Recipe: French Toast

French toast is my most favorite breakfast food! My stepdad grew up calling it "egg bread", so in my parent's house we call it "french egg bread".

I'm throwing this recipe into my "teaching tots" series as well, because I think that your toddler, preschooler, or older child can learn so much helping in the kitchen! I didn't enjoy cooking when I was younger, and I still don't, so I'm hoping that having Gretchen in the kitchen with me will help her to enjoy it cooking more than I do! Plus, she's at a stage where she wants to help, so I try to let her do as much as she can. To make the egg batter, you'll need eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon/nutmeg (optional). Crack the eggs in a pie dish, add a little bit of milk and sugar. Add cinnamon and/or nutmeg to taste. Whisk the eggs with a fork.

I let Gretchen help me "stir" the eggs, and shake the cinnamon into the batter.

Gretchen also helped by placing the bread into the egg mixture. We talked about how the bread was brown (because we use wheat), and the batter was yellow. You can also talk about the bread being soft, and have your child feel the bread.

Warning- Gretchen pokes holes in the bread, so your child may want to do something silly as well! She also threw the bread into the mixture, which caused a huge splash of egg batter onto my backsplash and stove, so have a wet towel handy to wipe up any messes!

I placed the bread into the hot skillet. When cooking with your child, make sure that they cannot reach the stove. This is also a good time to teach them the word "hot".

Cook bread on each side until the egg mixture has turned a golden yellow and brown.

I serve my french toast with strawberries. My husband also likes it with powdered sugar. I let Gretchen place the strawberries on her plate, and we talked about the color of the strawberries. If the toast is cool, they can also choose which slice they want and fix their plate themselves.

There are so many ways to teach your tot, and to embed important concepts into everyday activities.

What are some of your favorite daily activities with your tot that you incorporate "teaching" moments? Do you have a variation on french toast that your family enjoys?