French Toast

When life gives you leftover challah bread, make French toast. This is exactly what I did. In my opinion, french toast is the perfect meal for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. It's easy and affordable. You really only need three major ingredients. Bread, milk and eggs (I can only assume people in Atlanta must survive on french toast when we have ice/snow storms). You can throw in some extra ingredients if you want to make it fancy, but they are optional. Here is my recipe for French toast.

Ingredients
6-8 slices of bread (preferably challah, but any will do)
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon raw sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tablespoons butter

Bonus Ingredient: 1 tablespoon Gran Marnier(optional and you can sub orange juice)









Directions
1. In a large mixing bowl whisk eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon & Gran Marnier together until combined.

2. Slice 6-8 pieces of challah bread (about 1/2 in or 1 in thick, depending on how you like it)


3. Dip each piece of bread into the egg mixture. Coat completely and then place on a rack and let excess drip off. Repeat this process one more time.

4. Heat a large, nonstick skillet on medium heat. Add butter. When the butter starts to foam, add the bread 2 to 3 pieces at a time.  After about a minute or so, check to see if the other side is browning. When lightly brown, turn bread over and brown the other side. Once browned on both sides, remove from pan and repeat with the remaining slices of bread.

5. Serve with real maple syrup, fresh fruit, and/or powdered sugar.

"Challah" Back Girl!

Sorry! I can't resist a bad pun!
      I find myself stuck at home this Saturday morning. My husband's car is in the shop and he needed to use mine to get to work (yes, he works on a Saturday, everything about this post is not Kosher for Shabbat). The weather is unseasonably cool, so I got up early and went for a run. Came home. Ate breakfast. Took the dog out. Now what? So I got to thinking, I have a whole day to kill at home. What can I do that takes almost all day and I can only do from home? Bake bread! Duh!
    After the success of my bagels I was feeling ambitious and really wanted to attempt bread. Of course not just any bread. I have to keep with my Jewish homemaker theme and make challah bread. Challah bread is a traditional Jewish bread that is served with Shabbat dinner (the Sabbath). Jews making challah bread dates back more than 4,000 years where it is mentioned in the book of Leviticus & things pertaining to Moses. It is usually a braided loaf, but is a braided round on the high holidays. It can contain raisins but I've always preferred it plain with a shmear of butter. It is similar to brioche or any type of egg bread. Here is a bit more about this history of Challah if you are interested History of Challah. It's history could really warrent its own post.
It has been so hot here for the past week, I haven't wanted to turn on the oven, but with temperatures in the low 70s this morning, I figured now was as good a time as any. I came across this recipe for Challah Bread from my favorite food blog www.smittenkitchen.com.  Needless to say, if Jews are going to make it, they usually do it Friday before sundown (or buy it at Publix :) ) not Saturday morning. Anyway, it turned out delicious and even your average shiksa can do it!  Keep reading for the recipe I followed.

Homemade Bagels! YUM!

I love bagels. A bagel with lox and cream cheese is probably my all time favorite breakfast/brunch item. I am fortunate to live close to not one, but two very good bagel places. However, I've always wanted to try to make them myself. I figured,
"How hard could it be? Make some dough, shape it, boil it, bake it." 
I wasn't that far off, but there are a few more steps and a lot of waiting for dough to rise and rest. Luckily, I had my trusty Kitchen-Aid stand mixer to help me along the way.
I used a recipe I found on a baking blog here  http://bakingbites.com/2007/06/homemade-bagels/ .  It takes you step by step through the process with great photos. I sprinkled sesame seeds over the top of mine before baking them, but you could make them plain or top with your favorite bagel toppings. You can click on the link above or you can follow my directions. The only ingredients I had to buy were bread flour and yeast, which was a total of $4.00. Though more labor intensive,  that makes this a lot cheaper then going to buy a dozen bagels.

Cheap Meals

I am trying my hardest to cut down on the grocery bills. We now do the majority of our grocery shopping at Your Dekalb Farmers' Market, which is so much cheaper than Publix or even Kroger. For example, I bought 1lb of Georgia peaches last week for $0.69. Later that week, while grabbing a few items from Publix, I observed that they were selling Georgia peaches for $0.99 a pound. Another advantage to YDFM is that you can get a lot of organic produce and products for a much cheaper price. In addition to shopping there, I am trying to prepare meals that will last us more than one dayas well as not cost too much. My current favorite is my black beans and rice casserole. It is hearty, healthy and super easy to make.