French Toast

As we all know, breakfast foods are superior to all other types of foods. McDonald's only recently caught up to the rest of us when they extended their breakfast menu past 10:30 AM. Not to be outdone, I'm serving breakfast for lunch with this delicious recipe.

French Toast

What you'll need:
4 slices of bread
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon butter

1. Break the eggs into a flat bowl. Add the milk, salt, sugar, and vanilla. Mix well, using a fork.

Here's where things went a little wonky. I didn't have any regular milk, but I did have this delicious vanilla almond milk. So I substituted it for the milk, and cut back on the sugar and vanilla (since the almond milk was already sweetened and vanilla-flavored). At least, that's what I intended to do, but then I splashed more vanilla into the bowl than I meant to, and I misread the recipe and added too much salt. At this point, though, I had my heart set on french toast, so I just pressed onward, self-soothing with the mantra, "But we like vanilla! We're okay!"

Ahem. Moving on.

2. Put a frying-pan on the stove over a small flame. As soon as it's hot, add the butter, spreading it as it melts.

Boom. Nailed it.

3. Lay each slice of bread in the egg mixture and soak it well. 

I tend to feel my best when I limit the amount of gluten and dairy in my diet, so at any given moment I typically have gluten-free bread on hand in my kitchen. I went gluten-free for this step, but you could use any slice of bread that you prefer. I actually think the GF bread is a great option for this recipe because it's already pretty dry and is eager to soak up all of the egg mixture. It's also cut a little thicker than a regular slice of wheat bread, which makes for a little more substantial breakfast-lunch, am-I-right?

4. Then place the soaked slices of bread in the frying-pan and brown first one side and then the other.

Let's see how I stack up to the recipe book. This is, after all, an "Easy Recipe for Beginners" and we're supposed to be having "Fun with Cooking."

10-year-old chef, 1947

28-year-old chef, 2015

Not bad! Even with my modern modifications, this is looking pretty good. I will say my version probably smelled a little more strongly of vanilla. Between the almond milk and my heavy hand with the extract, my kitchen was alarmingly aromatic.

5. Serve immediately with jam or jelly. In the second picture, Gerrie shows you her delicious and wholesome lunch--French toast, jam, a glass of milk and an apple.

I let the toast crisp up a little bit before flipping and serving, and I took some liberty by sprinkling some powdered sugar on top. I did include an apple, though, just like Gerrie.

I could definitely taste the vanilla, but it didn't overpower the toast in the least. Success! I'm glad I didn't give up after step 1--I'm learning that even when things go "wrong," the recipe will probably turn out okay. Probably. After this, my 15th recipe, cooking doesn't seem quite so intimidating.

I'm not sure I would describe this lunch as wholesome, though, but it is pretty delicious. Let's just say McDonald's isn't the only kitchen with a high-caloric breakfast option all day long. Just sayin.