100 Days of Pinterest: Day 20 - Crunchy Baked French Toast Sticks

Here I go again with another Pinterest recipe. It's just so easy to pick a recipe for part of the Pinterest challenge. There are so many good recipes and images available at our fingertips, why not try them?
The Pin I tried for day twenty was simple and really affordable. I made some Crunchy Baked French Toast with Strawberry Syrup. I like fresh strawberries, but let's face it, they aren't really in season in Ohio at this point. I could purchase some of the ones we get shipped in from California, but those ones are so bitter and never really taste the same as the locally grown berries we have around here. So, I went ahead an purchased a bag of frozen strawberries. This way my boys wouldn't dip into them either, because no berries are safe in my house.

The recipe was basically the same as regular french toast with the addition of a crunchy cereal coating. I went ahead and purchased the Mom's Best Oats and Honey Blend. Let me tell you, if you haven't tried Mom's Best, you need to. If you are into the whole Gluten Free thing, they have those options available too. Mom's Best Cereals are preservative free and there are no artificial flavors. They are environmentally friendly too.

Back to the Crunchy Baked French Toast. This stuff was super easy to make. I've included the recipe below. Like I said before, I used frozen strawberries for my syrup. You can use whatever you like...including a different berry. I'm sure you could even make a mixed berry syrup as well.

The recipe states it serves two, so increase the mixture for how many people you'll be feeding. I doubled the recipe for my home. I had extra french toast sticks afterwards, so I froze them for a later snack or breakfast.

Crunchy Baked French Toast Sticks With Strawberry Syrup

Author: Lovely Little Kitchen

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Strawberry Syrup

• 1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries, stems removed
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch.

Crunchy French Toast Sticks

• 3 slices Texas Toast bread, cut into three strips each
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups crushed Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal
• powdered sugar

Directions:

Strawberry Syrup

1. In a medium saucepan on medium high heat, combine strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, and water. Cook until bubbly. Turn heat down to medium, and boil for 3-4 minutes, until the strawberries are soft. Use an immersion blender to puree the strawberries, and then add the cornstarch. Continue to boil for 6-8 more minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. Cool slightly before serving, and keep leftovers refrigerated.
2. Use leftovers for topping ice cream or yogurt, or for making strawberry milkshakes.

Crunchy French Toast Sticks

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a shallow bowl, whisk eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla together.
3. Place crushed cereal into another small bowl.
4. Quickly dip the strips of bread into the egg mixture, and then into the crushed cereal, one by one. Press the cereal onto the bread to help it stick to all sides. Place the dipped bread onto a greased or Silpat lined baking sheet.
5. Spray the top of each strip with cooking spray, or drizzle with a little melted butter if you prefer. This will help it get nice and crunchy!
6. Bake for 12 minutes, and dust with powdered sugar. Serve with strawberry syrup or maple syrup.

Take care!
NB

100 Days of Pinterest: Days 8 through 10 - Peanut Butter No-Bake Crispy Clusters

I haven't posted for a few days, but I have been staying busy with my Pinterest challenge. So, I'm going post all three days worth of attempts. Starting with some Homemade Lavender Orange All-Purpose Cleaner.

DAY 8: Now, this stuff has vinegar as a base. No matter how much orange and lavender you put into this concoction, you can't completely eliminate that vinegar smell. It was certainly a lot tamer than straight vinegar and it certainly cleans things up really well. This recipe takes five to seven days to brew. So I put it all together last weekend. I strained the mixture on Wednesday and added it to a spray bottle. I used it to clean the bathroom and it did a really good job. Definitely a better choice than the bleach cleaners.

After making the cleaner I decided to make some Peanut Butter No Bake Crispy Clusters. These were super easy to make and tasted really good. Now, I opted to use the corn syrup instead of the maple syrup. I am not a big fan of maple syrup on anything other than my pancakes, eggs, or sausage. You have to be careful to simmer the mixture or else you will have a hard taffy-like coating on these suckers. If you simmer it correctly they come out tasting similar to caramel. They are excellent!! I used Chocolate Toast Crunch for half the batch and Rice Krispies for the rest. Good stuff!!

