't naturally a useful source of B12, it's only a good source of B12 when artificially fortified, and I believe most brands aren't fortified (the one I'm using isn't).

    I just think it's a good idea to communicate the correct information about this, otherwise vegans might not bother taking B12 supplements or making sure their foods are fortified, because they believe whatever nutritional yeast they're eating will do the job.

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  10. Now why can't there be a vegetarian breakfast cafe with all these options, and more?
    If'd known about the event I would have tried to recreate my favourite-ever breakfast of tapioca with pistachios, cardamom and coconut milk.
    As it is, I am now keen to try the Savoury Oats too. Here in HK, congee is a big thing, but I have not warmed to it yet. The savoury oatmeal thing seems to be a sort-of Scottish congee - perfect!

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  11. Love the new template! The green in so much more reminscient of the real world and the environment. Gorgeous!

    P.S. I promise I'm not just saying this: your recipes are totally my favourites here :D

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  12. thanks everyone for the feedback on the new look - am still fiddling with it so apologies for fickleness! Decided against the white on dark green and thought the grassy background was a bit distracting. May experiment a little more...

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  13. It sure is easy being Green in your neck of the woods, Johanna. Your blog looks terrific and that round-up is awesome. I will be checking out each and every one. Curious though, which will Sylvia like the best!!!

    Thanks for sharing, you have been busy and rejuvenated!!!

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  14. Thank you for being such a fabulous host and showcasing so many savoury vegetarian breakfast options.

    Re your template: I think this is the second, maybe third template I've come across - quite liking this one with green background and white spots. Hope you find one that really calls to you.

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  15. Thanks choclette - glad to help out a fellow vego in the morning - and thanks for the feedback on the blog - I hope my second incarnation is less disorienting

    Thanks Kath - I love the name eggins - so cute as are your eggins - definitely a great idea for a savoury breakfast

    Thanks Jacqueline - enjoy exploring - sorry the grass had to go!

    Thanks Cakelaw - it has been cold - just the weather for a warm brekky

    Thanks Ricki - the savoury oatmeal is a new one to me but I have to try some sweet oatmeal some time too - we can swap :-)

    Thanks Lisa - agree it is a great breakfast spread - glad you liked the new look - sorry it was fleeting

    Thanks Lucy - have been trying on a few new blog outfits - nice to hear you loved it even if I have changed it

    Thanks Joanne - hurrah for green - and as for B12 - I agree that people need to be careful about where they get it if they go vegan but as I am not I haven't looked into it too much - however it is not the first time I have seen your caution and if I was vegan I would definitely look into it and probably have an occasional B12 test just to check my levels were ok (this is what I do with iron because I know it can be a problem for me)

    Thanks Yaz - if only I could find a cafe with these sort of breakfast options I would love it - usually veg savoury options are limited to eggs in a cafe - congee and tapioca sound quite challenging for me but would be more agreeable if savoury - don't know why but sweet slops just doesn't excite me

    Thanks Hannah - you are so sweet and I can tell you my recipes are pretty good - and so is green - all good really!

    Thanks Louise - yes lots of playing with templates lately but always green - and good question about which dish Sylvia preferred - now imagine her judging a blog event - I think she would be happy with quite a few of them

    Thanks MangoCheeks - I like the green spots too but am still not quite sure it is the final one - just need a bit more time to experiment

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  16. Thank you so much for hosting Johanna, I lvoe the new look too! I'll also be posting some sourdough techniques soon.

    I hope to get round you all in the next day or so. Next month's theme is now posted!

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  17. I love breakfast and love savoury dishes so this is a truly wonderful roundup. :) Lots of amazing things here.

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  18. Goodness me these are gorgeous! I want to eat through all of these! Well done everyone x

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