Breakfast of Champions

I think you can probably draw a (green) line down the middle of the veggie world and apportion all the herbivores pretty neatly on each side. To one side, the people who are happy with whole, simple, fresh-as-a-stalk-of-chard plant foods.  You know, the kind of stuff people imagine when you say "rabbit food."  Big, fresh salads, warm plates of spiced beans atop steamed quinoa, piping-hot bowls of miso soup swimming with mushrooms, greens, and sweet potatoes (are you drooling yet?  I am, a little).

Then there are those of us on the other side of the line:  the folks who love a good pile of kale with some passion, but who also prize those Tofurky sausage and Daiya pizzas in the frozen food section.  Those who like hearty, chewy, yummy slabs of protein on the plate next to the lush green salad.  Those who like it - please forgive the word - "meaty."

You know on which side of the aisle I am firmly seated.

I never really cared for "real" breakfast sausage (I'm a bacon girl, but more on that another day).  For some reason, though, I am greatly enamored of the vegetarian alternative.  The store bought varieties hit that toothsome/salty/filling dichotomy you want from a good sausage, but they also unfortunately contain enough salt to clear a Wisconsin highway in January and unreliably sourced ingredients (not to mention a possible dose of chicken ovum).  So not long after I initially took the veggie plunge a couple years ago, I started looking for a recipe that would scratch the sausage itch.  And I found it in Isa's tempeh sausages from Vegan With a Vengeance. 

Then I realized that I have soy sensitivities, and that if I wanted a sausage with my scrambled tofu, I would have to look further afield.  But I didn't have to worry, because another vegan internet guardian had my back.  Tracy at A Veg*n for Dinner came up with the soy-free bean and bulgur breakfast sausage you see here, and it is good.  A little tender, a little chewy, a lot flavorful, and pretty easy to make. Yum.

As you can see, you can also customize the size on these bad boys.  Tracy originally made them small enough to fit on an English muffin, but I prefer mine to be a topping delivery system in and of themselves.  One good option:  cheddar and tomato Daiya.  Can you say "breakfast of champions?"

OK, how 'bout "breakfast of reformed carnivores?"

All right - I'll settle for calling it just plain "breakfast."  You can have some too, if you like.  I'll even scramble some tofu.  Anything for a fellow "meaty" veggie.

[Follow-up note:  Tracy is actually taking a vegan break right now; if you need more info, her most recent post on A Veg*n for Dinner explains.  She will eventually take down her blog, but in the meanwhile she's leaving it up for those of us who want to print off copies of ingenious recipes.  So if you like the looks of my breakfast, make sure you print off the recipe from the link above in pretty short order.  And I know that my readers are awesome and would never do this, but I'll say it for any random jerks who might stumble across my blog: don't bug Tracy about her food choices.  Veganism is about compassion, so let's all show some and respect her need to eat a little differently right now.]