Did you have French toast this weekend? It’s our favorite Sunday breakfast food.
We like it even better than pancakes and waffles—and it’s easier to make. For the simplest recipe, just whisk 1 cup of milk with 4 eggs and 1/4 teaspoon salt to make a batter. Place the batter in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Soak slices of white bread, brioche or challah (both sides) in the batter. Place in a frying pan and fry in melted butter over medium heat until golden brown. Serve with maple syrup.
French toast dates back at least to ancient Rome, where they served it topped with sugar and possibly honey. There were no sugar maple trees in the Old World; most likely, the Pilgrims were the first to enjoy their French toast with maple syrup.
Read the history of French toast, which includes three tasty stuffed French toast recipes.
French toast, a breakfast favorite. Photo courtesy MackenzieLtd.com.
Good to the last drop. Photo courtesy
Savannah Bee Company.
When there’s just a bit of honey left in the jar, don’t toss it out: Make a honey julep.
Fill the honey jar halfway with hot water, screw the cap on and shake until the honey is dissolved. Pour the “honey water” over ice, add liberal amounts of fresh-squeezed lime juice and garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.
If you prefer a hot drink, hold the ice.
If you don’t have a fresh lime, make a lemon honey drink.
If there’s a Paciugo Gelato near you, you may want to head over for a few scoops and see why the readers of DMagazine in Dallas chose it as “Best Gelato.”
Christina and Ugo Ginatta and their son Vincenzo moved from Turin, Italy to Dallas, where they started the city’s first gelato caffè in 2000. Using artisan techniques and the finest ingredients, they developed a recipe list of 200 flavors in rotation (with a selection of 30 to 38 available on any given day). The company is now a mini-chain of more than 40 stores in 11 states plus Mexico.
Just looking at the list of flavors makes you want to try every one (and if you really want every flavor, ask about having your own franchise).
What we especially like about Paciugo Gelato is its ability to provide a frozen treat for just about everyone.
Gelato for everyone! Photo courtesy Paciugo.
Vegan or lactose-intolerant? No worries: There are gelato flavors made with soy milk, as well as dairy-free sorbetto.
Cutting back on sugar? The No Sugar Added gelato is terrific: If No Sugar Added gelato tastes this good, who needs sugar?
On a lowfat diet? The fat content is 3.5%—much lower than a superpremium ice cream (which can be up to 16% milkfat).
While we’ve only gotten through eight of the 200 flavors, we’re in love with the Mediterranean Sea Salt Caramel and the No Sugar Added flavors (we tried NSA Hazelnut and Panna cotta flavors). (We haven’t tried the soy-based gelato yet, but we look forward to it.)
Lucini balsamic vinegar, a NIBBLE favorite,
is available at Amazon.com. Photo by
B.A. Van Sise.
THE NIBBLE pantry has a dozen different types of vinegar, from the basics—balsamic, champagne, cider, sherry and wine vinegars—to rice vinegar and our favorite flavor-infused vinegars (we have almost everything from Boyajian).
But what if a recipe calls for a type of vinegar that you don’t have on hand—and you can’t run out to buy it?
How To Repair Food, a book we love, advises that you can substitute another vinegar (although the dish will taste a bit different). Here are the substitutions:
Apple Cider Vinegar Substitute: distilled white vinegar for pickling, any wine vinegar otherwise
Balsamic Vinegar Substitute: red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar plus a pinch of sugar
Red Wine Vinegar Substitute: white wine vinegar
White Wine Vinegar Substitute: red wine vinegar
If you’re totally out of vinegar, use twice as much lemon juice as the required amount of vinegar.
Fall means pumpkins and pumpkin pie. Pinkberry is all over it with a limited-edition Pumpkin Pinkberry, available through the end of the year.
You can have it plain or with the [highly-recommended] paired toppings that create a frozen yogurt pumpkin pie: crunchy honey graham crackers, a dusting of cinnamon and whipped topping.
The pumpkin color is beautiful and the taste is tangy—more like the Original Pinkberry than a heavy pumpkin flavor. So even if pumpkin isn’t your favorite flavor, try it. The pairing with the graham crackers is delightful. Going forward, we’re going to enjoy all flavors of Pinkberry with graham crackers.
Also available for the holiday season are high-antioxidant pomegranate seed topping and pomegranate juice to top any flavor. Combined with the live and active cultures in Pinkberry yogurt, it’s practically health food (at least, that’s what we tell ourselves).
