I’m not usually a sweet-breakfast type of person, but today I made something sweet and absolutely delicious for breakfast: Strawberry & Banana French Toast. This, my friends, is the best French toast that I’ve ever had.
If there is one thing that I have learned during last couple of years, is to love life and everything that’s it in. Life can be so fragile and I wish we all could truly enjoy all those “little” things in our life. All those things that we do everyday, things we don’t think twice about, things that some people don’t get a chance to do. Having your favorite cup of coffee, going for a brisk walk on a gloomy, chilly morning, reading your favorite book for the 5th time, watching your favorite movie, spending time with your loved ones, looking your partner in the eyes, holding his/her hand, playing with your child, meeting up with your friend for lunch, taking a walk on a sunny Autumn afternoon. Those all are things that many of us take for granted, things we don’t always appreciate. I’ve always said that I want to live my life to the fullest, try new things, do things that scare me, get more pleasure out of this precious life. So today, when I woke up, I thought “F*ck it, I’m having me some French toast for breakfast, YOLO!“.
At first, I thought of making a vegan version of this, but I wasn’t sure if it would come out any good if I were to skip the egg. Luckily, my husband knows someone at work who has his own chickens (how cool is that?) so I had some nice, fresh eggs from chickens that actually get to see the daylight. It’s about as organic as it gets! These eggs do not compare to the ones sold at the store (even those marked “organic” or “cage-free”), they’re so tiny, with a very hard shell and super-duper yellow yolks.
This French toast is full of flavor and would make a perfect, Sunday morning treat.
1 egg
4 thick slices of sourdough bread
2 ripe bananas
handful of fresh strawberries
1 TBS of coconut palm sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2 cups of unsweetened almond milk
Organic agave nectar and/or Vegan chocolate sauce (recipe follows)
fresh mint for garnish
1. Peel one banana, cut into four pieces, lengthwise. Heat up a frying pan with some butter or cooking spray on it (I like to use vegan, coconut butter). Place four pieces of banana on the pan, sprinkle some coconut palm sugar on top and fry for about two minutes on each side. Set aside.
2. Take the second banana and mash it with a fork in a bowl. Add the egg, cinnamon, vanilla extract, salt and almond milk. Mix everything together until well combined.
3. Dip a slice of bread in the banana-egg-milk mixture, let it soak for a few seconds and place on the heated frying pan. Fry on each side for 1-2 minutes. Once the toast is ready, place it on a plate, top off with few slices of strawberries and fried and/or fresh bananas.
4. Repeat the same process with each slice of bread, finishing it off with fried bananas and strawberries. Pour some agave syrup and/or chocolate sauce on top. Garnish with some fresh mint.
1 tsp of raw, organic cacao powder
1tsp of organic agave nectar
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
unsweetened almond milk
Mix cacao powder with the agave nectar until smooth and creamy consistency develops. Add vanilla extract and a few drops of almond milk and mix well. If you want your sauce to be thick, you can go ahead and skip the milk, I add just a few drops of almond milk so that the consistency is more liquid or syrup-like.
Chocolate sauce is completely optional, but it does add a nice, bitter-sweet touch to the whole thing. If you don’t have any agave syrup, you can also substitute it with maple syrup or some honey.
Who says you can’t have French toast on a Tuesday morning?