Cranberry Pecan French Toast and a vent…

Have you ever really looked at all the ingredients on the bread you buy?  I find myself feeling so frustrated when I run into my local grocery store to grab a loaf of bread and can’t find one with simple recognizable ingredients.  Event the store’s bakery breads often contain high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats or crazy ingredients that I have never, in my life as a nutritionist,(for the past 20 plus years) EVER heard of.  And yes, this is the vast majority of the breads at your everyday store in America. It drives me CRAZY! No, I take that back, it drives me VERY CRAZY!

So…I try my best to make my way to a local baker that creates real bread with real ingredients or stop by my local Whole Foods where I can find real bread choices without insane or unhealthy ingredients added to it!

One of my favorite bread bakers of all time is Iggy’s bread of the world.  I love the texture, the simple ingredients and the taste of  all their products that I have been lucky enough to try!  Saturday, I made some French toast from Iggy’s cranberry pecan bread.  Although this particular Iggy’s bread is made from white flour, it contains a great nutritional punch as its loaded with fruit and nuts.  I like to change up my bread choices from 100% whole grain to some chewier types with fruit and nuts. Food is much funner when you shake it up a little, right?  And I think food should always be fun!

This bread is great toasted and spread with some all-natural peanut butter for a quick and tasty breakfast or a hearty lunchtime sandwich.   YUM.  It’s not cheap but hey, I am worth it and so are you!

To make the French toast, I,  of course, used our eggs from the Medway Community Farm CSA –eggs that were laid by chickens that enjoy romping around NOT stranded in a ridiculously cramped chicken coop.  I love that these eggs are not perfectly matched by color and size! The way nature intended.And added a bit of our organic milk and some vanilla bean paste, which has little flecks of vanilla bean.  Love that.

The French toast, loaded with pecans and dried cranberries, was great fuel for our Saturday morning run. {Glad we got a run in before the snow!}  Nuts are a great source of magnesium and are considered a healthy fat!  And together they make an outrageously delish start to the day!

I hope you choose healthy breads for you and your family or at least check out the ingredients on your bread’s label and try to pick one with healthy and recognizable ingredients.

Cranberry Pecan French Toast {not a FODMAP friendly recipe}

Serves 2

• 4 slices Iggy’s cranberry pecan bread
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup 1% milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract or paste
• 1 tsp. butter or oil

In wide mouth bowl, whisk together egg, milk and vanilla.  {You can also add a tablespoon of orange juice for a little sweet orange-y flavor, if you have it.}

Heat large skillet over medium heat and add butter or oil and spread evenly on bottom of pan.

Dip bread into egg mixture to lightly cover.  Add to heated pan and cook until lightly browned on each side, about 2 minutes per side!  Sprinkle with a bit of confectionary sugar if you want to make your dish look a little more special.