Happy Bloggiversary to me! 84th & 3rd turned 1 year old last week and to celebrate I turned the computer off, boycotted cooking and went to yoga, I deserved it. A whole year, can you believe it?
In honour of this momentous event I made French Toast for brunch this past weekend. Not this French Toast, or this one but a whole new beast – Banana and Almond Butter Stuffed French Toast. And it doesn’t stop there… vanilla, orange juice, and oh, right, Bourbon. Because you can’t really have a true celebration without a little bit of Bourbon.
One year ago. One year ago I started this blog because I had decided to start a small business, and a business needs a site and well, a site should have a blog. It housed ramblings and observations and general life musings and occasional food.
And then we changed the way we eat and I started to cook again. And I made up recipes and I took [generally quite poor] photos. I so want to go back and replace all the early ones [and some of the recent ones to be honest!] but I won’t, I’ll leave them so that I can remember where I started and how far I’ve come, and really how much further I have to go!
And one day I got a comment on my site that wasn’t from a family member [although I do still love getting those too!]. And I went to my first blogging conference and got ideas. And went on a long trip and came home with a journal of posts and recipe inspiration [one of these days I’ll get back to the recap of that trip, I’ve only manged to get through the first city, oops, attention span of a gnat… ohh look at the pretty colours… where was I?]
And then all of a sudden a year had passed and here we are, and believe it or not, next week I’ll be a Featured Blogger on BlogHer Food.
Now, I realise that I am a week late on a post for my own bloggiversary… but really, considering that Birthday Cards never even have a hope of being sent for the right day [I’m lucky if I can get it into the right month]… and Thank You cards purchased for the friends we stayed with on our trip in August are holding court on the dining room table [yeah, those are going for Christmas]… and the 3 packs of Christmas cards I bought the past three years are covered in snow [ahem, dust]… well you get the point and I’d say that only a week late is pretty good! You know what they say about ‘best intentions’ and all.
So, for now, a celebratory brunch – inspired, as a matter of fact, by the cafe we never made it to in San Diego – maybe I will get back to that recap after all. But after making this at home, I’m not so worried about never having it there – heavenly. Anyway, thanks for coming along on the ride, I hope you stick around for a while!
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Banana & Almond Butter Stuffed French Toast
Adapted from Cafe 222
Ingredients:
3 eggs*
1/4 c heavy cream* [you know I don’t use cream, check the notes for this one!]
1/4 c orange juice [approx 1 orange]
1-2 Tbsp Bourbon*
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
Zest from half an orange
1/4 tsp salt
8 slices whole wheat bread
1/2 cup almond spread
3 large or 4 small bananas
Full Method:
Whisk together eggs through salt. Cut 2 bananas in half then slice each half long-ways. Mash remaining 1-2 bananas.
Spread 1 Tbsp almond butter on each of the 8 slices of bread. Spread the mashed banana over 4 of the slices and place a layer of sliced banana on the mash. Top with remaining 4 slices of bread and press gently.
Cut crusts off of the sandwiches. Dunk each sandwich into the egg mix, coating well on both sides. Cook over medium low heat, on a skillet or griddle coated with cooking spray, until golden brown and warmed through – I tend to stand these up on end and brown the sides too.
Cut in half diagonally [they taste better that way] and serve with maple syrup or honey or orange-bourbon sauce.
Makes 4 Stuffed French Toast Sandwiches.
Notes:
- If you half this recipe use 2 eggs. You could use 4 for the full recipe if it makes you feel better but you will have quite a bit left over, so 3 works well.
- I don’t use heavy cream, you however are welcome to. I thinned a bit of natural greek yogurt with some goats milk until it was a cream consistency. You could just use milk, or even a non-dairy alternative.
- Oh Bourbon how I love thee… the original recipe used Rum, you could do that. Nan’s Port would be nice, or some of Grandpa’s Whiskey. Alright, alright, you could just substitute it with an extra bit of orange juice but where’s the fun in that? Besides, a nip or two and the kids will be napping the afternoon away in no time – ha!
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Now that’s nice looking sandwich and your photo illustrations are wonderful … and Bourbon in the french toast – may just have to try it 🙂
Definitely worth a go with the Bourbon, only now I am thinking up all sorts of other things to put it in…
Congratulations JJ! French toast with Bourbon! Definitely something worth trying!
congrats on making a year! I loved getting my first comments too – just thinking I was no longer just writing for me.
love the recipe too.
Thanks Laura. Yeah, it’s good to know others appreciate my madness – ha!
Happy Belated Blogiversary! My, these look delicious!!
Happy Bloggiversary!! Congratulaions on reaching a milestone…and yes photos have definitely improved over the last year!!
Hmm french toast with bourbon, lovely.
“But officer I only had french toast for breakfast, how could I be over the limit,”
Thanks! I should put a warning label on this post: ‘Please don’t operate heavy machinery after eating French Toast’
Congrats on your first year! Mine is just a couple of days awa, but I haven’t decided how to celebrate yet. Here’s to many more years for both of us.
Hello! I stumbled upon this post on Pinterest, and I wanted to invite you to share this recipe – or any healthy meal/snack you’ve enjoyed over the past month – at my link-up (http://bit.ly/YCpeHq) to celebrate National Nutrition Month. I’m inviting people to come together to celebrate all of the different ways to eat healthfully, and I think my readers would love this “healthified”(but amazing looking) stuffed French toast recipe!