Apple Pie French Toast

 

Hi!

How was your weekend? Mine was really nice, but very busy and just went by a little too quickly. On Saturday, we were fortunate to attend an event at the Food Network Wine & Food Festival and I'll have a bunch of pics and a wrap up later this week! Meanwhile, today is one of my favorite days of the month...Secret Recipe Club reveal day!

For this month, I was assigned Get Off the Couch and Cook. Sashi started her blog to track her journey of eating less processed food. She cooks recipes that are simple and can be made in the same amount of time it takes to order and wait for a pizza. She has so many great recipes that I had a hard time picking just one! Since I still have apple fever, I went with her apple pie French toast because, well, apple pie French toast! 

 

This was a great fall recipe. It's an eggless French toast batter, which I really liked since it didn't risk having an eggy flavor or consistency. The compote came together very simply {although, I will admit that every time I make an apple recipe, I remember why I hate making apple recipes --->so much peeling and chopping!} and made the apartment smell like apple pie and fall and deliciousness all rolled into one. 

 

I made the apple pie compote/filling in advance, which really helped me get breakfast together on Sunday morning. The night before, I peeled and sliced the apples and cooked them down. Then I refrigerated the cooked mixture until the next morning, when I simply threw it back in a pan with a little butter and heated it up. For Penelope's portion, I cut up the finished toast and apples and tossed it all together in a bowl for her. She ate it right up! Mostly the sweet apples, but still ;)

 

Apple Pie French Toast

*Adapted from Get Off the Couch and Cook

For the apple pie filling:

3 tart apples, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored & sliced

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 C sugar

1/4 C all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 C water

For the French toast:

Apple pie filling

1 C milk

1/4 C all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp cornstarch

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 Tbsp butter

Thick bread, such as white or wheat

To make the filling:

Toss the apple slices with the lemon juice and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Pour into a large sauce pan on the stovetop over medium heat and whisk in the water. The mixture will thicken quickly, so continue whisking until it begins to bubble. Add the apples and stir to coat.

Simmer the apples, stirring frequently, until the apples are condensed and tender. Remove from heat and let cool. If making the night before, let cool and pack into a storage container and refrigerate. On the day you want to eat your French toast, heat in a pan on the stovetop with a small pat of butter.

To make the French toast:

In a mixing bowl, whish together the milk, flour, cornstarch, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Lightly dunk the bread in the milk mixture and coat both sides without soaking through. Cook on each side until browned. Top with the apple pie filling, dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Serve immediately. 

 

This was a really rich breakfast, but so nice for a special Sunday in the fall!

What is your favorite decadent breakfast?

An InLinkz Link-up

5-Minute Oat Bran Breakfast {or Anytime} Custard

As I've mentioned in the past, I've been having a love/hate relationship with the Dukan diet recently. I love it because it works and it works quickly. I feel trimmer, less bloated and overall happier when I'm locked into the diet and doing well. And the hate part? Well, just like any diet I imagine, it gets tiresome after a while to always be making my own food, to be armed with tons of it each day at work, and to simply not get whatever I want to eat whenever I want it. There are two things that I struggle with the most: breakfast and dessert. Luckily, I found a remedy to both.

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Teaspoon of Spice. I really love this blog because it features so many fresh and healthy recipes for families and kids. Though Penelope will still eat {almost} whatever I give her, I know that in the near future there will be a revolt and I'll have to start getting very creative. With recipes like cherry oatmeal bars w/yogurt frosting and frozen banana s'mores, I can't wait to get cookin'! For this months recipe, though, I chose their 5 Minute Breakfast Custard since I'm always on the hunt for simple, quick breakfast ideas. On Dukan, it's really hard to branch out beyond eggs and so most mornings, I end up with hardboiled eggs...which are fine, but certainly not an exciting breakfast in my book. Since I wanted to make a recipe that I could Dukanify, I swapped out the oatmeal that the recipe calls for and instead, used the 'Dukan-approved' oat bran. 

This recipe is unlike any other I've made before in that it calls for eggs to be mixed into the oats while it's heating on the stove. Once I got past my fear of scrambling the eggs, I got really excited to see how this would come together for a decadent custard. To my surprise, this recipe was actually enjoyed best when cold. I refrigerated my custard right after it was cooked because I had to run out for the day and chose to sample {and photograph!} it later {that's life with a toddler, friends}. For once, I'm so, so happy that my schedule is insanely busy because that's how I found out how awesome this custard is when cold! I topped it with sugar-free syrup and a healthy dusting of cinnamon and dug right in. It was soo good, certainly breakfast-appropriate but could also pass for dessert in a pinch. Even Shaun "Mr. No-Sweets" loved it. Thanks to Deanna and Serena for this great recipe!

Since Dukan makes it pretty clear that one can only have 2 Tbsp of oat bran per day, I made a pretty small batch of this stuff. I haven't figured out the exact measurements of what 2Tbsp of oat bran would be equivalent to in the custard in terms of daily intake, but I will keep you posted once I do.

5-Minute Oat Bran Breakfast Custard

*Adapted from Teaspoon of Spice

1 C oat bran

2 C skim milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 packets Splenda, or sweetener of your choice

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs, beaten

sugar-free syrup & cinnamon for topping

The night before you want to eat, place oat bran, milk, vanilla, nutmeg and Splenda in a saucepan. Stir, cover and place in refrigerator.

The next morning, remove cover and stir. Place over medium to medium-low heat and cook for 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Meanwhile, beat 2 eggs in a bowl with a fork. Slowly drizzle the beaten eggs into the oat mixture and stir constantly with a fork. Cook until the eggs are incorporated and no longer shiny, about 1 minute more. 

Serve warm, or let cool, refrigerate and top with syrup and cinnamon.

Enjoy!

What are your favorite breakfasts?

An InLinkz Link-up

Snowy Day French Toast

Penelope and I are snowed in on this Friday and I'm completely unopposed to spending the early days of 2014 at home, looking glamorous in sweatpants and unbrushed hair. I thought a treat was in order, so I whipped up a little whole wheat French toast for us to enjoy. 

Mix 2 eggs, 1/4 C milk, a splash of vanilla extract and a dash of cinnamon in a shallow bowl.

Dip bread into mixture on both sides (don't leave it soaking for too long...I did that for the first slice and it soaked up almost all of the egg mixture!). Cook about 2-3 minutes on each side in a buttered skillet over medium heat. Makes about 4 big slices of French toast.

I made just 3 slices...2 for me, and 1/2 a slice for Penelope. I think she can have the rest tomorrow! I even added the tiniest bit of real maple syrup to hers (and a dunkin' puddle to mine). We both loved it!

Have a great, warm and safe weekend everyone!

*Updated to note: Penelope ate her entire slice.