Southern Vegan Breakfast – Grits and Gravy with Sauteed Mushrooms
Before we start talking about grits and gravy, let’s first discuss the two kinds of people in the world. Those two types are people who eat corn grits with breakfast, and those who eat hash brown potatoes.
If you have family roots in the South, you grew up eating grits and gravy, and you probably stuff your face with them bad boys every chance you get. There is nothing better than grits used as a base for all kinds of deliciousness. When I still ate flesh foods I enjoyed shrimp & grits, fish and grits, grits and eggs, and every other combination you could think of.
But now that all that meat eating nonsense is behind me, I still have cravings for southern grits and gravy and some kind of protein for breakfast. The answer for the conscious vegan is to use mushrooms in place of meat. Mushrooms easily absorb the flavors of anything you season them with, and are perfect for this recipe.
You are gonna taste this and lose your mind. It’s so good that my non-vegan daughter came into my office yesterday e to tell me how good it was (“Mom! This is delicious! I give it a 9.7/10 vote!”). Then she got up this morning asking if she could have the leftovers. BAM! #WINNING!
Creating a recipe for grits and gravy with mushrooms was totally an accident. I stopped by my neighborhood family owned produce store to pick up some vegetables. I wanted to get a few mushrooms for my seitan cutlets. When I got there the bin with the baby bellas had about 10 mushrooms in it, and they looked kinda hurt.
The produce guy was nearby and I pointed to the empty box and laughed. At that time he was bagging up some white button mushrooms and weighing them on a scale.
I told him what I wanted, and he suggested I purchase one of the bags of mushrooms he was putting together. They were mushrooms on the verge of going bad if not used within 24 hours. However, the price for an entire pound of them was just $1.00. I grabbed a bag and ran to the register. There’s nothing I love more than a bargain, and I was one happy camper.
However, I needed to use the mushrooms right away, and didn’t know what to do with an entire pound plus of mushrooms. Luckily my genius kicked in, and this is what I came up with to make the most deliciously satisfying and filling breakfast ever.
This recipe takes two southern favorites – grits and gravy, and melds them with a low calorie, plant based protein source. Mushrooms are low in calories, have virtually no fat and no cholesterol, and are very low in sodium. Mushrooms provide the B vitamins riboflavin and niacin, which are especially important for people who don’t eat meat. Most mushrooms are also a good source of selenium and potassium – minerals hypertensives are often low on.
The broth was ridiculously tasty, the flavor popped with the rosemary and sun dried tomatoes I added, and the grits were smooth and creamy. I added a bit of vegan parmesan cheese just to see how it tasted, but to me the dish was better without it.
When plates come back like this, you know you have a winner.
- ⅓ cup Earth Balance Vegan butter
- 1 Tablespoon avocado or grapeseed oil
- 2 large cloves garlic,minced
- ⅔ to 1 cup of minced shallot
- 1 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup julienne cut sun dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper (or to taste)
- 1 Tablespoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
- 2 cups hot water into which you have dissolved
- 1 heaping Tablespoon of Better Than Bouillon mushroom seasoning paste
- 1 teaspoon Santa Maria style seasoning salt
- 1-2 Tablespoons sherry cooking wine
- ¼ cup plant based milk or cream
- 3 Tablespoons arrowroot powder
- 1-2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes(optional)
- chopped green onions (optional topping)
- Four servings of cooked white grits
- Wash, trim and slice mushrooms. Chop the sun-dried tomatoes, mince the rosemary and garlic. Mince shallots.
- Start water for your grits.
- Heat large non-stick saute pan on medium heat; add the vegan butter and oil. When mostly melted, throw in the mushrooms and shallots. Saute for about five minutes, then add the garlic.and Santa Maria seasoning. Saute another 2 minutes.
- Mix the arrowroot powder into the plant based milk.
- Water for grits should be boiling by now - slowly stir in the dry grits (to avoid clumping), and cook according to manufacturer's directions.
- Add bouillon mixture, arrowroot mixture, nutritional yeast, vegan Worcestershire sauce, sun dried tomatoes, black pepper and rosemary to the pan. Stir well and reduce heat to low. Let mixture simmer for about 10 minutes until liquid slightly reduced.
- Stir your grits and leave covered so they don't dry out.
- Stir in the arrowroot mixture and cooking sherry. Taste and adjust seasonings to your preference.
- Put ¼ of the grits into each serving plate, and top with mushroom gravy and green onions if desired.
- Serve hot.
Be sure to come back by after you try this, and rate the recipe. Let us know how the recipe worked for you, as well as any changes you made to “make it yours”.
Category: Breakfast
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
