I wanted to do something special for breakfast today, but I was sick of pancakes. And since I just blogged about the cinnamon roll pancakes (which are majestic and  you need to check them out) I wanted to do something different. So I made heart-shaped french toast!

AREN’T those festive?! After I made them, I logged onto my Facebook, and what did I see? My mom posted this:

SHE HAD THE SAME IDEA AT THE EXACT SAME TIIIIME! (And the same freaking plate!) So creepy. I don’t believe either of us have ever made heart-shaped french toast before!

If you don’t have a french toast recipe, I’ll share mine- I just made it up, and it happens to be dairy-free, but every one was pretty happy with it!

I got a whole loaf of bread and cut it length-wise, so my large cookie cutter would fit!

I stamped out some large hearts (I got most of my cookie cutters from Michaels- there was a Wilton-brand set of 100 on sale. It is such a sweet set- it came with all the letters and numbers, and different sized cutters for almost every holiday!

This made for a lot of left-over bread scraps, DON’T THROW THEM AWAY! I am leaving half of them out on the counter to dry out to use for bread crumbs, and just wait to see what I did with the other half… I will share that after this french toast business is done.

Now to make the custardly goodness, you just need a few simple ingredients. I doubled this recipe, but had left-overs, so I really didn’t need to.

Dairy-Free French Toast (for 12 pieces of bread)

~1 cup of coconut milk (or regular milk)

~2 eggs

~1/2 tsp vanilla extract

~1 Tablespoon honey or sugar

~1/4 tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg

BEAT IT UP

Dip the glutenous hearts into the milk mixture, then plop them onto a hot griddle or a frying pan.

I didn’t need to grease the pan because it was non stick, but use a bit of butter (or vegan margarine) if you need to!

Cook em on med-low heat for a few minutes on each side, or until they are cooked through. Slimy, undercooked french toast is gross.

Now that’s a pile of love if I ever did see one!

I’m pretty lucky and have 4 Valentines this year 🙂  Let’s see how they appreciated their morning surprise!

“OHHHHHHH!”

“Where are my damn Cheerio’s?”

AND SUCCESS! I microwaved some frozen blueberries for an added class-factor.

Hubby liked em too, but he wasn’t interested in being paparazzied this morning haha!

SOOOO like I said, I made too much custard and had allll those bread scraps left. I decided I would make some bread pudding, which is kind of a boring dessert, but I was in the mood.

Although I thought I’d switch it up and add some extra goodness:

Dark chocolate and orange zest. 1/2 cup of dairy free choc. chips and the zest of one large orange, to be exact.

I added these delicious additions to about 2 cups of bread scraps and about 1 recipe’s-worth of the french toast mixture.

That’s a pretty sight!

After I mixed everything together, I let it get all squishy for an hour before I baked it for 30 minutes (until a knife inserted to the center came out clean) at 350 degrees.

Mmmmmm.

Confession: I hate french toast. I ate this for breakfast. So. Darn. Good.

Well, the babies need lunch, so I’m off!

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, I have some thoughts that might be worth sharing. I guess the kids can wait to eat lunch hahah!

I love any excuse to celebrate a holiday. I used to get kinda cranky if my hubby didn’t do something special for me on VDay- even the years that I pretended I was an anti-VDay-er.

Hehehe so true. My friend Katie just shared this on Facebook and I love it.

Anyways, I changed my attitude and expectations, and now my February 14th is always grand!  I switched my focus off of myself and onto my kids and hubster- so I do some special little activities with my kiddos throughout the day, and make some extra special treats for breakfast and dinner.

Yesterday me and the kids made these amazing, fruity, gummy candies from Buttercream Couture  (I’ll post more about these candies in the future!)

I made some little gummy pops by sandwiching a lolly pop stick in between two hearts, and I even made a button candy :’)

And for my husband…

Gummy gun.

This morning I got up early to make the fam these french toast hearts, and tonight I plan on replicating a restaurant dish my hubby brought up in a convo the other day!

Anyways, not yapping to brag, but switching my attitude and expectations has really helped to make this holiday not glum, so I figured I’d share.

You still have time to make these bacon roses for your hubby or friends today!!! DO IT!!!

Happy Cinnamon-Toasting, and Bacon-Roasting!

~Dot