There are some meals you make because everyone needs to eat, some because you’re trying to use what you have in the refrigerator, and some because you’ve planned them carefully.

And then there are the meals you make simply because you want them.

This was one of those meals.

On a day that felt like the perfect summer day, I decided that dinner was going to be just for me. No worrying about what anyone else wanted to eat. No trying to accommodate different tastes. I wanted breakfast for dinner—because, quite frankly, I love breakfast. I could probably eat breakfast foods every day if I allowed myself to.

So that is exactly what I made: strawberry almond milk pancakes, a colorful tofu and vegetable scramble, fresh cantaloupe from my garden, and a cold lavender-lemonade tea.

It was completely plant-based, wonderfully colorful, surprisingly light, and exactly what I wanted.

A Little Bit of Haven Harvest on My Plate

One of my favorite parts of this meal wasn’t something complicated at all.

It was the cantaloupe.

I had two fresh cantaloupes sitting on my kitchen counter that I had grown myself. There is still something incredibly satisfying about growing food, bringing it into my kitchen, and eventually seeing it on my plate.

Gardening requires patience. You plant something, tend to it, watch it grow, worry about it when the weather doesn’t cooperate, and hope that eventually all of that care produces something you can eat.

This time, it did.

I simply sliced the cantaloupes and served some alongside my dinner. They didn’t need anything else.

Garden to kitchen to plate.

That’s one of the things I love most about growing my own food.

Colorful Tofu Scramble

For the savory part of my breakfast-for-dinner plate, I made a tofu scramble loaded with vegetables.

Ingredients

• ½ block extra-firm tofu, drained and crumbled
• 1 large carrot, thinly shredded
• ½ red onion, thinly sliced
• 6 medium colorful sweet peppers, thinly sliced
• About 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• ½ teaspoon freshly grated ginger
• Seasoning salt, to taste
• Black pepper, to taste
• Paprika, to taste
• Turmeric, to taste

Directions

Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over low to medium heat.

Add the shredded carrot, sliced red onion, and sweet peppers. Season the vegetables with nutritional yeast, seasoning salt, black pepper, paprika, turmeric, and freshly grated ginger.

Sauté the vegetables for about 5 minutes, allowing them to soften while still retaining some texture and color.

Crumble the extra-firm tofu directly into the skillet and stir everything together until the tofu is evenly coated with the seasonings.

Continue cooking over low to medium heat for approximately 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

The turmeric gives the tofu that familiar golden scramble color, while the nutritional yeast adds a savory flavor. The vegetables bring a little sweetness and plenty of color to the plate.

Strawberry Almond Milk Pancakes

The pancakes started with something I really didn’t want to waste: about half a cup of strawberries in my refrigerator that had become overripe.

Instead of throwing them away, I decided they would become the base for my pancakes.

Ingredients

• About ½ cup overripe strawberries
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ⅛ cup cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Add the strawberries and almond milk to a blender and purée until smooth. I used my Bullet blender, which worked perfectly for this small amount.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, cane sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.

Pour in the strawberry-almond milk mixture, then add the olive oil and vanilla.

Mix until everything is incorporated, being careful not to overmix the batter.

I let the batter sit for a few minutes while my skillet warmed. This gave the batter a little time to settle before cooking.

Cook the pancakes on a heated skillet, flipping once the first side is set and bubbles begin forming, and continue until both sides are lightly browned and the pancakes are cooked through.

The puréed strawberries gave the pancakes a subtle fruitiness while also giving those overripe berries a purpose instead of letting them go to waste.

And Something Special to Drink

To finish the meal, I made a lavender and lemonade tea mixture using tea I had purchased several months earlier.

It turned out to be the perfect pairing.

The floral lavender and brightness of the lemonade complemented the sweetness of the pancakes and cantaloupe while keeping the entire meal feeling light and summery.

Sometimes the drink you didn’t particularly plan around the meal ends up being exactly what the meal needed.

Cooking for One Doesn’t Have to Mean “Just” Cooking for One

I think this was my favorite part of the evening.

This was a solo dinner.

I wasn’t making something for my children. I wasn’t trying to figure out what everyone else would eat. I wasn’t preparing food because it was expected of me.

I made something I wanted to eat, just for myself.

There can be a temptation when we’re cooking for one person to make the quickest possible thing—or not bother cooking at all. I’ve certainly had those days.

But cooking for yourself can also be an act of care.

It doesn’t have to be elaborate. This certainly wasn’t. I used strawberries that needed to be eaten, vegetables I already had, half a block of tofu, fruit from my garden, and tea that had been sitting in my pantry.

But I put them together into a plate that was colorful, nourishing, plant-based, and made specifically for me.

There was something lovely about sitting down on what felt like a perfect summer day with my breakfast-for-dinner plate and realizing:

I didn’t need a special occasion—or another person at the table—to make myself a beautiful meal.

And yes, given the opportunity, I will probably always choose breakfast for dinner.

Maybe not every day.

But definitely more often than most people.