Category: Breakfast

From left to right:
Cream Cheese-filled, Strawberry-filled, Original banana-filled.

This French Toast was yummy, crusty, rich, sweet and flavorful. I tried two other fillings, in addition to the original banana, which is very good. Girl doesn’t care for bananas, so I made a strawberry paste by simmering and mashing some frozen strawberries with a little water until it was thick and pasty and used that to stuff the toast instead of the banana. That was very yummy. The other version was with sweetened cream cheese; I added a sprinkle or two of cinnamon and about 1 Tbsp of sugar to half a brick of lowfat cream cheese and used that in place of the banana. That one is my favorite.

The great thing about this recipe is that a lot of it can be done in advance (making the creme anglaise) and that it bakes, so you don’t have to babysit and turn the French toast on a griddle while it’s cooking.

A Pullman pan is the culinary term for the long, rectangular (square when viewed from the “end”) loaf pans that bakeries use to make sandwich loaves in. Some Pullman pans have lids that slide over the top to keep the bread from rising so much, so that the baked bread will have a dense “crumb”. I did have to special-order the Pullman-pan brioche from my local grocery store, since they normally only make brioche rolls, and not loaves. If I looked around, I could probably find a store that makes it regularly, but, I just ordered it then cut the crusts off and cut it into 3-inch thick slices and froze it until I was ready to use it this morning and that worked fine. I do think that using brioche is worth it – it made it really light and flavorful.

I cooked the creme anglaise a little too long, so it was really thick. I actually made a half-batch of the toast this morning, but made a full batch of the creme anglaise, thinking that I would put the leftover creme in the fridge to make it again another day soon, but because my creme turned out so thick, I actually used the whole batch of creme for a half-batch of bread.

I found that it took longer than 12 minutes to bake, but that may have been because I over-soaked my toast in the double batch of thickened creme.

This recipe was adapted from Brunch by Marc Meyer and Peter Meehan, but I saw it when it was published in the February 2006 issue of House Beautiful. I’ve looked for the recipe online, so that I could link it for you, but haven’t been able to find it. I don’t own the cookbook, but it looks like a really good one. The authors are the owners of the Five Points Restaurant in New York. Boy and Girl really loved this, as did Hubby.

Baked Banana French Toast

For creme anglaise:
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup warm heavy cream

For the French toast:
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 loaf Pullman brioche or similar bread, crust removed

about 4 very ripe bananas, mashed
warmed maple syrup

Prepare creme anglaise: Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, salt and vanilla in a pan. Whisk in 2 Tablespoons cream. Add remaining cream, whisking constantly. Cook, over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until sauce barely coats the back of a wooden spoon. Pour sauce into a shallow bowl and let cool.

Prepare French toast: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a sheet pan and place in oven.

Cut bread into 8 3-inch-thick slices. Cut each slice diagonally into 2 triangles. Cut a slit into the wide side of the wedge, creating a pocket. Fill pockets with mashed banana.

Dip stuffed bread slices into sauce, lightly coating each side. Place slices on preheated pan and bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Serve with maple syrup. Serves 8.

The photo that was in the article with the original recipe had the toast pictured like this, with 2 slices together, filling sides together, but I served them differently. I think that they must have baked the slices together that way, since their slices fit together that way better than mine, but I placed my slices on the baking sheet with the filling side up, so that side would toast and the filling wouldn’t be soggy. I also didn’t make any effort to “pair up” the bread slices that had originally been together before the bread was diagonally sliced.

I think that the toast looks better served like this, with the slices angled up off the plate, filling sides up.

I am the Goddess of Leftovers!

For instructions on how to make a fritatta, see this entry here:
http://www.feedyourkids.com/2006/10/fritatta_with_roasted_white_as_1.html

Since the leftover potatoes were already cooked in today’s version, I could skip the step of sauteing them. You can put ANYTHING in these – they are a GREAT way to use up whatever leftovers you might have. Sometimes I’ll even throw a little baggie of leftover meat or cooked veggie into the freezer, if I don’t have time to use it right away, then I can pull it out to toss into a frittata later. You can use any cheese you like, or none at all.

Since we’re having a fairly relaxed holiday weekend around here, we felt like making a luxurious breakfast this morning. I used the same pancake/waffle mix to make the waffles that I used for the pancakes a while back (see previous entry here).

To make the maple whipped cream, I just whipped about 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream until it was fluffly, then blended in about 1 tsp. sugar and 1/2 tsp maple extract. We topped the waffles with syrup/pumpkin butter, etc., then added a little dollop of the whipped cream, then a sprinkle of cinnamon. Mmmmm…..we won’t need to eat again until dinnertime!

