Monday, February 4, 2013

The French Toast Connection

Last Friday was a PD day; for a short week it sure seemed long.  Perhaps it was because it was the last week of January.  Not to wish my life away, but isn't it nice to be into February?

Back to the PD day.  If I was a working parent, the PD days that occur every third week for the entire school year would probably get to me after a while.  But I'm not and they don't; in fact, I welcome the lazy mornings of milling around in my yoga pants, nowhere to go and nothing more pressing to do than drink copious amounts of coffee.

And making hot lunches, of course!  One might assume that since my children come home for lunch, I serve them a nice hot lunch every day.  That assumption would be wrong.  In fact, I have never made a hot lunch on school days; I'm too pressed for time with the 55 minute lunch hour, for one thing.  Typical hot lunch items my children don't eat even if I did prepare them, items such as soup, chili, or macaroni.  I know.  I know.  I could write a whole post on the tragedy that is my kids' aversion to that childhood staple, mac 'n' cheese.  Another day.

What they do like, and what I do make on PD days as a special treat, is French toast.  It feels like a special, syrupy ritual: heating butter in the pan, soaking each piece of whole grain bread in its own mixture made up of an entire egg and a splash of milk, cooking until nice and crispy on the outside, soft in the middle.  Served with a glass of milk and some fruit, it's a perfectly balanced lunch.  Plus syrup, of course, which - according to my kids and Buddy the Elf - should be in a food group all of its own.

12 comments:

  1. MY KID! My kid also hates Mac-N-Cheese! People think I'm nuts when I tell them, but it's true! He loves cheese to death but beware anyone who tries to get him to eat anything hidden beneath the cheese. (He hates pasta and macaroni as a whole, tbh.)

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    1. I think mac and cheese is awesome, but I haven't had it for years and years because...why make it just for myself? Plus I'm not really supposed to have dairy. BUT STILL. What is with the kids and their dislike of something so delicious?

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  2. Oh, how I miss French toast. Of all the things I had to give up when my kid developed an egg allergy, French toast is the one thing that I still dream about. When that kid goes to university, I will be at the grocery store 10 seconds later buying eggs, and at home making French toast about 5 minutes after that.

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    1. French toast IS pretty excellent! I had a banana bread French toast at a restaurant once - like actual banana bread made into French toast. It was divine but maybe a bit too much...

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  3. The kids used to go to a caregiver who would add roasted sweet potato puree to her french toast mixture. And on the one hand, yes, that's a sneaky way to get your kids to eat vegetables. On the other hand, WHY WOULD YOU DESECRATE FRENCH TOAST??

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    1. You know, the thing with that is - how much of the sweet potato are the kids actually getting? Like, a teaspoon? I wonder if it's good, though.

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  4. Lynn! Here is the Food Allergy Mama's egg-free French toast: http://www.foodallergymama.com/2012/11/27/french-toast-tuesdays/


    Also, what does 'PD' stand for?

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    1. Professional Development - when the teachers are in but the kids are not.

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  5. According to my kids, my french toast is all 'meh'. But my mother-in-law's is the Best in the World.

    So I never make it.

    The end.

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    1. I have a recipe for honey baked french toast - and is it still french toast at this point? dunno - that MIGHT blow your kid's mind, MAYBE. Maybe not.

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  6. FRENCH TOAST! I make that for breakfast some mornings, when I'm feeling unusually on the ball and have lunches made more swiftly than usual, which is to say I rarely, rarely make it.

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  7. If we have Italian food on a Friday night, I'll buy one of those long French baguettes in the grocery store. 1/2 will be sacrificed on the garlic bread altar and the other have becomes Sunday morning French toast medallions. Now that I've had baguette French toast, I can never go back.

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