Week 3 Monday French Toast with Vanilla Syrup and Bacon; Two Bean Soup w/Pistou / Salad/ Challah bread/ Root Beer Floats

It's Monday morning of Week Three.

I don't know why Monday has such a bad rep. Maybe it makes me odd-man-out, but I've always liked Mondays. It's a new week, a new start, nothing bad or tiresome has happened to make the week feel like it's dragging on. To me, it's always felt like a mini-version of New Years. It's mid-week that I usually find tiresome So I wake up happy and ready to see what I can make out of this week.

 

So hello new week! And even better, we're starting it off with French Toast and Bacon. My mom's French Toast was only so-so, because of that I was never a huge French Toast fan. But then my husband made me French Toast - it was one of the only things he knew how to make - and I fell in love with its cinnamon, vanilla goodness. He made it for me often when we were first married - and we both had a thing for bacon. We would sit together on the floor of our apartment in front of our big screen tv (one of our few possessions as newlyweds) eating French Toast and Bacon while we watched terribly tedious morning shows before work. Crispy, salty bacon dipped in the sweet maple syrup around the French Toast is so fantastic.

And CALL ME CRAZY but today I am using homemade white bread to make the French Toast from - I baked it last night during the debut of Sunday Night Football.

But today, instead of maple syrup, I am going to make a rich creamy vanilla syrup. I think this will compliment the French Toast.
It's going to be such a satisfying way to start the day. I can't wait to eat it!

It's Monday so tonight's dinner is a soup with bread and salad.

Tonight's soup is a 2 bean stew with an amazing basil pistou, it's packed with flavor and vegetables - all good things.

 

The Challah bread I am going to be making is so beautiful, it's braided and has a golden-egg-glazed crust. We'll eat it warm with a little butter on it.

 

For dessert - good old fashioned Root Beer Floats. There is something so perfect about the combination of creamy vanilla ice cream in bubbly sweet Root Beer. It will be the perfect end to the first day of the week.

French Toast with Vanilla Syrup and Bacon

Two Bean Soup with Pistou, Side Salad, Challah bread and Root Beer Floats 

BREAKFAST:

WHITE BREAD

1. Put 2 cups of water into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add 2/3 cup sugar, 1 Tbsp salt and 2 Tbsp yeast.

 

2. Let sit until foamy. (This is called "proofing" the yeast).

 

3. Add 1/4 cup oil and 6 cups of flour, one cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides - then stop adding flour even if you haven't used all 6 cups. Mix until soft and elastic-y.

 

4. Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until double (about an hour).

 

5. Punch the dough down and lest rest 10 minutes. Then cut in half and form into loaves. Put into 2 loaf pans. (I am using 2 different size pans so I didn't make mine equal halves, I made one slightly bigger).

6. Let rise again until double (about30-45 minutes). Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

7. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. It should be golden brown on top. You can tell it's done if you thump the top of a loaf and it sounds "hollow" inside. Allow to cool for awhile before removing from the pan. But remove while still warm.

FRENCH TOAST

1. Heat a griddle to around 375 degrees. Because I am using homemade bread, first I have to slice the bread. The great thing about this is that I can slice the pieces as thick as I want, which for French Toast is pretty thick. Then mix the milk (and/ or cream, you can do a little of both to make a richer batter. Today I used evaporated milk) with the eggs in a bowl and mix well.

 2. Add nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup. Stir well. 

3. Add 1/2 cup of flour. This isn't in the recipe but it's something I've learned to do to make the batter more of a batter.

4. Take a slice of bread and dip it in the egg mixture. Let it soak up the mixture, and then turn it and let it soak well. Until the bread is well coated on both sides and feels "heavy" with the mixture.

5. Generously grease the griddle, or even melt a good layer of butter where you want to fry the coated bread. Place the batter soaked bread on the griddle.I like to sprinkle the uncooked side with cinnamon while the other side cooks.

6. Fry until golden on one, side. Check by sliding a spatula under one corner, lifting it up and seeing if it's golden underneath. Flip it over and cook until golden on the other side.

 

 

6. When golden on both sides, and no longer soggy in the middle, remove to a serving platter. 

VANILLA SYRUP 

1. Combine sugar, corn syrup and cream (I used the remaining evaporated milk left over from making the French Toast batter) in 1-quart pan.

2. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Simmer 2 minutes or until syrup thickens slightly. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla

 3. Serve over French toast. ENJOY! 

 

DINNER:

TWO BEAN SOUP WITH PISTOU
1. Add the  fennel, tomatoes, chopped onion and carrot to the crockpot.

 2. Add the  white beans. Wash the green beans, trim, chop and add the green beans to the crockpot. (I used fresh green beans).

3. Peel and then dice potatoes, and add to crockpot.

  

4. Pour in the broth (I use bouillon and water) and salt and pepper it all. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or more.

5. Put the basil, garlic and parmesan into a blender. Process using the chop function until smooth.

6. Slowly add olive oil and mix in slightly.

7. Serve soup in bowls with a dollop of pistou on top. ENJOY!

CHALLAH BREAD

1. Dissolve the honey in the water in a large mixing bowl, and stir in the yeast. Set the mixture aside until the yeast forms a creamy layer on top, about 15 minutes. Then pour into the bowl of a stand mixer.

2. Stir in the salt, 2/3 cup of olive oil, and beaten eggs.

 

3. Add the flour 1 cup at a time until the dough is slightly tacky, but not sticky wet.

 4. Turn it out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Lightly oil a bowl, place the dough in the bowl, turn the dough over a few times to oil the surface, then let rise until doubled in a warm, draft-free place, about 90 minutes.

5. To make the loaves, punch down the dough, and cut it into 2 equal-sized pieces. Cut the first piece into 4 equal parts. Set the second piece aside under a cloth to prevent drying out while you braid the first loaf.  To braid the first 4-strand loaf, roll the 4 pieces of dough into thin ropes about the width of your thumb, and about 14 inches long.

6. Make the tops and bottoms of each rope thinner than the middle area. Pinch the tops of the 4 ropes together, and fan the 4 ropes out so they don't touch.

7. To make an "under-2, over-1 braid," take the left-most rope, and move it to the right to cross underneath the next 2 ropes, then move it left to cross back over the strand immediately to its left.

8. Take the far right strand, and move it to the left and cross it under the two strands to its left (they are already crossed from the previous braid); then move it right to cross back over the strand immediately to its right.

9. Repeat until the 4 strands are braided together all the way to the end, and pinch the ends tightly together. Repeat the steps to braid the second loaf, and let the braided loaves rise for 1 hour. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

10. Make a glaze by whisking together the milk, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the egg white, and the sugar in a bowl.

11 Brush the braided loaves with the glaze, to make a shiny crust.

12. Bake the loaves on the prepared baking sheets in the preheated oven until they are light golden brown, about 30 minutes.

13. Slice and serve with butter. ENJOY! 

DESSERT:
ROOT BEER FLOATS

No work. Just satisfying end to a good meal and a long day. Put some tall glasses into the freezer and let them get really cold and frosty. Scoop desired number of scoops of vanilla ice cream into the tall frosty glasses. Fill the rest of the glass with root beer. ENJOY!