Soy Nog French Toast

I’m gonna be honest with you guys here and tell you that I have not been having the best couple of days. Aside from the return of the throat-closing infection that came back right as I was working frantically to finish a paper before a midnight deadline, things just don’t seem to have been going my way.

Exhibit A: Yesterday Jason decided it would be the perfect moment to make more of his homemade hot sauce, which releases noxious fumes throughout the house (which by the way, stay in the house for hours) and made my already sore throat feel like it was on fire. But then I said that’s okay, our fun plans for the night will make up for this. For weeks I had been planning our trip to the ‘Burg’s “Grand Illumination” event–a BEAUTIFUL tradition that I love where the whole Colonial downtown lights up its Christmas lights, followed by a wonderful fireworks show and fife and drum players with all sorts of food vendors selling hot cider and other things. Sounds great right?

(Source)

(Source)

Not so much. I got all dressed for the cold, put my makeup on, armed myself with my camera around my neck…and then proceeded to drive around for 20 minutes only to discover that the tourists had taken up ALL THE PARKING SPACES…including ALL the spaces in OUR OWN LAW SCHOOL and we were forced to go back home, with the fireworks starting in the background as we drove away. Fun times. So then when I got home I said…that’s okay, I’m going to cheer myself up by making a fun recipe. I had a great Soul Food Sunday recipe planned for you guys, red velvet cupcakes dyed with beet puree instead of artificial dye. Sounds great right?

Not so much. As pretty as the batter looked, and as much as I was pleased with how they held their color on the outside…after they baked the insides were completely brown and the cupcakes were gross. They tasted SO STRONGLY of beets, and NOT in a good way. Blech.

A few minutes after tasting my gross cupcakes, Ashley (my 8-year-old little sister) called us. The thing about kids is that no matter how crappy you are feeling, that little, happy voice has the ability to make all that go away in an instant. I asked her how her pet goldfish were doing, and the following exchange occured.

Me: How are your goldfish doing?

Ashley: They’re good, but I’m worried because I don’t know how to tell if they’re pregnant.

Me: I don’t think they’re pregnant, don’t worry. I think they’re both girls anyway so they’re probably just friends.

Ashley: But what if they’re gay people?

Me: [pause, then trying very hard not to crack up] Ummm well I think even if they’re gay that you still need a mommy fish and a daddy fish to make a baby fish.

Ashley: No, they might be like in Modern Family and adopt a baby.

Me: [at this point cracking up] Where would they adopt a baby from??

Ashley: If they’re gay they could go down to the river and adopt a baby…you never know.

Kids say the darndest things. And I am SO, SO glad that they do. Needless to say, our conversation cheered me up and made me forget my dumb problems. (Note: I was not in any way trying to suggest that you need a mommy and a daddy to have a family, just that goldfish need a male and a female to make little fishies….you get my point!)

So this morning I woke up more cheerful and ready to have a good day. I decided, with my newfound love of soy nog, that nog french toast would be a cool breakfast idea. Sounds great right?

IT WAS!!!

I have a few tricks that I use (most of which come from my mom) about how to make delicious french toast at home. It’s ideal to use a really thick bread (like challah or brioche), but I don’t have any of that lying around so I just used sandwich bread. Baking the french toast for a bit after browning it makes the toast get all puffed up and delicious–the inside will taste like soufflée! I also add flour and a bit of baking powder to the soaking liquid–it keeps the inside from getting soggy and helps the bread puff up in the oven. Love it!

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The soy nog gives this french toast SUCH a delicious flavor, I love it so much. I’ve got to go buy another carton of nog!

Ya know what happens when you’re focusing on getting a good syrup-pouring shot and not on how much syrup you’re actually pouring?

Oops. Whatever, I like my french toast saturated in syrup. 🙂

I’m off to continue to try and have a great day! If things go awry, I’ll just give Ashley a call. Thanks for reading!

-Lauren