I decided that yesterday’s lazy holiday breakfast in my new apartment/new kitchen had to be spectacular. I must say I waaaay achieved that! This French toast tastes and looks decadent, but it’s really just healthy whole grain bread, fresh beautiful fruit, and a little creaminess from tofu-based cream cheese. Breakfast treat done right!
This meal is a re-creation of a restaurant meal I had that was far from healthy or vegan – it was actually one of my last vegan meals! For a short time, I called myself a vegetarian but basically ate a vegan diet, with a few exceptions. Then on a vacation, I ate a vegetarian but very un-vegan diet, full of cheesy and creamy foods. I found myself feeling guilty and down after those meals, and only then did I realize that I’d really been eating vegan, and I loved it.
So I officially declared myself vegan!
Now I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the meals I’d had on my vacation. In fact, I ate nothing but delicious wonderful foods. I just want vegan versions of them now.
Especially when they’re this good.
I mean, come on.
serves 2
2 T vegan cream cheese
1/3 C + 2 t unsweetened vanilla soy milk, divided
5 medium strawberries or about 1/3 C chopped
1 t vanilla bean paste*
2 1-inch slices whole grain bread**
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
1 t ground cinnamon
cooking spray
* you can sub for 1 t vanilla extract or 1 t of vanilla beans scraped from a pod
** bread choice is key here! Pick the heartiest bread you can find so that you can cut a relatively thin piece and not overdo it on bread, but still have it stay together when it’s oozing with strawberries and cream cheese. I used Costco’s multigrain loaf – perfect.
Mix cream cheese, vanilla bean paste, and soy milk together to thin out the cream cheese just a touch. Chop strawberries into fairly small pieces, and add strawberries and vanilla bean paste to cream cheese mixture.
Take your slice of bread and make a slit down one side – make it as small as you can so that you can still put the filling in your french toast. Carefully spoon your filling into the bread and then squish it around so it’s evenly spread out as best you can.
In a shallow bowl, combine the rest of the soy milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. Whisk to combine thoroughly. Dip the piece of toast in the mixture for a few seconds per side.
Now this is a really messy recipe. It’s not going to look picture perfect, it might start to fall apart, the bread might crack a bit. But as long as you can hold it in one piece until you drop it in a hot frying pan, you’re good to go. A nice sear on the sides that are bulging with creamy strawberry filling will keep it together!
Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium heat, and spray with cooking spray. Add toast and cook for about 3 minutes per side, until golden brown.
Nutrition facts per serving (can vary a lot depending on your bread choice and how thick you cut it): Calories: 242; Calories from Fat: 44; Total Fat: 4.9g; Saturated Fat: 1.1g; Sodium: 324mg; Total Carbohydrates: 33.8g; Dietary Fiber: 6.5g; Sugars: 8.0g; Protein: 8.3g
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