French Toast

When the four daughters of Jerri’s oldest brother compiled The Krehbiel Family Cookbook to preserve some of the recipes their mother used to feed her family, they included a final section titled “Other Great Recipes.”

Some are clearly recipes devised by the girls. For instance, they prefaced their instructions for making “Plain Macaroni” by noting that it was “A favorite main dish when Daddy and Mother had bridge club and we got to cook supper.”

Others are commentaries on remembered dishes. Someone contributed this note: “Heart, Tongue, Rabbit, Goat Meat and other delicacies: Remember all these special meals we had?? Kids today don’t know how easy their life is.”

Still others recognize the kitchen skills of their father. There is one for pancakes “(From Daddy, Carrie and Erica think Grandpa is famous for his pancakes)” which begins “Mix pancake batter according to package directions. Be sure to add an egg or two and use milk instead of water. Stir in any additions. Cook on griddle.” Suggested additions included applesauce, bananas and canned fruits.

Following this entry which helps explain why grandfathers love their grandchildren is a recipe for French Toast with an important piece of wisdom that was probably imparted by Grandpa to his idolators as they watched him cook their breakfast. The recipe is worth quoting in its entirety.

“French Toast: (From Daddy, another breakfast favorite!!) Mix eggs, milk, cinnamon and sugar. Dip in bread (stale is best, be sure to tear off any moldy parts). Cook on griddle. Serve with butter and syrup. Yummy!!”

My recipe for French toast is an upscale version, but I also watch to make sure that no moldy parts end up on the griddle. Incidentally, our grandson thinks my French toast is the best ever.

Here is how to make enough French toast for one hungry grandson and two adults or four hungry adults.

INGREDIENTS:

5 large eggs
2 T sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 to 2 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Slices of stale bread

PROCEDURE:

Start heating the griddle to about 350º or put a skillet over moderate heat while you make the batter.

Beat the eggs until they are lemon colored. Beat in the sugar, salt and cinnamon followed by the milk.

Grease the griddle or skillet lightly with cooking spray or shortening. Test that the cooking surface is the right temperature with a drop or two of water. If it sizzles and bounces, you are ready to cook your French toast.

Dip slices of bread in the batter so all surfaces of the bread are moist. If you are using stale bread, you can turn each slice a couple of times to allow the batter to penetrate the bread. Fry the slices for about two minutes, then turn them over to cook the top side. Both sides should be lightly browned.

Serve with butter and maple syrup.

NOTES: Whole milk works best for French toast, but reduced-fat milk is okay. A couple of times while camping I have made French toast with powdered milk, and it all got eaten.

Fresh strawberries, raspberries or blueberries are tasty additions to the topping.

Stale bread really is best for making French toast. Thick-sliced French or Italian bread is especially good and whole wheat bread works well too. Just let it sit for three or four days, then get up twenty minutes earlier than usual and treat your family to a fantastic breakfast.

I like bacon or sausage with my French toast. Protein, I need some protein!

Cranberry Banana Bowl

I did it again. Another bag of bananas on sale at a local convenience store, another impulse buy. This time I asked the clerk to weigh the bag to support my argument for the purchase when I got home. “Five point seven pounds,” I explained as I walked in the door before Jerri could roll her eyes in disbelief. “We can share some bananas with the neighbors and still enjoy a bargain dessert or two.”

Problem solved. Our neighbors got a few bananas, Jerri was more understanding of my enthusiasm than I expected, and she invented a new dessert that is also a wonderful breakfast side dish: Sliced bananas in cranberry sauce. She made it with cranberry sauce left over from Thanksgiving. For some reason, the sauce did not jell as much as usual. The cranberries in what was basically a heavy syrup went beautifully with the bananas.

My guess is that she used a little too much water when she made the cranberry sauce. If you follow her recipe but use an extra quarter cup of water, you should have about the right consistency.

I decided to see if commercial canned cranberry sauce would work. I started by spooning some cranberries from the can over the sliced banana. The sauce was too thick, so I added a tablespoon of water to a half cup of sauce and heated the mixture enough so I could stir it together. It was very sweet, so I added a teaspoon of lemon juice.

The result was pretty good but not as tasty as the combination made with the homemade sauce. A little more lemon juice might help.

Now, the recipe for two servings:

1 large banana
1/2 cup juicy cranberry sauce

PROCEDURE:

Cut the banana into one-eighth-inch slices. Gently mix the cranberry sauce with the banana slices. Enjoy.

NOTE: One of the most important things I learned from this experiment was that Jerri’s cranberry sauce has more flavor and is not as sweet as the commercial version. Maybe this is because commercial cranberry sauce is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar or possibly it’s just sweeter than I prefer.

Sometime you might want to arrange a taste test. Make a batch of cranberry sauce using Jerri’s recipe, cool it and then compare the flavor with the commercial sauce. The one you prefer really doesn’t matter, but you should be able to distinguish the difference.