That's Megs: FRENCH TOAST!!

To preface this Thursday Dinner Feature post...you must watch this video on YouTube. Immediately. Without delay. Do it now!

Okay, now that we've gotten that out of the way and you know my true feelings about toast.

YEAH TOAST!

(FRENCH TOAST!)

(TEXAS TOAST!)

...ahem. Anyways. Down to business. Because this has been a disgusting, horrible, no good-very-bad week at work, I have been lacking in the cooking zeal department. My habit has been to get home late (making insane noises similar to the ones in that video), throw on some ratty sweat pants and my bathrobe, and crawl into bed for the rest of the evening. I won't deny that we have eaten cereal for dinner at least one night this week.

So, I happened to have a beautiful, golden loaf of my mom's homemade bread that she sent home with me. And it was calling my name. Know what else was calling my name from the refrigerator?

Bacon.

Ohhh yeah. I'm smelling a recipe for comfort-food goodness right now! And thus, today's Thursday Dinner Feature is.... (drumroll please...)

FRENCH TOAST! (and bacon!)
Now, I'm one of those odd people that doesn't use a recipe when I make French Toast. I've experienced some pretty fantastic French Toast made with recipes - namely the recipe made by my old roommate, Grace, which still holds the all-time record for best French Toast in my book. Maybe if she still loves me she'll send me the recipe. (Nudge, nudge...GRACE?!)

**Update! I thought you would like to know that Grace sent me her recipe like the wonderous woman she is, and with her permission I might feature it sometime soon! (Or mayyybee, I can convince her to feature it herself. Here's to peer pressure!!)**

However, here are my tried and true ingredients that are almost always in my kitchen.

eggs
milk
vanilla extract
cinnamon
bread

Simple eh? Now, your bread is the key behind this delicious equation. French Toast works best with thick, stale pieces of a firm bread - such as italian bread, challah, or my favorite - mom's homemade white bread.

So you've got the bread. You'll also need eggs. There is no specific amount or recipe that I use, because it varies depending on the type and size of bread you use. My mom's bread was large and sopped up extra moisture, so I wound up using about 6 eggs...maybe more. However, I usually use two at a time and whisk up more as I need them.

Whisky whisky....mix'em up! After you whisk the eggs, add milk. Once again I eyeball it to make this lovely baby chick yellow. I'd say it's maybe a couple tablespoons? Don't go overboard. Mix a little bit in at a time until you get the right color and consistency.

Drizzle in just a couple drops of vanilla extract, and sprinkle in some cinnamon, whisk up again.

Time for the dunkin'! Take a slice of your delicious bread and dunk one side, then the next, until the bread is nice and saturated with the mixture.

Drop your bread onto a griddle on medium heat, and grill until golden brown! The trick is to not have your pan too hot. If the outside of your bread browns too fast, you'll wind up with a raw middle. You have to have patience to make some good French Toast.

And wash, rinse and repeat. And repeat. And repeat. Until you have a bountiful oven full of French Toasty goodness. (Remember to whip up as much of the egg mixture as you need.)

Oh wait, let's not forget the bacon!! The big secret behind good bacon is to cook it about ten times slower than you think it takes. I usually arrange mine in the pan on a very low heat setting - usually somewhere around "3" on my knob. And then I forget about it for a while.

You can't rush good bacon.

At a certain point, it becomes an excellent thing to have a splatter guard. You will thank it profusely once you're not wiping bacon grease from every corner of your kitchen and tending to grease burns on your arms. Towards the end of the cook time, be sure to flip the bacon. I usually flip my bacon once the one side starts to brown just slightly, and let it cook only a minute or two longer after it's flipped.

Once your bacon and your french toast are cooked (I usually keep mine warm in the oven), set up your shmorsgasbord! Some extras aside from syrup that I had were frozen raspberries (thawed), powdered sugar, and a cinnamon sprinkle mixture. Get creative!