Easy Holiday French Toast

In addition to being a day for us all to reflect on the blessings in our lives, Thanksgiving is a day for foodies to excel. I'm not normally a big fan of 'convenience foods' but the following meal is one time I'll make the exception. Why make the day only about the BIG meal when you can start the day with an easy but special breakfast? Here's a way to make a fabulous breakfast with little mess of fuss. 

Start with the right ingredients, like a loaf of great cinnamon raisin bread and some Del Monte bottled citrus salad. For a light side of fruit, a small bowl of the bottled pink grapefruit or regular orange sections with a little fresh banana is a great for a light, colorful fruit side. Should take about 5 minutes to 'prepare.'

The French toast is almost as easy. Take some bottled eggnog (I like the Shamrock), add an egg or two (about 1 egg per 3/4 cup of nog), moisten a slice of good quality cinnamon raisin bread and cook. Prep time before cooking is about 5 minutes and again, very little to clean up after. Serve with butter and your favorite syrup.  The great part of this is that the spices and extra goodies are contained in these products!

If you have the time, you can make your own 'french toast' bread (FTB) in advance by adding more raisins (and nuts or other fruit), spices and sweetner to your a loaf of your home-made bread.  I'll make my loaf of FTB today with oat and wheat flour, raisins, walnuts and lots of spices! I include nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon and a bit of cardamom. (Remember to add a little extra yeast to counteract the antibiotic action of the cinnamon if you use a lot of that.)

This is a great festive start to an otherwise frantic but wonderful day. It works well for Christmas, too.  If you want to repeat at other times of year, stash a can or two of the Borden's eggnog.

No refrigeration needed and it's available when the dairy case eggnog is out of season. 

Bon Appetit!