"Cooking School"- French Toast, 2 ways

Either one of these versions would make a great breakfast on a holiday morning like today.

Let me explain the "Cooking School" in the title.

It all started when we made these Bunny Buns ( the recipe is at the bottom of that post- it's really just a fancy way of twisting orange rolls). My daughter decided that she wanted to have a weekly "Cooking School" where she picked something and we made it together. Please forgive the formality of the title, but that is just what she said. I am by no means qualified in any way to call it that or teach, but it is what we are going with. :D

I decided that since summer was upon us, that this would be a great way to spend some time together in the kitchen.

Her first request- French Toast.

French Toast is not something that I make often. I guess because I usually feel like it doesn't come out quite right.
Well folks- "Cooking School" has cured the problem. I decided that we would make French Toast 2 ways- the traditional way and the baked way.

I searched for a basic French Toast recipe and found one by Alton Brown that fit the bill. It had a few extra steps that I have never seen before, but I have watched an episode or two of Good Eats, so I knew that if anyone had perfected a technique, scientifically, it was him. He uses half & half in the custard mixture and has you let the bread drip over a wire rack before you cook it, but I think what gives his French Toast the perfect texture and taste is the last step. He has you warm the oven and the french toast goes into the hot oven for 5 minutes, which puffs it up and makes it turn out restaurant style. We topped our french toast with a homemade strawberry sauce and strawberry whipped cream.

Baked french toast is just a slightly healthier version of bread pudding, in my opinion. I have made it a few times in the past. This recipe is basic and very good. We loved it.

Of course we didn't make these 2 recipes in the same day, but it was a lot of fun.

My daughter decided that the next series in our "Cooking School" should be salad, because these were a little on the rich side!


Here is the recipe for French Toast from Alton Brown
* We used real maple syrup instead of honey
* We used challah and topped it with a homemade strawberry sauce & strawberry whipped cream
* We only used 2 Tablespoons of butter to cook the french toast in our electric skillet in 2 batches

Here is the recipe for Baked French Toast with Blueberries from Giada de Laurentiis
* We used sourdough bread

CEiMB- Peach French Toast Bake

This week's Craving Ellie recipe was chosen by Liz of The Not So Skinny Kitchen. She chose Peach French Toast Bake.
When I first checked this book out from the library a year and a couple months ago, this french toast bake was one of the 4 recipes I had to make right away.

I made it with blueberries and blackberries, the first time, and have made it multiple other times, even made it into mini individual size servings.
It is fast and easy and I love that you can throw it together the night before. I have used different berries and was lucky enough to use the fresh peaches off my parents peach tree a couple of times when I made this.

Go check out what the other CEiMB-er's thought about this recipe by checking out the CEiMB Blogroll!

Recipe for Peach French Toast Bake

French Toast Bite Kebabs with Blueberry Sauce

This is a recipe from a cute cookbook called- Cooking Together from Williams Sonoma by Erin and Tatum Quon. I love any recipe that makes meals more fun and exciting and also really like getting my kids to help me in the kitchen.
This is a pretty basic french toast recipe, except for the fact that you cut your bread into cubes and can turn it into kebabs. Also there is a homemade blueberry sauce/syrup that goes along with this.
I followed the recipe pretty closely except that I use a whole wheat baguette for my bread. Next time I will definitely toast my bread cubes, as they didn't stay as firm as I would have liked.

I also did not cook the bites in butter. I just sprayed my skillet with cooking spray and had no problems getting them to brown up.

After you cook them, you toss the warm french toast cubes in cinnamon-sugar, which adds a little bit of sweetness and really takes away the need for any syrup, in my opinion.

My kids loved this breakfast. It was really a fun one to make and eat together.

French Toast Bites with Blueberry Sauce from Williams-Sonoma Cooking Together by Erin and Tatum Quon

1 pint blueberries
¾ cup maple syrup
2 Tbls sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 eggs
½ cup buttermilk (I used low-fat)
½ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
6 slices country bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (I used a whole wheat baguette)
2 Tbls butter (I used cooking spray)

Combine the blueberries and maple syrup in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Set aside.

Combine sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, milk, vanilla, and salt. Add the bread cubes and toss so that all sides are coated and egg mixture is soaked up.

Over medium heat, melt 1 Tbls butter and add half of coated bread cubes. Cook, until golden, turning on all sides.

Toss in cinnamon sugar.

Repeat with remaining bread cubes.

These can also be put on skewers with fruit and dipped in the sauce.

One Year Ago- Greek Salad

Overnight French Toast Mini Cups

Some things just have to be revisited. Last summer, I checked out The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger from the library and chose 4 recipes that I wanted to make right away. One of them was Peach French Toast Bake.

When I made it last summer, I added some blueberries and blackberries to the peaches that go on top and it was a delightful breakfast.
A couple of weeks ago, I had a loaf of french bread that was a little stale, so I decided to make this breakfast dish again.
We had some frozen peaches left from last summer and I decided to turn the french toast bake into single servings by cutting the bread into cubes and baking them in a muffin tin.
I just put some bread cubes into each well of the muffin tin and poured the egg/milk mixture over top. I added the peaches and blueberries, covered them with plastic wrap, and set them in the fridge overnight. I also reduced the baking time by about half.

My family really likes this breakfast.
If you need a filling and nutritious breakfast that can be put together quickly the night before and then just popped in the oven in the morning, make this one!

