I feel really fortunate that my (adult, married) daughter is living nearby. She and I have gotten into the very lovely habit of having breakfast together every week or two - once in a while at her house, but typically at my house. Whenever I hosted, I would usually make some kind of egg and cheese omelet or frittata, and perhaps some fruit, or maybe even pancakes or cinnamon rolls … if we’re having a “treat”.
Well, she and her husband recently decided to explore going toward a more plant-based diet - not “whole hog” (so to speak), but in a relaxed-and-let’s-ease-into-it kind of way. And so, desiring to support my daughter’s diet choices, I decided to change up the plan for our upcoming breakfast - no more eggs, cheese, milk, cream, butter … not to mention bacon or sausage! (And, to make matters even more interesting, for years my daughter has had issues with beans, soy, tofu, and the like. That meant that even a bean burrito with guac was OUT!)
So, what did I do to figure out what to serve for our upcoming breakfast in a couple of days???
I made a post on Facebook asking for recommendations and suggestions … and, WOW, did my Facebook world ever step up to help a girl out!
I received so many excellent suggestions, and even several recipes. A lot of suggestions for avocado-toast, which I love! Also, a number of suggestions involving eggs. (I have come to learn that the term, “plant-based” is a bit flexible, apparently.) And the suggestions involving beans or tofu … well, I wasn’t too sure about those, because of my daughter’s past issues with them.
The next day after receiving all these very helpful suggestions, was the day before when we were to have breakfast. I was very caught up in my work all day long, and I never got around to planning our meal … which, in all honesty, is pretty much par for the course for me.
Nevertheless, I had about a 1-hour break in the late afternoon to go shop for several (potential) ingredients we could use for our breakfast. I went to the health food store, armed with some vague ideas about what I wanted to accomplish. A very nice store clerk helped me find all kinds of items, which were mostly unfamiliar to me. I thanked him, and he said, “No problem. These are the foods I eat all the time.”
When my daughter came over the next morning, we got to it!
First course
We started off browning some onion in avocado oil. Then she crumbled in the shelf-stable extra-firm tofu (turns out, she’s been doing ok with it!), and sprinkled in nutritional yeast and turmeric. We served this, dotted with a bit of Sriracha, with sliced avocado, sauerkraut and grapes.
Second course
We used a pancake mix (ok…not totally plant-based, but within tolerances), and to substitute for egg, we used a boxed “egg replacer” added to warm water, and for the milk we used oat milk. We served the pancakes with strawberries, “buttery sticks” (crafted from various plant oils) and maple syrup. Coffee with oat milk for our beverage.
The meal was yummo … from top to bottom!
The best part of all? We had a great time making it together! She taught me a couple of things, and I shared with her some of the suggestions I learned from my Facebook tribe.
I’m grateful to you (you know who you are!) for helping me figure this out … and of course there’s so much more to learn, right? And I’m especially grateful for my daughter and son-in-law for their exploration, which led me to mine.
At this point, I’m not sure how far I’ll go with a plant-based diet, but one thing is for sure – there are resources galore! You just have to take a moment to ask, and then listen.
What recent “exploration” have you embarked on, for which you asked, and received, valuable input from friendly, helpful people, who were willing to be a resource for your “journey”?
Well, she and her husband recently decided to explore going toward a more plant-based diet - not “whole hog” (so to speak), but in a relaxed-and-let’s-ease-into-it kind of way. And so, desiring to support my daughter’s diet choices, I decided to change up the plan for our upcoming breakfast - no more eggs, cheese, milk, cream, butter … not to mention bacon or sausage! (And, to make matters even more interesting, for years my daughter has had issues with beans, soy, tofu, and the like. That meant that even a bean burrito with guac was OUT!)
So, what did I do to figure out what to serve for our upcoming breakfast in a couple of days???
I made a post on Facebook asking for recommendations and suggestions … and, WOW, did my Facebook world ever step up to help a girl out!
I received so many excellent suggestions, and even several recipes. A lot of suggestions for avocado-toast, which I love! Also, a number of suggestions involving eggs. (I have come to learn that the term, “plant-based” is a bit flexible, apparently.) And the suggestions involving beans or tofu … well, I wasn’t too sure about those, because of my daughter’s past issues with them.
The next day after receiving all these very helpful suggestions, was the day before when we were to have breakfast. I was very caught up in my work all day long, and I never got around to planning our meal … which, in all honesty, is pretty much par for the course for me.
Nevertheless, I had about a 1-hour break in the late afternoon to go shop for several (potential) ingredients we could use for our breakfast. I went to the health food store, armed with some vague ideas about what I wanted to accomplish. A very nice store clerk helped me find all kinds of items, which were mostly unfamiliar to me. I thanked him, and he said, “No problem. These are the foods I eat all the time.”
When my daughter came over the next morning, we got to it!
First course
We started off browning some onion in avocado oil. Then she crumbled in the shelf-stable extra-firm tofu (turns out, she’s been doing ok with it!), and sprinkled in nutritional yeast and turmeric. We served this, dotted with a bit of Sriracha, with sliced avocado, sauerkraut and grapes.
Second courseWe used a pancake mix (ok…not totally plant-based, but within tolerances), and to substitute for egg, we used a boxed “egg replacer” added to warm water, and for the milk we used oat milk. We served the pancakes with strawberries, “buttery sticks” (crafted from various plant oils) and maple syrup. Coffee with oat milk for our beverage.
The meal was yummo … from top to bottom!
The best part of all? We had a great time making it together! She taught me a couple of things, and I shared with her some of the suggestions I learned from my Facebook tribe.
I’m grateful to you (you know who you are!) for helping me figure this out … and of course there’s so much more to learn, right? And I’m especially grateful for my daughter and son-in-law for their exploration, which led me to mine.
At this point, I’m not sure how far I’ll go with a plant-based diet, but one thing is for sure – there are resources galore! You just have to take a moment to ask, and then listen.
What recent “exploration” have you embarked on, for which you asked, and received, valuable input from friendly, helpful people, who were willing to be a resource for your “journey”?
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As for asking for help - I am about to start a new business and will be asking my people for support on getting a new group up and running, as well as feedback on a few ideas I have with the product. We will see how that goes.