Cinnamon Free Sundays » Stop, Drop and Blog

Cinnamon Free Sunday: Vanilla & Nutmeg French Toast

Jun 292008

I cannot order French Toast in any restaurant but Cracker Barrel. Believe me, I’ve asked at just about every restaurant that serves French Toast. (And if Cracker Barrel ever changes their recipe, I’m in big trouble.) I cannot eat any pre-packaged French Toast “stick” type things. They all contain cinnamon. Which stinks to high heaven because I love me some French Toast!

When I developed my cinnamon allergy, my Dad started putting nutmeg in the old family Vanilla French Toast recipe instead of cinnamon. And, quite frankly, it tastes delicious. I forgot to take a picture of our meal and so here is a shot of the recipe itself (sans-mention of nutmeg), written by my Grandmother in the recipe book that she made me for my bridal shower.

Vanilla (&Nutmeg) French Toast

Sliced white bread. (Of note: We use wheat.)
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Generous sprinkling of nutmeg (my addition)

Beat the two eggs together with the cup of milk. Add in 1 tsp vanilla, 2 tbsp brown sugar and generous sprinkling of nutmeg and mix together. Dip bread slice into mixture, cover both sides and fry both sides on griddle. Serve hot with butter and Gramps’ homemade maple syrup. (Yeah, jealous of that one? I would be, too!)

Don’t over-do the nutmeg but put enough in for some added flavor. You’ll soon find how many shakes you need to make it taste just right. BigBrother can eat the heck out of my French Toast. Well, so can I. I’m sure Gramps’ homemade maple syrup doesn’t hurt either.

Tune in next Sunday for another Cinnamon Free recipe!

OH. You just came here to see who won the Heart of the Home: Notes from a Vineyard Kitchen cookbook by Susan Branch? Well, you’re in luck! Would you believe that we had 83 comments (and, thus, entrants)? Your stories about cooking-escapades-gone-awry made me feel better about “cooking” my zucchini bread for an hour with no heat. From burnt meals to uncooked meals on Thanksgiving and everything in between, I think we can all agree that even the best of us have been known to screw up a meal or two. Thanks so much for sharing!

Now, for the winner! I hopped over to Random.org, plugged in the numbers and our winning integer was 39! That means that Alice Hansen is the winner! Her winning comment was on par with a lot of your admitted experiences:

“I’ve for sure done that not turn the oven on thing. And also many turn the oven on at the wrong temperature things too!”

Well Alice, I hope you check the temperature on the oven while you’re making stuff out of your new cookbook! (I’m dropping you an e-mail right now but in case you don’t receive it, please contact me with your snail mail address. Thank you!)

Cinnamon Free Sundays: Zucchini Bread (+Giveaway)

Recipes 82 Responses »

Jun 222008

I’m starting a new series on this blog: Cinnamon Free Sundays. As you may know, I am allergic to cinnamon. Cinnamon is in a lot of dishes. I have learned to read labels and avoid various home-cooked foods at potluck dinners. Sometimes people remember when they’re cooking for holidays or dinners. And sometimes they forget. Furthermore, as my allergy didn’t develop until middle school, I remember what a lot of foods taste like and I miss certain things. And that brings us to Cinnamon Free Sundays.

I’m going to be presenting you with a recipe that usually calls for cinnamon and I’m going to give you a few small changes to make it taste good. I’ve learned some tricks over the years. I’ve also learned that, dang it, some things still taste just fine without cinnamon so, dang it, leave it out!

Also, because I’m so witty and funny, I chose Sunday for this theme because… get it? Cinnamon starts with… “sin.” And so, it’s a “sin” free day. Oh, I’m j ust hilarious sometimes, no? I also tend to do a lot of cooking and baking on Sundays for family meals so it just plain old makes sense.

However, I baked yesterday. What did I bake? Zucchini bread! Zucchini is coming in season and I grabbed some at our local Farmer’s Market this past Friday. My first thought was, “Mmm, zucchini bread.” My second thought was, “Flippin’ cinnamon!” So, I improvised. This particular bread will be more “sweet” than “spicy” for you spice loving people. So, take that as your warning and jump into this delicious little recipe.

Abbreviated Directions

2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup raisins

1. Grate your zucchini. I used the larger holes (as opposed to the smaller ones) on our grater. This took almost two smaller zucchini and so logic would tell you that one larger zucchini would yield two cups of grated zucchini. I’m sure this is hit or miss.

2. In a large bowl (no, really, use your largest bowl; I’ll tell you why in a minute), combine your sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Once mixed together, add in your grated zucchini and mix that all together, too.

3. In a separate bowl, but still somewhat large, sift together your flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ground ginger.

4. Now here’s the reason that you have your smaller amount of stuff in your biggest bowl: slowly blend your dry ingredients into your wet zucchini mixture. See? Told you. I made this mistake when baking and had to pour things into yet another bowl. Don’t be like me.

5. Pour the mixture into two greased 8×5 bread pans. Or, if you don’t bake much bread and you only have one pan, pour half of the mixture into the bread pan and cover the remaining mixture so you can cook it second.

6. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour. Remove pan. Let cool for approximately ten minutes and then remove the zucchini bread from the pan and place bread out to cool. If you’re like me, wash out and dry the pan and pour the rest of the mixture into the pan, place it in the over and bake (WITH HEAT*) for an hour.

* = I managed to turn off the oven after I baked the first loaf but didn’t seem to notice so I baked the second loaf, without heat, for a full hour, only discovering my error when the timer went off and I went to remove my uncooked loaf of zucchini bread. Yes. I am that awesome.

Zucchini bread tastes great as a dessert or an addition to your breakfast. Put a little butter on it, heat it up and it’s a great little snack. It’s also a great way to get your kids to eat some vegetables. You know, plus loads of sugar so they’ll bounce off the wall. Some people also add various nuts but I only like nuts in banana bread so, no nuts for me. Do whatever you please.

Just don’t add the cinnamon!

//
If you’re interested in baking and cooking, even with cinnamon, how would you like to win a free cookbook? I’m giving away a copy of Heart of the Home: Notes from a Vineyard Kitchen by Susan Branch. It has a bunch of fabulous recipes including one for Stuffed Zucchini. No cinnamon there! Leave a comment on this post telling me that you, too, have cooked something for an entire hour in an oven that wasn’t even on and you’ll be eligible to win! (Or, any comment will do!) The contest will close on Saturday, June 29 at 3:00pm. I will then draw a winner via Random.org and announce it on Sunday with our next installment of Cinnamon Free Sundays!