Here is the link to the Food Network Recipe

Here is the link to my post when I made this recipe last summer



Up Next- Greek Tuna Salad Pasta

Coconut French Toast with Grilled Pineapple and Tropical Salsa

I remember seeing this recipe a couple of years ago in a Cooking Light magazine and finally got around to making it for breakfast.
I had some coconut milk in the fridge that I needed to use and all the fruit ready to go.
I made this on a weekday, so it ended up being more like a brunch than a breakfast because all of the steps take up a little bit of time. The end result is worth it though.
I didn't think that the french toast was overly coconut-ty, it was pretty subtle. The fruit salsa was delicious.
I just warmed up my pineapple slices in an electric skillet instead of grilling them.
All of the parts of this recipe were delicious on their own and even better when they were combined.
I love fresh fruit for breakfast and it tasted great on the french toast.
I would recommend this for a weekend brunch or get-together. It has lots of colors and flavors and it was a great way to start the day (even if it was mid-morning when we ate it!)
Coconut French Toast with Grilled Pineapple and Tropical Salsa from Cooking Light
Easy to make, this rich dish is full of flavor and color. It's best prepared with day-old bread. You can serve the pineapple slices raw, but the deep, caramelized flavors you get from cooking them in a grill pan are worth the extra effort.
Salsa:
2 tablespoons flaked sweetened coconut
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
2 peeled ripe mangoes, chopped
1 pint strawberries, chopped
French toast:
1 cup egg substitute
1 cup light coconut milk
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 (16-ounce) loaf French bread, cut into 16 slices
Cooking spray
Remaining ingredients:
1 medium pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut crosswise into 8 slices
Powdered sugar (optional)

To prepare salsa, combine first 4 ingredients; cover and chill.
Preheat oven to 400°.
To prepare French toast, combine egg substitute and next 6 ingredients (egg substitute through eggs) in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Place bread in egg mixture; press down with spatula to completely submerge bread in egg mixture. Let stand 15 minutes.
Arrange soaked bread in a single layer on a jelly roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until set. Remove from oven, and keep warm.
While bread bakes, heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray.
Arrange 4 pineapple slices in pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until pineapple begins to brown. Remove from pan; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining pineapple and cooking spray. Arrange 2 toast pieces on each of 8 plates; top each serving with 1 pineapple slice and 1/2 cup salsa. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.

Up Next- 3 cookies-shortbread, chocolate and ginger

Peach and Blackberry or Blueberry French Toast Bake, you choose

When I was thumbing through this cookbook (The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger), there were 4 recipes that stuck out as ones that I had to try. This was the first one. I love pictures in cookbooks and that is usually what makes me want to try a certain recipe. This was a great make ahead breakfast. I doubled it and made two pans, topping each one with a different kind of berry.
Peach and Blackberry or Blueberry French Toast Bake adapted from Ellie Krieger's The Food you Crave

1 /2 loaf french bread, at least 2 days old
4 large eggs
4 large egg whites
1 cup skim milk
splash of half and half
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 cups frozen unsweetened sliced peaches, thawed
a handful of blackberries or bluberries, or both
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
cinnamon
pure maple syrup

Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Cut the french bread into 1/2 inch slices and arrange in a single layer in the pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together whole eggs, egg whites, milk, half and half, and the vanilla. Pour the egg mixture over the bread in the pan. Layer the peach slices evenly over the bread. Sprinkle evenly with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Uncover and bake until it is slightly puffy, and the bread is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Top with maple syrup.

Pecan-Orange French Toast with Homemade Strawberry Syrup

I saw this recipe on taste buds, a food blog that also participates in Tuesday's with Dorie. I love pecans and yummy breakfast, so I adapted it a little and we enjoyed it for Sunday breakfast. You really have got to try this!

I put my pecans in the food processor so that the are ground up really little, it makes it easier for me because I don't have to chop and my kids like it better with smaller pieces of nuts to work on.

I absolutely love citrus zest in anything, so I added the zest of a beautiful, fragrant orange to my ground nuts. I also threw in some cinnamon and nutmeg to the nuts.

I cooked this french toast in my electric skillet, which I love. It smelled great and tasted even better. The only advice I have is to make sure you cook it long enough on both sides, because it is tough to tell if the egg is all the way cooked through all those nuts and no one wants soggy french toast!

Pecan-Orange French Toast with Homemade Strawberry Syrup

2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of cardamom
5 1-inch thick slices of french bread or texas toast (I used texas toast)
2 cups ground pecans, the food processor does wonders with nuts
grated zest of one orange

sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg

Homemade Strawberry Syrup*

Process pecans in food processor until the pieces are small and uniform. Transfer nuts to a shallow dish and grate the zest of one orange into the dish. Mix with your fingers and add a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg.
In a med size bowl beat together eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and cardamom. Dip bread into egg mixture, coating both sides (let soak atleast 10 seconds), then dip into ground pecans, pressing pecans into bread if necessary. Cook on a skillet over med heat about 4-5 min per side. To keep warm, place on single layer on a baking sheet in a 170 degree oven until done cooking all of the french toast.

Serve with Homemade Strawberry Syrup

1/2 cup seedless strawberry jam

1/4 cup water

2 Tbls freshly squeezed orange juice

1 cup fresh strawberries, coarsely chopped

Heat jam and water over medium heat in a small saucepan. Stir to dissolve jam and bring to a low boil. Stir in orange juice. Remove from heat and stir in strawberries. Serve over warm french toast