30 Days of Different Breakfasts: Part 1
Breakfast! The most important meal of the day, or some shit like that. I’m a big fucking fan of breakfast. Even when I was intermittent fasting I would purposely eat an early dinner so that when my sixteen hours was up it was still early enough to have breakfast in the morning. That’s how much I love breakfast. But my problem is that I’m a bit of a creature of habit and left to my own devices I would probably eat the same two or three things in a steady rotation. When I was in weight loss mode it was the following:
1. Granola w/ fruit & nuts.
2. Oatmeal w/ fruit.
3. Hard Boiled Eggs & a Banana
Seriously - that was about it most days. Boring, right? I fucking loved it! And on weekends my wife often made her pancakes (recipe here) - so that felt like enough variety for me!
But because I’m a pretty much a plant-based foodie now it’s impossible not to keep on seeing all of these delicious concoctions that other people mow-down on. And so I decided to force myself to have a different breakfast every day for a month to see if I could find some new items to put into the rotation. I tried to be as diverse as possible and throw some savoury dishes in as well and make sure that not everything was just a variation on overnight oats (seriously people - there’s a lot of fucking overnight oat recipes out there - we get it - they’re simple and customizable - hell, I’ve even got some of those in here...)
So this will be part one of a three part series where I give you a bunch of new breakfast ideas to try. Some recipes are my own (in most cases I stole them from someone else and tweaked the fuck out of ‘em till I was happy) and the ones from others that I didn’t change I’ve accredited accordingly. The ones that are on this site have links to them too. If you try any of these please post your photos on social media and tag Former Fat Forker! I love to see how yours turn out. And if you steal my fucking recipes and put ‘em on your own site I totally get it - just throw me a shout-out! Share the love.
So here’s the first batch of ten, in no particular order:
Choco-PB Overnight Oats
This bad boy legit tastes like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to the point where you’re asking yourself, “Should I actually be eating this as an adult for breakfast?” The answer is a resounding fuck ya! Throw some extra fruit in - whatever you have on hand that’s fresh - blueberries blend in nice. It’s a great breakfast you can whip together before you go to bed and then it’s pretty much ready to go in the morning. And to do so check out my recipe for it right here!
Quick Banana Walnut Bowl
From Fuhrman’s Eat to Live Quick & Easy book (if you don't have a copy then snag one at this link). But this is about it, in a nutshell:
1 banana (mashed)
1/2 cup plant based milk of your choice (I dig almond)
1/2 cup berries of your choice (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup chopped walnut
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
Mix that mashed banana and milk together and then just throw everything else in and stir it up. That’s it! I didn’t take a photo of my own ‘cause it kind of just looked like a blob so I stole this from Fuhrman’s website.
It’s really tasty and simple. I was worried the first time I ate this ‘cause it’s only 377 calories, so it’s a real test of that nutrient-density shit I talk about on this site. But I decided to see what would happen if I just ate this for breakfast and nothing else - and on top of that I did on a day where I had a big workout before. So it would be a real test! And I’m happy to report that 3 hours later I was still pretty fucking full. Full enough, anyway. When lunch came I was ready to eat again for sure - but that’s sort of the point. Which is hard for me to admit ‘cause I love any excuse to add grains to my breakfast! But yeah, this did the trick. It’s a good option for a day when you want a low-calorie breakfast that you can throw together wicked fucking fast!
Japanese Style Savoury Oats
Think oatmeal with mushrooms, onions, and eggs. And if you wanna go full plant-based on this bad boy swap out the eggs with a protein of your choice: black beans, edamame, baked tofu or seared tempeh would all work nicely. This reminded me of some breakfasts I’ve had in Japan, so if you like those types of flavours and want to try something a little different, give this one a whirl. You can find my recipe for it right here.
I will say that I found myself a little hungry after this still and so I’d recommend some fruit on the side to bulk it up a bit. When I make his next time I might consider putting some toasted pistachios, almonds or pumpkin seeds in to make it a bit more nutrient-dense and filling and I'll likely swap out the eggs.
Fluffy AF Pancakes
My wife has perfected this recipe and it one of our regular family meals on the weekends so it was sort of impossible not to include it.
I think they’re pretty much perfect and delicious and they’re pretty much allergy free so anyone can enjoy them. Top ‘em with shit loads of fruit! Recipe is right here.
Sweet Potato Pie Oatmeal
This was a really really nice mix between sweet and savoury and super rich and dense and comforting. This would make an amazing fall breakfast or any morning that’s got a nip to the air. Highly recommend. This recipe was inspired by one in a Forks Over Knives cookbook, but I modified it and (no offence to them) made it waaaaay fucking better - see for yourself right here.
Tuscan Tofu Scramble
This was another Dr. Fuhrman recipe. It was pretty good. Pretty simple base that you could build off of. I added mushrooms to it. Used salsa instead of tomato. Didn’t blow my mind - but I liked it enough. I prefer the Hello Nutritarian version of scrambled tofu, which you can find here.
Raw Buckwheat Porridge
My wife said she didn’t like this when she’d made it because of the texture. I can see that - it’s a bit grainy, but the flavour is smooth and thick and this feels like something that’s going to stick to my stomach all morning. It’s like granola and cereal that you can totally customize it to your likings with mix-ins of your choice. I dig it! Though... given how similar it is to oatmeal, and the extra step of soaking the groats and blending them and then cleaning the blender I’m not entirely sure this will enter into my regular staple...
This one comes from the damn fine folks at Oh She Glows - and you can find the recipe right here. This second picture is it all mixed up - yeah, it's not the most appetizing looking but it's tasty-as-fuck, so you know, who cares?
Rip’s Big Bowl
Who’s Rip? None other than Rip Fucking Esselstyn of Engine 2 fame - and this is the breakfast he makes every day - and I can see why. Holy shit the grapefruit is a game changer!
So it’s basically a bunch of whole grain cereals mixed with some dried fruit and nuts and more fruit. It’s right up my alley. Here’s the original recipe.
For my custom big bowl I used:
Cheerios, mini-shredded wheat, corn flakes, and quinoa cereal. Fruits were mango, grapefruit and banana. I can see how someone can eat this every day of their life. It’s sweet, yet refreshing and filling. This is ridiculously good and endlessly customizable.
Edamame Bowl
Good goddamn I was not prepared to love this as much as I did. The first time I made this I made it again the next two days in a row - but I had it for lunch instead. This is a super solid and simple as fuck dish that would work at ANY meal. The original recipe came from the fantastic folks at Thug Kitchen, but their recipe was a little sparse so I put that shit on speed and added a load of veggies to it. The sauce is the ticket. For the almonds that top it, I highly recommend using roasted ones. It really brings it all together. If you want to experiment further throw some ginger and/or garlic into the sauce as well - fucking delicious! Recipe is right here.
Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
The recipe from this can be found in the Forks Over Knives cookbook. I used less dates than what they called for and it was still RIDICULOUSLY DELICIOUS. It’s soooo sweet - it feels like dessert. It would be amazing as the base for a smoothie bowl with some cheerios, pecans, and some blueberries or bananas on it. On it’s own it’s not quite enough food - but if you tweak it and use as the base for a smoothie bowl this could be a proper full meal... So fucking tasty.
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