French Toast

I woke up this morning when my husband's alarm clock buzzed. I used to be an Early Bird before becoming a mom. Now I firmly believe I should sleep whenever our son sleeps. That's my excuse for sleeping bit longer AND taking a daily nap.

In the first few seconds of wakefulness, I thought about breakfast (this is not unusual). We could have cereal, like a normal weekday, but we are fresh out of bananas. Who wants cereal without some fresh fruit on top? Then I remembered the fresh bread we had with dinner last night. I left it out on the table overnight, along with the dirty dishes I "saved until morning". That's my code for "Why do dishes now when I could snuggle & watch a movie?" So the bread would be stale since I hadn't wrapped it after dinner.

French Toast is wonderful for many reasons... For one thing, neglecting to store slices of bread properly seems like foresight instead of forgetfulness. The more stale the bread is, the more vanilla-infused egg mixture it can absorb. French Toast stacked artfully on a plate garnished with a strawberry fan makes you feel like a chef - even when your hair isn't brushed yet.

This is a great recipe to use leftover bread from the bread machine, but store-bought bread is acceptable. If possible, leave the bread slices on the oven racks overnight with the oven cracked open to get really stale bread.

French Toast

4 slices stale bread
1 c egg substitute
1/4 c 1% milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
cinnamon
Canola Oil cooking spray

Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. Whick together egg substitute, milk, and vanilla. Dredge and poke the stale bread pieces in the batter to coax them to absorb lots of batter. Prepare the pan with cooking spray, then place the soaked bread slices on the hot pan. Sprinkle each toast with cinnamon. Flip the slices when the first side is browned. Sprinkle cinnamon on the second side of each toast. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Hint:
Don't flip the toast more than once or they won't be as fluffy.