This recipe is adapted from a recipe in The South Beach Diet by Dr. Arthur Agatston. Hubby and I have had much success with this diet. I lost about 20 pounds and Hubby lost 35 or so. I can’t recommend this diet enough. I have issues with low blood sugar/hypoglycemia. I also love to exercise and this diet gives me plenty of energy (plenty of protein). You never feel hungry or deprived and the food is pretty tasty. It’s definitely a diet for someone who loves to cook. In fact, you MUST love to cook to be on this diet, because it pretty much requires you to make three meals a day, at least in the early stages. But, the food is varied and tasty, with lots of flavor from fresh herbs, veggies and nuts. FYI – Girl will eat these, but Boy will not.

Healthy Veggie Mini-Quiches

1 1/2 cups Egg Beaters or other egg substitute
3/4 cup reduced-fat cheese (we like cheddar, but ricotta is good, too)
1/2 cup roasted red peppers, coarsely chopped
(Make these yourself and freeze to be used as needed; do NOT use the oil-packed ones. If you don’t have these on hand, then use fresh bell peppers instead)
1/4 cup chopped red onion, sauteed in a tiny bit olive oil or “no trans fat” margarine (we like Benecol) until soft
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed well to remove excess water
a dash of your favorite hot sauce, if desired
1 Tbsp. of your favorite chopped herb (parsley, basil or tarragon are all good), optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with foil baking cups. Mix all ingredients together and pour (a 1/4 cup measuring cup works great) equal amounts in each muffin cup. Bake for 25 minutes. These can be stored in the fridge for 3 days or frozen for longer. (Remove the foil cup before reheating them in the microwave!) A serving is two quiches.

NOTE: My recipe has more egg substitute and the quiches are a little larger than Dr. Agatston’s, so if you’re following the SB diet very strictly, be aware that this is a slightly larger portion than he suggests. I eat these before working out, so I need a little bit more “fuel” to keep me going.

Both of the kids had “testing” today. Boy is testing for his Blue Belt in Taekwondo and Girl has an academic test, so I wanted them both to have a really hearty breakfast. This mix that I found at Central Market fit the bill perfectly. I bought the Gingerbread Pancake mix, too, so we’ll be trying that soon. I’ve made Pumpkin and Gingerbread Pancakes from scratch before, with pretty good results (recipes later), but this was just so EASY (the mix requires the addition of 3/4 cup milk, 1 egg and 1 Tbsp. melted butter to 1 cup of mix). The Maple Pumpkin Butter is really good and doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup (something we try to avoid), but is a more “adult” taste. Girl prefers powdered sugar on her pancakes and Boy just likes plain old (well OK, Grade “A” Organic) maple syrup on his, but I liked the pumpkin butter. I think it would be nice on toast or drizzled (maybe with some toasted pecans?) over cheesecake for a Fall-ish dessert. I am SO ready for Thanksgiving! Planning menus already!

Hubby works from home, so we are lucky enough, some days, to be able to have a nice breakfast together after we get the kids off to school. One of our favorite things to have is a frittata. They usually require only one pan, are easier to make than omelets (no spilled filling, no falling apart when you take them out of them pan and they require less cheese), and are a great way to use up leftover veggies and meats. I happened to have some nice leftovers (roasted red peppers, white asparagus and shaved Gruyere) and put this one together this morning.

Frittata with Roasted White Asparagus, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Gruyere, Roasted Red Peppers and Applewood-Smoked Bacon

7 eggs, beaten
5 slices Applewood-Smoked bacon (I like Pederson’s)
2 small (or 1 large) Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into half-inch dice
1/2 of roasted red bell pepper, sliced or chopped
1 cup cooked asparagus, in bite-sized pieces (I used leftover Roasted White Asparagus, but green asparagus would be fine or broccoli or even spinach – e.coli free, of course!)
3 Tbsp. shaved Gruyere cheese (or any cheese you like)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Start bacon cooking. As bacon cooks and fat renders, spoon the bacon fat off and place it into a 10″ non-stick, oven-proof skillet. When you get enough bacon fat to coat the bottom of the skillet, cook the potatoes in the bacon fat until golden and tender on the inside and slightly crisp on the outside, stirring occasionally so that all sides are browned. When bacon is cooked, drain it well and set it aside to cool. When potatoes are done, turn the heat off and add the asparagus, peppers and the bacon (crumbled) to the pan. Pour the eggs over the ingredients, then sprinkle the cheese over the top. Quickly place the skillet into the oven and cook until the frittata is firm and the cheese on top is slightly browned (15 – 20 minutes). I turned the broiler on for the last 1-2 minutes to get a nice, golden top, but that is optional. Cut the frittata into wedges and serve. Makes 4 servings.

This was SO good. One addition to this recipe that would have improved it would be some onion or shallots. I would add a few Tbsp. of chopped shallot or red onion (maybe even chopped green onion?) to the potatoes during their last minute or two of cooking time and then proceed with the recipe.