I'm Getting Domestic - French Toast

Who would have thunk that after all of these years, I'm in the mood to cook again? Maybe I am longing for simpler days. Maybe I am wishing I could redo the years when my children were little and I had to cook to keep them alive. Or maybe I am sick to death of fast food.

My best guess is that my sudden aversion to drive-throughs is responsible for my renewed interest in cooking. (I know this post will make my mother happy.)

I made French Toast this morning. I've been making it for almost 32 years. A couple of years ago, I made it for Mandy Steward when she visited me and was surprised that she didn't know how to make it. (Doesn't everybody?)

Apparently not.

This version (which I learned how to make by watching my mother) is extremely easy to make (unlike the cookbook varieties). And today, I decided to document the process for posterity and for whoever stumbles on my blog.

Warning: The ingredient list is anything but scientific. Don't expect to measure anything because you won't.

• Eggs - you'll use 2 eggs for every 2-3 pieces of French Toast that you want to end up with. So the amount of eggs you'll use depends upon how greedy (oops... hungry) everyone is. You also need to consider how large your bread slices are. But if you don't make enough of the egg mix, no problem. This is easy to do and you can make some more in a flash.
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Sugar (Some sugar. I just toss some in using a spoon... Whatever....Just put some in and don't worry about it. This is not health food. Although, this kind of French Toast can be made healthy if you don't include the sugar and if you use egg substitute. It tastes fine. I've eaten it. Trust me. It's good.)
• Vanilla (Some. If you are making a bunch of French Toast, put in a capful. We are talking "my grandma did it" method of measuring things here, you realize that, don't you?)
• Water. Not much. I'll explain
• Bread

Now that you have your ingredients, crack your eggs in a flat sort of dish that will allow you to dip bread in it once you have the egg mixture made up. You do not want to use a mixing bowl for this. Here... let me show you a picture.

Use an egg beater and beat them up until they are completely beaten up. They should be so beaten up that if I sent over a mean little boy, he couldn't beat them up any more. Then put a little bit of water in there (like a tablespoon) and then beat the eggs some more. The point is: You want the egg yolk and the whites mixed together. That's all. I'm just making a bigger deal of this than I have to because it's fun.

For some unknown reason, (I've never stopped to figure this out), the water makes it end up better. I don't argue with success. Just do it.

Next, dip your bread slices in the egg mixture, getting both sides wet. Don't let the the bread sit in there or it gets all gooshy and it will fall apart on you. Just a quick dip and flip will do.

Of course, the natural thing to do after you have this bread soaked up in egg batter is to fry it up, right? Put it in the frying pan (I love my electric one... nothing sticks with the aid of Pam) and then sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg on the top of each slice. Once the first side is fried, flip it over and fry the other side. This does NOT take long so don't go wandering away and create a digital scrapbooking layout in the middle of this process or you'll have big black bricks smoking your cabinets

Sigh... Now it is done. You can eat the French Toast. Put syrup on it. Put powdered sugar on it. Put fruit and whipped cream on it. Try some jam. I've  had it all at some point and it is all good. This time I went for easy and just squirted some syrup on them.

Once you have eaten your French Toast, you'll have the strength to go off and create a digital scrapbooking layout or two... or three... or four...

See you later. I have some scrapbooking to do.