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Super Simple French Toast {Recipe}

This morning I was really craving French toast.

french-toast

I had some delicious bread from Eataly, some farmers’ market eggs to use up, and some leftover organic milk from when I made yogurt last week. (Note to self: must make yogurt again!)

I actually made this same recipe a few days ago, and it was so good that it merited a repeat.

The Simplest Easiest French Toast

Ingredients

  • Stale bread (or not stale, but this is great for using up stale bread)
  • 1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)
  • 3 eggs
  • Butter/ghee

Directions

Mix the milk and eggs together. Soak the bread in the mixture for at least 5 minutes on each side.

Heat the butter or ghee in a pan. With heat on low, cook the soaked bread (poor any extra mixture that didn’t soak in right on top of the slices).

Cook for 6-8 minutes per side. I like to keep a lid on the pan for the first half (3-4 minutes) of each side.

Enjoy with butter and syrup!

—

Note that you could add some cinnamon (either into the egg mixture or just sprinkled on as it’s cooking), but my husband hates cinnamon and I wanted him to eat this, so I left it out.

I can usually have a little more than a third of this recipe for breakfast – about 2.5 or 3 pieces. The next day when I only have 1 or 1.5 slices left (because Bobby also had a third or more), I will have it along with a yogurt.

What is your favorite breakfast?

I love French toast, waffles, pancakes. I won’t ever eat them in a restaurant because the restaurant can’t make them like my dad can. In a restaurant I will get an omelette or an egg platter – pretty hard to mess up eggs (though it has happened).

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8 Foods I Couldn’t Live Without

Ages ago, MDA did a post with almost the same title. ^^ (He did 10 foods.)

So, being the copycat that I am, here are my 8 foods! (They change all the time, but really, these ones are here to stay for good.)

1. Kabocha Squash (you knew that was coming)

Kabocha, also known as Japanese Pumpkin, has been a favorite of mine for several years now. I even turned orange at one point because I was eating so much of it. It’s high in beta carotene and vitamins C, B1, and B2. For more on kabocha, read my kabocha FAQ.

2. Bacon

Bacon is the food that always keeps me from being a vegetarian. At the moment I am assuredly not a veg-head, but I’ve flirted with vegetarianism, veganism, and macrobiotics in the past. And then I remember bacon, and it’s all over. One important thing to note about bacon though, is that you have to eat the kind without nitrates and nitrites, and preferably organic/hormone-free/antibiotic-free. The nitrates and nitrites especially can contribute to stomach cancer later on in life (something I am genetically predisposed to).

3. Broccoli / Brussels Sprouts (it’s a tie)

Apples and Brussels Sprouts

Apples with Brussels Sprouts

I love cruciferous veggies! They’ve been linked to cancer and heart disease prevention and they’re filled with vitamins and nutrients. Plus, they taste really, really good. When Bobby and I first started dating I turned him onto Brussels sprouts. After hating them his whole life, it turns out that he just didn’t like the mushy kind. When I cook them now I steam or saute them so the inside is barely cooked – no mush.

4. Sunflower Seeds (and sunflower seed butter)

Ahh, sunflower seeds. Growing up I would eat these at my dad’s softball games so they always conjure up that image for me – sitting on the bleachers, reading, but staying alert enough to avoid stray foul balls. Sunflower seed butter is a more recent discovery of mine, but it ranks up there as well. (Aside: I would have put peanuts up here until a week ago, but after keeping a food log for a week – doctor’s orders – it looks like some of my stomach issues come from eating peanut butter alllll the time. Oops.)

5. Apples

Maggie picks and eats an apple

My favorite fruit. Should have in moderation because I break out from eating too much fruit (or sugar in general). However, bad at moderation = lots of apples (wah, skin).

6. Dark, dark chocolate.

My favorite dessert. Also should have in moderation because I break out from eating too much chocolate (unless it’s 99% dark – which probably just means I break out from the sugar in it). Lots of antioxidants, lots of deliciousness. You know what’s really good? Bacon chocolate.

7. Eggs

Scrambled!

I also like them fried, hard-boiled, and in a salad.

8. Butter!

Of course I need something to cook all of the above in. Love butter! Hooray for healthy fats.

***

I am now off to a yoga class.

What are your top 8 foods?

