Breakfast Fridays! On the menu: Dairy-free, Egg-free Banana French Toast

At our house, we have a tradition we like to call "“Breakfast Fridays.”  That’s where we have breakfast food for dinner and my darling son gets to stay up late with daddy watching TV and eating snacks until they both fall asleep on the couch. LOL. He looks forward to this bonding time with his dad every week.  And it gives mommy some much needed “me time” on a Friday night to catch up on my Netflix, blog, or finish reading that novel on my nightstand that I keep telling myself I’m going to finish.

Well, this past Friday we had Dairy-free/ Egg-free Banana French toast. Wait? You can make French toast without eggs?  Yes!!!! You can!  And I’m gonna show you how.

Dairy-free/Egg-free Banana French Toast-makes about 4 slices

Ingredients:

• “safe” bread (I just used 4 slices of a "safe" whole wheat sandwich bread)
• ¼ cup of banana puree ( I mashed mine with a fork, but you can totally use a blender)
• ¼ cup non-dairy milk (we use Almond milk in our house)
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix together the banana puree, non-dairy milk, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon in a dish flat and wide enough for dipping the bread. Coat each side of a piece of bread by dipping into the mixture.  Now, be careful with this process. Dip one side, then flip the bread immediately to dip the other side.  Don’t allow the bread to sit in the mixture.  If you do, it will be a soggy mess and just won’t cook up right.  Next, brown each side of the bread slices in a medium-high skillet. About 3 minutes per side.  Flip them over a few times while they're browning to prevent burning on either side.

Next transfer the slices to a 400 degree oven to finish cooking. Bake about 10 mins., flipping halfway through.

I topped ours with some powdered sugar, sliced strawberries and bananas, and warm maple syrup.

Enjoy!

Oatmeal Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m glad football season is back for a ton of reasons, but one of the Top 3 is that I now have someone to give these baked goods to! My baking slows down severely in the offseason because I can’t afford to have piles of cookies, bars, and cakes all over my kitchen. There are now a bunch of hungry offensive lineman eager to help me out with all the extra treats.

This is a recipe that I am constantly tweaking. It can take adjustments and additions so I love to play around with it. This combo is my favorite right now!

Ingredients 

1/2 cup rolled oats, chopped
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
8 oz. cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
2 eggs
3 cups miniature chocolate chips
1-1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

1. Prepare oats and walnuts. Use a blender/or food processor to pulse the rolled oats till they are roughly chopped. This gives you a chewier cookie.
2. Cream together butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Mix in the eggs one at a time, until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon). Stir into wet ingredients till dough forms. Gently fold in the oats, walnuts, chocolate chips.
4. Chill the dough overnight. BE PATIENT!*
5. Bake cookies at 325 degrees for 15-18 minutes. You are looking for barely brown edges and cracked tops.
6. Let cool, Enjoy!
7. *It’s easiest to scoop the dough onto plates covered with wax paper before you refrigerate the dough. Scooping cold dough is not fun.

TIPS

Get creative with your add-ins! Try coconut flakes, pecans, dried cranberries, or butterscotch chips.