French Toast for the Allergic Teen

I am feeling like a very neglectful parent. This happens from time to time. Like the time I forgot to pick up our daughter at school in temps of 10 below zero (thank goodness she waited inside). Or the time I forgot my son’s orthodontist appointment for the third time. I am sure there are many more times of my extreme “spaciness” that I have chosen to forget and have blamed it on too much “stuff” swirling in my brain to concentrate on one thing.

The other morning, my allergic teen said something that really made me feel terrible. It was last Saturday morning and in a very uncharacteristic moment for a typical busy Saturday, I asked her if she wanted me to make her some French Toast. She responded by saying, “I don’t know, I have never had French Toast.” “Really?!” I said a bit dumb-founded at the fact that she is 14 years old and I had never made it for her before. Even though I have made her countless variations of muffins, coffee cakes, donuts and even crepes, I cannot remember ever making her French Toast. Before you send me hate messages or turn me in for child neglect on behalf of my poor family, I know I have made French toast before, but the few times I had made it, I used traditional eggs in the recipe and she ate something else those mornings, which she did not seem to mind.

On that Saturday morning, I decided to make her some French Toast that she could eat; which meant that it needed to be dairy and egg free. I quickly did a search for "Vegan French Toast” and found several basic recipes. What I noticed is that each recipe used flour instead of egg to coat the toast before frying. I was sure this substitution would make the bread too stiff and feel like we were eating a sandwich for breakfast. Well, as I found out, this was not the case. The combination of whole wheat flour and maple syrup added just the right amount of texture to make the French Toast delicious! I also added some nutmeg because I adore nutmeg and I thought it would pair well with the cinnamon. 

From now on, I will make it this way because I really did not miss the egg taste, in fact, the maple, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla flavors are enhanced without the egg to mask them. Give this recipe a try and see if you like it as much as I do!

French Toast (no dairy, eggs, or nuts)

Makes 6 slices

1 ¼ C  Soy or rice milk

¼ C  Whole wheat flour

1 T   Maple syrup

1 tsp.  Vanilla

½ tsp. Cinnamon

¼ tsp. Nutmeg

6 slices of French bread

Powdered sugar

Directions:

Combine the milk, flour, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg and whisk together. Pour mixture into shallow bowl. Place slice of bread into bowl one at a time and coat both sides with mixture.

Place toast in a frying pan coated with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Cook until golden brown on one side and flip. Do the same with the other side. Serve warm with powdered sugar or maple syrup on top.