Country Breakfast Potatoes and Gravy

Remember breakfast dinners? My wife asked for one the other night and this is what I came up with. Country breakfast potatoes and gravy tossed with mixed veggies and tempeh bacon. And judging from the sounds she was making when she tried it 😆, I'd say she liked it - a lot!

I'm sure many of us can remember our favorite restaurant, and sitting down to order that big, ginormous breakfast we used to like so much.

On the Oregon Coast, Pig 'n Pancake was always a favorite, and I'd typically order my usual - chicken-fried steak, eggs over easy, hashbrowns, sourdough toast, and lots of that creamy gravy (please pass the tabasco).

This breakfast meal was inspired by those memories, and amazingly it satisfied all the same tastes and cravings I remembered, only without any animal products, without the fat, and especially without all that sodium.

The nice thing about this recipe ... where the potatoes are the obvious star of the show ... is you can mix and match all the other components to your own individual liking.

Don't like tempeh or mushrooms? Simply leave them out. Have other veggies you need to use? Toss them in. It is very customizable.

And if you have someone in the house that's still on the fence about eating this way - well you may just win them over with this one. I'll cross my fingers for you.

Hope you enjoy and if you still hear people talk about how deprived we must be - you know .... eating all our vegan twigs n grass - show them this one. 😉

Anyway, let's get cooking.

Country Breakfast Potatoes and Gravy

There are 3 parts to this recipe: the gravy, the potatoes, and the veggies.

The Gravy

Let's start with the gravy which only takes a few minutes. Whisk all the dry ingredients together and toast them over med heat until they smell - "toasty". Stir in your favorite plant milk and the soy sauce and stir like crazy so there aren't any lumps.

If you need to thicken your gravy - stir in a tablespoon of plain potato flakes. Set that aside and let's move on to the potatoes.

The Potatoes

I have used Yukon Golds and Russets and the golds brown up better I think. But use what you have.

I used 4 potatoes, which were just under 1.5 lbs total (625g), and cut them into cubes.

Toss them into a pot with cold water and let them soak for at least 15 minutes. Then drain them, cover with cold water once again, add some salt and baking powder (helps them crisp up), and bring to a gentle boil.

When you see the white foam from the potatoes forming, and the first bubbles of the boil start to appear - set your timer for 5 minutes. If you cook them TOO long, they will lose their shape and turn to mush.

After 5 min, remove from heat, drain your potatoes, and cover them with the lid. Now gently give them a shake or two. This will mar the edges a little and give us lots of crispy bits when they bake.

Now spread them onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. At this point, you can season them if you want, a pinch of salt maybe, a few shakes of black pepper, maybe a little garlic or onion powder, smoked paprika, whatever - then bake them in a 450°F oven for 20 minutes.

Remove the pan, flip them around a little, and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes or until they are as crispy as you like.

The Veggies

While the potatoes are in the oven you can prep your veggie mix.

I diced half of an onion and 1 red bell pepper, and then sliced about 8oz of fresh portobello mushrooms. Those went into a large skillet with a little veggie broth to prevent sticking.

As I said above, these veggies are not set in stone. Use whatever you like mixed with your potatoes, although onion and pepper are typical.

I also used something called Organic Tempeh Bacon from a company called Lightlife. Tempeh is a fermented soy product and can be found in many grocery stores. My Fred Meyer also carries the 'bacon-flavored' packages - but yours may not. It's completely optional so you can just leave it out, or my Tofu Bacon might be a good substitute. I like the smoky flavor this adds to the recipe.

When the potatoes are done, simply toss them into the veggie mix and you're done. Ladle some of this goodness onto your plate and cover it with gravy. I add toast but - that's me. I also garnished it with green onions and yep - I still used my tabasco too.

Yum. Both my wife and I were impressed with how good this was and she very much enjoyed her breakfast dinner.

From start to finish you can probably make this entire meal in under an hour.

I also recently posted a Tofu Scramble in my fried rice recipe- so if you're up for it - this would a nice addition too.

That's it for this week. The sun is supposed to shine and my grandson is upstairs sleeping, so I'm off to see what kind of trouble we can get into today.

See you next week.

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