Maya Sozer - Easy Vegan Breakfasts & Lunches: The Best Way to Eat Plant-Based Meals On the Go

Dedicated to all those who get to read this, who love home cooking, who care about the health and well-being of their own, of the animals and of the environment. Thank you for exploring plant-based foods.

And I hope you will find this book a good resource. Most chefs would agree that the taste of a dish is not proportional to the complexity of the recipe. What produces a magical taste is not usually elaborate and long-drawn-out kitchen processes; rather, novel ideas and the right combination of basic ingredients while keeping an eye on the aesthetics and textural aspects. So, it is entirely possible to cook absolutely delicious meals daily without having to live permanently in the kitchen. Culinary motivations aside, cooking your own meals is also one the best gifts you can reward yourself or your family with. Together with the enormous investment you make in your health by having home-cooked meals, you get to enjoy the highest-quality food for the money spent.

This book is written, in part, to convince you that cooking your meals yourself, day in and day out, doesnt have to be a daunting task. Time being the chief argument against home cooking, this book strives to minimize the effort and complexity of the recipes. It focuses specifically on vegan breakfast and lunch options with a great emphasis on simplicity, portability and ultimately the wholesome, nutritious deliciousness that will feed your body and senses. A note on gluten: I dont personally follow a strict gluten-free diet. But a large majority of the recipes included here are gluten-free or adaptable to a gluten-free diet. Breakfast, with the apt reputation as the most important meal of the day, will hopefully stop being another morning chore often skipped but will instead become something to look forward to, something to wake up to.

After all, the morning sets the mood for the day, and it helps brighten it up a little by treating ourselves to a good breakfast without turning it into a hassle. Hopefully, the thin line between is managed well in the breakfast recipes included here. I have high expectations from lunch, and I know that you do, too. By lunchtime, I am tired and I need to be refreshed, reenergized, stimulated, comforted and pampered. A lot is expected from just a meal, but such is the task of the lunch as I see it. It is really tempting to go out for lunch or to frozen-meal our way through it, for obvious reasons.

Both of those options have well-known drawbacks, but I am more interested in addressing the drawbacks of home cooking our lunches. Thus the recipes for lunch are generally conceived to be the make-ahead type. They are easy, as the title suggests, they are portable and they strive to meet the high standards set for a good lunch. Breakfast and lunch are really two distinct meals, but we all know that the lines between the meals can get fuzzy in real life. So, this book will arm you with snack options and vegan basics to enable you to handle the cravings and create your own recipes. There are two kitchen items that I highly recommend you invest in: a good-quality food processor and a high-speed blender.

They are the two magical pieces of equipment that most recipes rely on for your ease. Besides the equipment, I suggest you consider spices as your best friends in the kitchen. Have them ready and dont hesitate to experiment. They are transformative. In the age of connectivity, a book like this does not represent a far-removed author who only lives in the realm of the book pages. I am real and accessible to you.

The recipes here are developed and tested as tediously as could be afforded, but no instruction is perfect, and I fully expect to have made mistakes despite my best efforts to minimize them. But be assured that I would love to hear from you about the good and the bad, and to the best of my abilities, help you. To echo the opening: I smile a little every time you pick up this book. I am grateful to have deserved a place in your attention and proud to have been given the opportunity. Thank you, and I love you.

I see breakfast as a quick, delicious and nutritious treat time. I want to start working already, but I also want to eat something that will make me start smiling and feeling good. Time being a prime asset in the morning, you need options. All of the recipes in this chapter are made to minimize your hands-on prep time. Some are thought of as quick put-together in the morning, with the possibility to take them on the go with you, if need be. Others are to be prepped the night before, so they are all ready to go in the morning.

And yet some are for more relaxed mornings. Theyre all equally delicious.

Hummus, cooked in a sandwich, tastes absolutely fantastic, and it will even do a decent job at holding the sandwich together. For faster mornings, the sauted mushroom used in this recipe can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge. Serves 2 SAUTED MUSHROOMS 2 tbsp (28 ml) olive oil 3 shallots, thinly sliced Salt and freshly ground black pepper 6 medium portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced QUESADILLAS 4 tbsp (61 g) hummus 2 large tortillas 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced Fresh arugula Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are translucent, about 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the mushrooms and cook until most of the juice is reduced and the mushrooms turn golden brown.