French Toast

Just in time for mothers day (it's sunday... don't forget!) I'm a sucker when it comes to breakfast for dinner (or lunch, or brunch). I could happily chow down on all types of breakfast carbs every night... but I'd probably be rather large if I did! I had some delicious whole wheat bread left over from a few weekends ago. As you might guess, it was pretty darn stale by this point, so what does one do with stale bread?? No, don't give it to the birds! You make french toast!

I grew up topping my french toast with a little butter, sugar, and cinnamon... no maple syrup here (not that I don't love maple syrup). French toast is strictly a cinnamon and sugar thing for me :)

How do you top your french toast?

French toast is one of those things that I never measure anything out for, toss together some eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, good to go! I did learn something interesting though the other day... it's a heavy cream substitute, that's darn creamy!! Want to know the secret? Dry non-fat milk solids. You can find them in the baking aisle, but here's the deal.

1 cup milk + 1/4 cup dry nonfat milk solids = 1 cup heavy cream

So if you have a great french toast recipe that uses heavy cream (tasty) but want to skinny it up (bikini season is coming) without getting rid of the cream factor, TRY THIS. Did it last night... and am SO happy I did. I mean look at that stack in the picture above, totally creamy!!

Graham cracker crusted french toast

I love eating breakfast... breakfast in the morning... afternoon... night! It's seriously my favorite meal :) Growing up mom normally cooked dinner but dad was in charge of breakfast on the weekends (and any grilling needed). But weekend breakfasts were always... wait STILL ARE! amazing. French toast is a favorite and I decided to make a little twist on things this past weekend while making some up. I had been watching an episode of Diners Drive-ins & Dives (that show always makes me so hungry! It normally ends in me making up a quick 2 minute cake with ice cream) and they were making a captain crunch crusted french toast! HAHA It totally made me laugh and got me thinking... hmm what else could we coat french toast in?? In my mind the crushed up captain crunch sounded good but a little too much of a sugar overload. I started looking around and found a box of graham cracker crumbles eureka! The crumb crust caramelized when cooked and made a nice crisp crust to the totally moist inside of the french toast.. mmmmm such a tasty juxtaposition. John kept his french toast normal style but I totally recommend adding the graham cracker crust!


Graham cracker crusted french toast
10 slices wheat bread (or whatever bread you have on hand)
4 eggs
1 cup milk (may need more or less depending on size of bread and how dry it is)
1 tsp vanilla
dash nutmeg
cinnamon
graham cracker crumbs
sugar
butter

In a large flat plate (I use a large tin cookie plate it works perfect and you can fit 5 slices of bread at a time in it!) whisk together eggs milk nutmeg and vanilla. Place bread into liquid mixture on plate and let soak through, flip and let other side soak. Sprinkle a little sugar, a good helping of cinnamon and a nice layer of graham cracker crumbs onto each piece. Heat a griddle and spray with butter. Place graham cracker crusted side down on griddle, at this point sprinkle cinnamon and graham cracker crumbs onto the facing up side of the toast. Grill until first side is nice and crisp, flip and continue cooking until other side is browned. Remove and pile high on a plate, cover in some maple syrup or my favorite a little butter, sugar and cinnamon. yum!!

Chow!