The brunch will go on!

A good friend once told me that she and her husband based their decision on what neighborhood to live in in the city around one fundamental question, "Are we brunch people or bar people?"

From the simple answer to that question, they would be able to narrow down the neighborhoods that would make them happiest and be most fulfilling to their lifestyle.

Interesting proposal I thought. But without knowing it, Jon and I had really already answered that question without really ever needing to utter anything out loud. We are brunch people and therefore live in Eastern Market- best brunch options in D.C. (not that we're biased or anything).

When we decided to go vegan though, probably the most challenging aspect and question we needed to answer was- what would we eat for brunch?

Think about it.

Brunch is like the dairy queen of all meals.

For real.

You can do brunch EASY as a vegetarian- no problem. But vegan? Talk about an obstacle.To this day, that's the one meal I really need to research before we try to eat out to make sure the restaurant will have at least one option that we can choose from (usually oatmeal or maybe a tofu scramble if we're lucky).
Once we became vegan, we've found a few key places around the city as our "go-tos," but it's been super tricky.
In the mean time though, we hadn't really ever tried cooking a big vegan brunch on our own. It seemed pretty overwhelming and since we aren't really bakers by nature, it almost seemed counter-intuitive.
BUT- this resolution has led us to make two fantastic huge brunches two weeks in a row! Horray! We were so excited about the recipes that we tried and modified, that we needed to share the love.

We encourage you to try all of these out as they came out just fantastic.

I think we may have started a brunch revolution. Restaurants with limited options- we need you no more! Delicious home-made brunch-love! Here we come!

Tofu Scramble:
Ingredients:
1 onion (diced)
5 garlic cloves (minced)
2 cups of bell peppers (diced)
2 cups of asparagus (diced)
2 cups of mushrooms (chopped)
1 package of extra firm tofu (cut into 1/4 in. cubes)
1 1/2 tspn. curry powder
1 tspn. cinnamon
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/3 cup of soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Place a large skillet (or wok) over high/med heat
Pour olive oil onto the skillet and let onions simmer for 5-10 minutes (or until the begin to brown)
Add curry powder and garlic (stir for 2 minutes)
Add cinnamon
Add tofu and vegetables (stir for 5 minutes)
Add soy sauce (stir for 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft)
Add salt and pepper for taste
Serve and enjoy!



Banana Pancakes:
Ingredients:
1 cup of whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 cup of soy milk
1/2 banana, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preparation:
1. Mix dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together in a mixing bowl
2. In another bowl, combine all wet ingredients: soy milk, banana and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir well. Add more soy milk if batter is too thick.
3. Cook on medium-high heat in skillet until browned on both sides.
Serve with maple syrup or yummy jams!
Delicious!

Vegan Banana Bread:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vegan butter

3 ripe bananas mashed

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup light soy milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix all dry ingredients separately and then add liquids.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour

Vegan Waffles:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Vegan butter

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 cups light soy milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup applesauce (1/4 cup per egg) or use two eggs worth of Ener-G egg replacer.

Spoon out and cook on your waffle iron. Serve with delicious syrup and jam.

Brunch with tofu scramble, vegan waffles, vegan banana bread, fresh oatmeal bread and OJ.