19 Vegetarian Ways To Eat More Protein For Breakfast

You needn't add beans to your morning bowl of cereal to get a protein-packed breakfast.

And you wouldn't dream of it, of course. But General Mills would. And did.

At the end of May, the mega cereal manufacturer rolled out Cheerios Protein. The product, which comes in Oats & Honey and Cinnamon Almond flavors, apparently gets its macronutrient boost from soy protein and lentils. With an added half-cup of skim milk, General Mills touts 11 grams of protein in each serving of its cereal (without the milk, Cheerios Protein contains just 7 grams of the stuff).

Protein, unfortunately, isn't the only addition to these new, health-washed Cheerios: Each serving from the line contains 16 to 17 grams of sugar. That's an alarming increase when compared to the single gram that sits in each serving of the original Cheerios that come in that iconic yellow box.

But Cheerios' marketing stance is right on trend. High-protein breakfast items have become hot items for good reason: Starting your day off with a hearty helping of the stuff has been shown to wake you up, stave off hunger, help you maintain a healthy waistline, and improve your chances of making better food selections throughout the the day.

No, you don't have to skip down Lentil Road to reap all the wonderful benefits of a morning meal rich in protein. To match General Mills, the following 19 breakfast recipes have at least 11 grams of protein. And if you believe eating meat is the only viable way to get protein in your diet, well, you'll be surprised: Every dish below is entirely meat-free. They entrust eggs, yogurt and -- OK -- some lentils, to achieve their protein punch. Dig in!