All About the Crumbles From Dinner to Dessert

Crumbles, crumbles, crumbles. When you're in need of a little something extra on your otherwise boring food, a crumble can be an easy way to go from ordinary to extraordinary. The exciting part is that the number of options for crumbles is practically endless because just about anything can, well, crumble!

If you've recently dived headfirst into veganism or you're just interested in trying it, a sticking point for a lot of people is figuring out a tasty way to get protein. We always hear how important it is to get our daily protein intake. From building muscle and workout recovery to actually filling full after eating, protein is an essential part of any healthy diet. When transitioning to non-meat and non-dairy protein sources, it can be tough to grasp how you'll maintain the same level of protein consumption. However, with some playful creativity and a bit of patience, you can finally say goodbye to the meat and dairy once and for all!

How to Crumble Your Reliance On Meat As A Protein Source

To get you started, we're going to show you a few popular meaty foods that you can adapt to your new vegan lifestyle.

And guess what? It all has crumbles!

Vegan Crumble Breakfast

For breakfast, let's start off with arguably the most popular of all breakfast combos — scrambled eggs and bacon.

To make vegan scrambled eggs, start by gathering all of the necessary ingredients.

Vegan Scrambled Eggs:

To make the vegan scrambled eggs, you'll need:

Layer your sauté pan with a small amount of coconut oil over medium heat. Toss your finely chopped onion and garlic into the pan for a few minutes until they have a transparent appearance and become very fragrant.

Next, we'll strain the tofu and crumble it up by hand to create the appearance of scrambled eggs. Add the nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and seasonings to the crumbled tofu and mix until you've got an overall consistent color.

Add the tofu mix into your pan with the onion and garlic and continue cooking while stirring occasionally to ensure any excess water remaining in the tofu is depleted. Serve.

To make the vegan bacon crumble, you'll need:

First, preheat your oven to 225 degrees — we'll need it in a few moments.

Combine all of the ingredients except for the Textured Veggie Protein in a small saucepan and allow it to boil. Once it begins to boil, remove it from heat and add in your TVP. Continue stirring the mixture until all of the liquid contents are absorbed.

Next, you'll want to line a baking sheet with some parchment paper and spread your bacon crumbles over the sheet somewhat evenly for optimal crisping. Bake until desired crispiness, shaking occasionally.

Combine with eggs and serve.

Tip: Make more than enough of the vegan bacon crumble to top your salad at lunch!

Vegan Crumble Lunch and Dinner

Salads are pretty delicious on their own and are a meal you can usually safely transition over from your pre-vegan diet. If you were a fan of bacon bits in your salad, use that extra vegan bacon crumble you made for breakfast as a delicious meat-free topping on your salad.

Moving on to dinner, this is where things can get tricky. It's usually the biggest meal of the day for most people so getting used to preparing a meatless and vegan-friendly diet can be a challenge. Let's satiate the day with a vegan cheeseburger macaroni.

To make the vegan cheeseburger macaroni, you'll need:

Prepare the cheese sauce (if made from scratch) and begin boiling water for the pasta. You should use this time to rehydrate the protein substitutions if needed.

Heat a large pan over medium to low heat. Combine the chili, onion, and garlic powder with the paprika and red pepper flakes in the pan and sauté for a couple of minutes. Next, add your protein to the mix and cook for about five minutes.

Take your cheese sauce and stir it into the pan with the Liquid Smoke, soy sauce, tomato paste, and almond milk. Give it a couple of stirs and then turn your stove's heat to low and cover to simmer until the pasta's done. Drain your pasta and combine in the large saucepan. Serve.

Dessert

Now that we've taken care of breakfast, lunch, and dinner we can finally move on to our favorite meal of the day — dessert! This one is the simplest to make so don't blink or you might miss it. This quick and easy end-of-the-day (or middle, we won't tell!) treat should help seal the deal for your decision to go vegan.

Let's make a chocolate almond, sea salt, and chocolate chip cookie dough milkshake! We now claim this delightful treat "Heaven In a Glass"

To make Heaven In a Glass, you'll need:

Combine ice cream and almond milk into a blender and blend until you've got a creamy consistency. Next, crumble the cookie bar by hand into the blender and add a few ice cubes with a pinch of sea salt.

Blend again until the ice cubes are well mixed with the ice cream and cookie. Serve with a straw or spoon.

Adjusting to the Vegan Diet

Adjusting to the vegan lifestyle can be quite the change.

Ultimately, it's about discovering what works for you. By taking tasty dishes from your meat and dairy days and finding new creative ways to prepare them in a vegan-friendly manner, you can keep the FOMO at bay while getting great nutrition that your taste buds will love!