 DAY 9: For day 9, I went with the Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken Breasts. The first image is the dredge that is used to coat the chicken. This had a lot of different herbs. As the instructions stated, this makes a large amount of coating. So, I split the mixture in half and placed the excess half into the freezer for a later batch (which I will certainly be making). My husband and I both agree the final product was reminiscent of General Tso's chicken with a kick. It was really good! Kind of sweet with a little bit of heat. The honey garlic sauce was amazing and added a little sweetness to the overall flavor. With this many herbs on board, it helps to balance out the flavor. Definitely a good recipe!

After dinner I decided to decorate the grapevine wreath I purchased at a garage sale for fifty cents. I purchased a roll of burlap from the craft store and made a few of the Burlap Flower Rosettes. I really sucked at making these my first few attempts, but I eventually got it. They turned out pretty nice (thank goodness I found a hot glue gun at that garage sale too). Once I get a few more things for my wreath, I'll add a final pic of it.

 DAY 10: For today's project I went with a few easy ones. As you can see I tried the Jolly Rancher Suckers.  These were super easy and relatively cheap. I did as the instructions stated. I placed them in the oven on a cookie sheet with some parchment paper at 200 degrees for five minutes. However, this is where the Pinterest instructions failed. After the first five minutes, pull the tray out and use a sucker stick (which you can buy at Walmart in the craft department) to press down into the softened Jolly Ranchers.

Then, place them back in the oven for three to five more minutes. After this additional time is up, pull them out and press down on the sucker stick to flatten the Jolly Ranchers even more. As you are pushing the stick down, slowly begin to twist the stick. This will help coat it in the softened Jolly Rancher. Then, let the suckers cool for about thirty minutes. The boys loved them. It was interesting mixing the flavors. I made Myles an apple-cinnamon one and he loved it! These are a win in my book!

 After a batch of suckers were done, I decided to make dinner. I made the Sausage and Cheesy Potatoes recipe. I couldn't find the steakhouse seasoned potatoes like the recipe called for, so I used some plain home fries and added a little salt, pepper, and hickory smoke salt to the mix. This was a fast, easy, and really delicious meal. The serving dish was empty after it was all said and done.

Since my husband has joined the magical land of Pinterest, I found some green Solo-type cups at the store for only a dollar (they are the reusable type) for him to decorate Minecraft style for the boys. Since they are both Minecraft nerds I found some neat Pins to try in their rooms. Including one that called for decorating green cups with the Creeper face. My husband did them free-hand, because he's awesome like that. Had I tried to do this it would have resembled a black hole with some weird squiggly lines, not pretty! I'm not an artist by any means. The boys thought these were the coolest thing ever. I'm not sure if the Sharpie will wash off, but if it does I know my husband will be able to reproduce the Creeper on these cups for my little men.

 To finish the evening off, I decided to make some Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread. This recipe was super easy and smelled wonderful cooking. It hasn't cooled completely, so I haven't been able to get the family's reviews of how it tastes yet. However, since I have a problem waiting I tried a little piece and it was probably the best tasting banana bread I've ever had. The chocolate made it so much better! Chocolate makes everything better though. I think my days of boxed banana bread mix are something of the past. This stuff is amazing. You simply must try it.

Older, spotted bananas are cheaper to
 purchase if you don't have any on hand. 

Getting the swirl on!

Well, I think that's it for today. I'm not sure what I'm doing tomorrow. I have a few things in mind, but it all depends on the weather. Oh, and if my dog can keep his mouth off of my spray paint. Yes, my dog was a bit curious about the spray paint can I left sitting on the grill and he decided to be a putz and knock it down  when I wasn't looking. All I heard was a loud hissing sound and I saw my dog take off running. Needless to say, I was only able to start one tiny part of my project that day. Another trip to Lowe's I guess. Silly dog.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you again tomorrow.

Take care!

NB