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Potluck BBQ RECIPE: Mexican Couscous and Bean Salad + How to Cut an Avocado

I took this salad to a potluck last weekend. While that particular event wasn’t a barbecue, this dish would be perfect for any kind of summer party – barbecues, pool parties, potlucks, Sunday brunches, maybe even the beach. The large bowl of salad I brought was gone in a jiffy. I was pleased because there was another couscous salad there as well, and I think mine tasted better.

The recipe is based off of a Whole Foods flyer recipe, but I also got inspiration from this fiesta salad that I linked to on Sunday.

Mexican Couscous and Bean Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 cup whole wheat couscous (dry measurement)
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • 1 large tomato, chopped
  • 1 can of corn, drained
  • 1 can of black beans, drained
  • 1/2 an apple, finely chopped
  • 3/4 cup nuts (I used soy nuts and pepitas)
  • 1 cup chopped cilantro
  • 1/3 cup lime juice (add more if this is not enough)
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder (or to taste)

Method

  1. Cook the couscous by heating 1 cup of water to a boil and adding the butter and salt, then mixing in the couscous. Stir the couscous and remove from heat. Let sit, covered, for 5 minutes.
  2. Prepare your veggies while the couscous cools. See below for how I chop my avocado.
  3. Mix everything together. Add more lime juice, chili powder, and salt, to taste.
  4. Enjoy outside in the shade.

***

How to Cut an Avocado

Cut the avocado in half around the pit from top to bottom. Twist it with your hands. One half will keep the pit. Whack the pit with a knife. Holding the avocado, twist the knife so the pit comes out on the blade.

While the meat is still in the skin, slice the avocado into a bunch of rectangles. Push the middle of the skin so like you’re turning the avocado inside out. Then just scrape the avocado cubes into the salad!

It’s so simple. Best way to cut an avocado that I have found.

***

Notes:

  • If you are vegan, feel free to omit the butter and substitute olive oil instead. (For cooking the couscous.)
  • I almost used bacon fat instead of butter, but didn’t want to trick unsuspecting vegetarians. But bacon fat is one of my favorite fats to cook with. Try it – just reserve the fat each time you cook bacon. I keep mine in the fridge in a little bowl.
  • If you are feeling spunky, try adding some chopped bacon (nitrate and nitrite free of course). I may do that next time.

Have a great long weekend!

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Weekend Link Love – 5.22.2011

Links of the week…

Happy almost Monday.

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HEAB’s Butterfied Oaties

I have been meaning to make these for a while now, so when Heather linked to them the other day I knew I couldn’t put it off any longer. All I have to say is – I will never procrastinate with making butterfied oaties (or butterfied anything) again. When they first came out of the oven I was a little bit worried that I had messed them up – they were very crumbly and didn’t stay together – but it didn’t affect the taste at all, and I just put everything (whole oaties + the crumbled ones) in the fridge and they firmed right up.

I made a few changes based on what ingredients I had on hand, so here is my modified version.

Asian-ish Butterfied Oaties

Based on HEAB’s Butterfied Oaties.

Ingredients

  • 1 + 1/3 cups toasted oats (I toasted them in a pan on the stove – just heat the pan and stir them around for 5 minutes)
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 1 stick of softened butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup hydrated raisins (soak raisins in hot water for 5 minutes, then drain)
  • 1/4 of a chocolate bar, chopped up (check out the chocolate I used below – raspberry rooibos tea flavored dark!)
  • 1.5 teaspoons NuNaturals cocoa bean extract (sub out for vanilla if you don’t have it)
  • 2 heaping tablespoons sesame seeds (secret special ingredient!)

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 325F.
  2. Mix ingredients together to combine, then put in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.
  3. Make balls (I used a coffee scoop, about 2 tablespoons, to measure – then I mooshed them into a ball with my hands) out of the dough and put them on a baking tray.
  4. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool. Put in tupperware and put in the fridge so they solidify more.

Just a few notes:

  • I added a little bit more oats than the original recipe called for because my dough was really liquidy.
  • When they came out of the oven they were very crumbly, almost like granola. I just let them sit awhile, and then after I refrigerated them they were pretty solid. Still granola-y in shape (some had broken) but much firmer.
  • You could definitely cut down on the honey – they were pretty sweet.
  • Raisins optional – I added them because Bobby’s favorite cookies are oatmeal raisin.
  • Sesame seeds not optional! These were the best part.

We finished them all in one day (!). They are scrumptious. They are now a new favorite of Bobby’s 🙂 (and mine).

***

Have you made these oaties yet??