Reuse Recipe: How to Make Real French Toast

Dear friends- this is a recipe worth letting good bread go stale for.  My host mother made this for me a couple times when I lived in France (about 18 years ago now) and the memory of its deliciousness never disappeared. I finally asked her about it when she was here a few weeks ago. 

REAL French Toast

1. Cut up stale bread in cubes.  Fry in salty butter until crispy.

 2. Have cooked apple slices standing by. They should be apple pie soft and not mushy

3. Mix 4-6 eggs with some milk (like you are making scrambled eggs). Add cinnamon and sugar to taste.

4. When the bread cubes are nice and crispy - pour the egg mixture over top and quickly stir. Thereafter just shake the pan a little. The egg part needs to cook quickly or the bread will get mushy and not be as tasty - this is what makes this recipe yummier than bread pudding - crisp buttery toast on the bottom. 

5. About a minute later spread the apple slices around on top in an attractive way and pat them in with your spatula. 

6. Serve immediately. Delicious fall comfort food. 

Garden Progress: Fall Plantings

Gardening is always so experimental. I think that this fall is going to stay warm for awhile, and so I have these hopeful notions about beets and rutabaga having time to grow. That may come to nothing. But at the very least I will have beet greens, chard greens, basil, and some lettuce to enjoy until Thanksgiving. 

Swiss Chard

Basil (lower half) and Beets

Rutabaga and Rosemary in the corner 

Sew Special: Baby Wash Cloths

With 6 babies expected among my friends at church in the next 2 months, I am working on using up some of my knitting stash making baby wash cloths. There are a ton of fun patterns out there for these, but I have been enjoying the All Washed Up pattern from Jill Arnusch.  I am planning to do a pair of wash cloths and some of my special herbal baby bum cream for each of the ladies expecting babies -- 4 done and about 8 more to go. These are fun because they only take a couple hours to complete and they are so soft - perfect for babies. The 2 yellow ones shown here are bamboo fleece yarn and the other 2 are cotton.

 

Home Schooling Summary for the Last Couple Weeks

Big sister A is taking an art class offered by the county. She loves the drawing and painting, but is not too sure about the sculpture.

Before the arrival of our guests I decided that I should clean out all the old layers of shelf paper from our kitchen cupboards. I have tried before... this is an old house and there were at least 5-6 layers. I read on Pinterest that Coke is supposed to be great for taking off adhesive, but I don't think it did much.  Olive oil and a stiff brush got most of it and then googone and a knife for the bits that were the most stubborn. Then I cleaned it, primed (Stix), and painted the insides of the drawers and cupboards white. 

Here are a few pics of our cupboard cleaning and organizing activity. The silverware sorting was their favorite part of the activity. 

We are signed up for several different classes at local nature centers (perks of city life- there are about 10 of them close by). This class was about seeds and squirrels. The kids made a squirrel food container, played a game about squirrels hiding nuts, and then went around and learned about the various kinds of seeds and nuts that squirrels like to eat. We gathered maple helicopters, beech nuts, pine cones, hickory nuts, acorns, viburnum, and one other that I have forgotten. I love these kinds of classes. This particular nature center also had a beautiful children's garden organized by color. It was awesome. The kiddos also went to a pond research activity with daddy, that I don't have any pictures of yet.

Dancing and playing with our visitors. These are the only pictures that I took of them with my camera. What fun we had!

Recommended Reading: The Book of Three

The Book of Three is the first of a series that in my mind is the "Black Cauldron Series" but is actually called The Chronicles of Prydain.

A rather predictable epic adventure coming of age story. They magically defeat the bad guy and live happily ever after... at least until book 2, which I have not decided whether to give a chance or not.

Summary from GoodReads:
Taran the Assistant Pig-Keeper wants to become a hero, joined by Eilonwy, the strong-willed and sharp-tongued princess; Fflewddur Fflam, the hyperbole-prone bard; the ever-faithful Gurgi; and the curmudgeonly Doli--all of whom have become involved in an epic struggle between good and evil that shapes the fate of the legendary land of Prydain.

Kids Cowboy Farm Theme Bedroom

I am finally ready to call the kids' farm theme bedroom (that I started working on in January!) done.

Cowboy quilt,  iron on pillows, and pillow cases

Quilt for daughter A, made from the leftover bits

Expedit bookshelf, crib painted black, cow curtains

Sillouettes traced on canvas using a projector and then painted white

Cross-stitch made by my Goomie for me when I completed 8th grade

Slipcover and Cowboy hooks, Farm growth chart from Dolce Mia, Ikea shelf, vintage (1955) rooster puzzle, throw pillow made with iron on graphic from Etsy

Garden Progress: White Deck

As part of our guest preparations, I repainted the deck again. It's been about 3 years since we painted it white the first time. This time I did 2 things differently that I think will help it last longer:

1. I waited until it was a dry week. No rain for 2 days before and no rain expected for 2 days after my painting day.

2. I used some serious cleaner (TSP and bleach -- according to package directions for decks) and a sturdy scrub brush to make sure that all the loose paint and the greenish mildew were off.  Last time I tried to use organic cleaner and I don't think the wood was clean enough for good adhesion. I cleaned the deck about 2 weeks before my "dry week" occurred.

I used my new favorite Stix Primer and the Behr Paint Porch and Floor Paint in the stock white color.

Deck Painted White

Daisies are finally in bloom along the deck

French Sorrel and Lemon Grass have taken off and are making a nice ground cover in front of the blackberry vines

Two types of Oregano - making nice ground cover around my perennial wild flowers

Removed the tomatillos and ground cherries 

My French host mom suggested that I get a long garden hoe/weed pick combo. It worked great for removing the weeds that had grown up among the tomatillos and ground cherries -- see the un-hoed part farther along?  I also used newspapers covered with mulch again (instead of buying weed paper)

Trellised up the new raspberry canes -- I planted them there to hide the radon fan (already almost covered)

Raspberry bush #2 - covering up an old utility box - I think it was for phone lines?