Like that title, eh? Well, I love french toast, and I am stoked to have a cruelty free version in my repertoire. I have tried the versions with coconut cream and smashed banana; and while they are pretty tasty, they are definitely not the same thing. I crave that salty and cinnamon flavored outer coating. And I love the texture of french toast, something about the mouth feel of a fresh piece of french toast brings me back to my child hood. I ate A LOT of french toast back in my day. This version needs to give a shout out to Follow Your Heart’s vegan egg, because this product has truly changed my life. It also makes it much simpler to veganize some basic recipes; my mother has even mentioned buying some as she could not tell the difference when we made cookies the other day. My mother, I should clarify, is 100% omnivore-so this is fabulous news to me 🙂
Slightly crispy, sweet and salty, warming from the cinnamon-all topped with sticky sweet maple syrup, these fluffy slices of french toast are sure to make your weekend morning extra lazy and extra tasty. You could also sprinkle the slices with powdered sugar or fresh fruit. I topped mine with some banana and they were spot on.
Now that you know why you should make this recipe, I wanted to share a recent discovery about my precious city of Chattanooga. Greyfriar’s, a local coffee shop, recently relocated and is under new management. I was fortunate enough to be extended an invitation to join a mini food blogger get together and learn a little bit about what makes this coffee shop so damn cool. I decided list form would be simplest, here goes:
-Their cold brew coffee is holy shit good. They make it extra strong so when you add ice and creamer and whatnot it remains stout and highly caffeinated. My husband even drank some of my cup black which he never does, that tasty
-Their peanut butter and banana waffle is vegan (minus the honey which you don’t even need). It has THIRTY grams of protein. It is made with whole grain flour and water, so also bound to be loaded with fiber. I ate a few little squares of that bad boy-it was honestly even better than I was expecting. You can literally taste the love in that waffle. Get one, oh. my. gosh.
-They roast their coffee beans on site. How cool is that?? Like, they have a roaster of coffee beans…in the store. No other coffee shop does that around town. I can say that after sampling a good few coffee’s that each one was tastefully chosen and hand picked. Also, the Congo Kiva was recommended as the general manager’s favorite and I fell in love with it too. So smooth and dark.
-They brought in a pastry chef to re do all of their muffins. While I did not sample as they contained egg and/or dairy, my husband happily sampled them and said they were absolutely amazing. This again, is a great compliment as he is not a huge fan of breakfast baked goods.
-They have teas, lots and lots of amazing sounding teas. The one that stood out as “come back and drink me” was the Cupcake tea, which even has sugar coated fennel seeds to lightly sweeten the hot delicious scented brew.
-Last but not least, they are working on a lunch menu. If it is as lovingly created as their breakfast then it will be a hit. I am crossing my fingers they have a designated vegan option, and I am confidant they will 🙂
Hope you enjoyed a little bit of Chattanooga wonder. Let me know if you stop into Greyfriar’s! Who knows, maybe you will see me there. In the meantime, make the below french toast and love yourself for it!
- 6 slices whole wheat bread
- 2 prepared Follow Your Heart Vegan Eggs
- ¼ cup-1/2 cup dairy free milk
- dash salt
- dash pepper
- 1 tsp (or more) cinnamon
- Maple syrup for eating if desired.
- Heat a nonstick pan on medium heat.
- Combine all ingredients except bread in a shallow 9 X 9 casserole dish (a pie pan would also probably work). Start with ¼ cup milk, if too thick, add the other ¼ cup. You want a consistency that is thick, but thin enough to easily coat the bread slices.
- Once mixture is combined, dip one slice of bread in, then flip it over so the entire piece of bread is coated with your eggy mixture.
- Place on griddle until one side is browned, about 4-5 minutes, then brown the other side.
- Repeat process until all slices of bread are used up.
- Drizzle with maple syrup and enjoy!