Ooh La La
It's only recently become a thing for people to waste food. We've become awful haven't we? Sometimes I just cringe at how much food WE throw out. Throughout history, most food scraps, in Europe anyway, would be taken and thrown into a pot that was nearly always kept simmering to keep the food from going bad. (blek) This stew mixture was handy for quick meals throughout the day and served as a great way to make sure every scrap of food would get eaten. Our kids would just cringe - I think I would too. Taking leftover bread and veggies and turning them into something new was not our idea. French Toast, Fondue and Bread Pudding are just a few of my favorite things that take what we would normally throw right in the trash and make them into something out of this world. Fondue was traditionally made out of old hardened cheese and dried out bread. Bread Pudding and French Toast turn stale bread into heavenly slices of goodness. Old doesn't always mean bad. Sometimes it actually means better. :) Just look at bananas for goodness sake...banana bread?!? See there! I'm so thankful for all of those brave souls that had taste buds of steel and weren't scared of creating.
French Toast, though it did not originate in France, will still make you say ooh. la. la. It will repay you with more kindness than you can stand for not throwing that old bread away. You can make it from any kind of bread you'd like. Fresh, stale, whatever is handy will work...and by the way, French BREAD makes the best toast...AND is cheaper than a loaf of sliced bread...at least the sliced bread WE buy.
For the toast, take a bit of milk, mix in some egg and dip in a few slices of bread, fry them up and you've got something out of nothing. :) For a little extra crunch, you can even cook your french toast in a waffle iron instead of the old stand by skillet for goodness sake. It's so great and a fun way to be sneaky and get your kids to eat their eggs. ;)
This recipe goes back to the days our girls were wee little toddlers. My sister in law gave me a great little paper back book with amazing toddler food/craft ideas. It doubles and triples well, which works great when a spontaneous sleep over occurs.
WHAT YOU NEED:
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
appx. 4-5 bread slices
(preferably French - this pic is plain ol' stale sliced wheat bread)
(Yield: appx. 2 servings)
WHAT TO DO:
Combine ingredients in a medium size bowl
excluding the bread of course.
Preheat a non stick pan or very well seasoned iron skillet
on medium low heat and spray well with non stick spray.
Dip bread slices one at a time into milk mixture
and immediately place in pan.
You should hear a sizzle when you place bread in pan.
Cook several minutes before flipping.
If your heat is too high, the bread will brown too quickly
and the inside will still be a bit soggy.
Watch your heat and cook slower rather than quickly.
If you need to make more than two or so servings,
this recipe doubles and triples very well.
If you start to run out of dipping mixture
and have one or two pieces of bread left,
simply add in a bit more milk.
This recipe is very forgiving.
To get a head start on those hungry mouths,
preheat oven to the lowest temperature it will allow you to
and place a clean baking sheet right in there.
As you prepare the french toast, place the slices
on the baking sheet in that warm oven and they will be ready to go
when everyone walks in hungry.
Our crew loves a little peanut butter and syrup with their french toast.
I prefer butter, powdered sugar and syrup.
Bacon must, I repeat, must, accompany it.
ENJOY!
