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Yummy french toast made by my kids and they even took the photograph!

This morning I woke up to the delicious smell of butter wafting up from the kitchen, intermingling with the smell of brewing coffee.  We have this little thing in our house which we have been doing for many years now, well, actually ever since I taught the girls to make coffee. You see, if you love mommy, on the weekend, you bring her a big glass of water with an EmergenC in it and a cup of black coffee and wake her up with a smile! So, I am used to waking up to the smell of coffee brewing because of course, my kids love me, and they want to make me happy, but I am not that used to waking to the smell of butter, so I was wondering what was going on.

It wasn’t too long before my youngest daughter Christina yelled up to me that french toast was on the table and for everyone to come on down to breakfast. What a sweet surprise! Her cousin Sydney was visiting and they had decided to make everyone breakfast. They are both young teens and both have been cooking and baking for many years.

Both my sister and I taught our kids their way around a kitchen at a very young age, coffee making aside, and while Sam is not as in love with cooking as she is a foodie, Christina took to cooking like a duck to water, and she can fry an egg to make a momma proud! Sydney is an accomplished baker and she and her mom try new recipes just for the fun of it.

Cooking as a family and trusting your kids in the kitchen are ways to bring you all closer together and it also helps kids to understand the process and the kind of effort it takes mom or dad to make dinner and other meals every night. It gives them a sense of appreciation for their meals and the person who prepares them, as well as giving them some patience, focus and a sense of wonder at the fact that a bunch of different things thrown into a pot and cooked can become a whole ‘nother thing!

It is important to start early with small things and also to be relaxed about it.  Messes are going to happen and boo boos can also happen. Children should be shown what they can and cannot do or touch in the kitchen and they should observe you doing things first as be a helper and then learn how to do each thing with supervision before doing things by themselves.  My girls used to bring me eggs, or measure out flour, or wash the dishes (back when it was fun!), and then they started doing small kitchen jobs which expanded as they got older. Now they can cook a meal or bake a recipe from start to finish and it makes me very proud of them, but they are also proud of themselves which is a wonderful thing!

So, I asked them to blog their recipe for me today and even take the photograph, which they did, so without further ado, please welcome my youngest guest bloggers, Christina and Sydney to a Moderate Life!

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Vanilla French Toast

My cousin came over this weekend, and we decided to make breakfast. We decided to make Vanilla French Toast.

Though we don’t have exact measurements (a girl after my own heart!), I’m pretty sure they turned out well.  You take a relatively medium sized bowl, just so its the size of the bread. Crack about 2 to 3 eggs per four slices of bread. Before you stir the eggs pour enough milk in the bowl so that the milk surrounds the yolks and add a dash of vanilla.  Then stir with a whisk or a fork.  Soak each side of the bread for about 5 seconds.

Make sure to butter the griddle or frying pan.  Set the stove on medium and place your bread on the pan. Cook until the toast is fully cooked on both sides. You can check to make sure it is cooked my pushing down on the bread and see if any batter comes out the top. When finished you can top with butter or syrup.

Christina says: We like to cook because our moms enjoy it and we like to help them. It is fun to create new recipes to see if they will taste good.

Sydney says: We like having something to bond with our moms and having one on one time with them, so we can talk and have fun together.

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Thanks to Chri and Syd for making breakfast, blogging about it, taking a great food photo and even cleaning up the kitchen and doing all the dishes! I am so proud of you and you wicked rock!

Oh, and by the way, the french toast came out wonderfully. They used whole wheat potato bread, raw milk and pastured eggs which could have had a little something to do with it! You could make this gluten free by using gluten free bread like Udi’s.

This recipe is a part of the Sundays at One Food Club, Tuesday Night Supper Club, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays,  Tuesdays at the Table, Tailgating Time and Saturday Swap.

Glad you could stop on by!

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