Breakfast

I try not to eat sweets for a meal.

But weekend breakfast IS made for it.

It’s not that I have craving for sweets (well sometimes I do, but I typically like my meal to be savory), but it’s the idea that pops into my head.

Once I get this really cool food idea, I have a hard time with not making it right away.

Last night I was at a liquor store because my husband wanted to pick up something there.

I wasn’t looking for anything particular, but when I saw the bourbon section, this idea of bourbon pumpkin pancakes hit me.

So, here they are.

Bourbon pumpkin pancakes.

Aren’t these beautiful?

Well, you could just eat them simply with butter and maple syrup.

But I had another idea.

I made and drizzled bourbon caramel sauce and coconut cream all over the pancakes and sprinkled walnuts.

I made sure I had my coffee ready.

These pancakes were absolutely sinfully DELICIOUS!!

I used to be a huge Food Network fan, and it was on all the time in my house.

Well, I had a lot of time I got to spend at home at that time (I was a full-time graduate student), and I would watch shows one after another nonstop.

Now I have a full-time job, and I have also narrowed my favorites down to a few.

One of the shows I still enjoy watching is “Pioneer Woman.”

Some people may be surprised because she rarely cooks vegan food.

Well her cooking is actually far from it (Her husband is a cattle rancher, so what do you expect?!).

But I always get some interesting food “ideas” from her show.

Apparently I don’t follow her recipes, I do borrow her ideas and create dishes, with plant-based ingredients.

This dish is one of those.

She is not the creator of Starata, but she is the one who got me inspired to make one, so she gets the credit.

My vegan version turned out wonderful!!

I did make mine the night before and let it rest in the fridge overnight before baking it this morning, just like she did with hers.

I served my breakfast starata with chili pesto mayo.

This turned out to be a perfect weekend breakfast dish!

”Egg” mixture: tofu(2/3 package extra firm, microwaved), chickpea flour, soy milk, cumin, nutritional yeast, sugar, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper. *Cooked in the oven 15 350F for 30 min.

I just recently started experimenting with buckwheat flour.

My first buckwheat dish was buckweat pancakes.

This time I decided to make waffles.

The waffles were served with fresh figs and lemon thyme cashew cream cheese.

I’ve had good figs and bad figs in the past, but these organic figs from Trader Joe’s have been consistently good.

It’s hard to find figs in Minnesota, so I buy them during this very short period of time when some stores carry figs here.

I absolutely loved my buckwheat waffles.

They are handsomely dark, crispy, and delicious.

Buckwheat Waffles (makes about 4-5)

1 cup buckwheat flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/4 cup soy milk
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon flax meal

*The batter is on the thinner side.
*It sticks to the waffle maker. Grease the waffle maker before cooking.

My husband likes it when I make him a breakfast sandwich on weekends.

This morning the sky was dark and it started sprinkling, but we decided to keep our plan to visit the farmers market across the river.

This month they are featuring vegan vendors on Sundays at this particular market, and I did see some more vegan options today.

But we stuck with our all-time favorite, Hope’s Vegan Kitchen and got beautiful goodies

We got some cookies and croissants.

I wanted to try her plain croissants for a while, and finally I got some.

I was wet when I left the market, but I was happy.

(I protected the baked goods like I would do for my baby!)

Homemade mayo, avocado, tomato, tempeh, and scrambled tofu, sandwiched in this light flaky croissant.

Delicious!!

I saw buckwheat pancakes on a restaurant’s menu recently.

I was intrigued, but unfortunately they were not made vegan.

So what do I do?

I make some myself!

We are really fortunate in the U.S. because you can find almost any types of flour you want at many grocery stores.

Who knew finding buckwheat flour was this easy.

I love the color of the pancakes.

Dark food appeals to me.

These delicious spiced orange buckwheat pancakes were served with equally delicious coffee infused maple syrup.

Can’t wait to have more breakfast with buckwheat in the future.

Yes, I’m obsessed with nectarines.

Love this fruit.

They are so delicious!

It’s definitely one of my favorite fruits.

Grilled nectarine was placed on top of buttered whole wheat waffle.

Cardamom cashew cream cheese was placed on top of the nectarine, and then served with Bournilla (bourbon x vanilla) maple syrup from Three Rivers Farm and fresh blueberries.

Super delicious!