Egg Nog French Toast

This isn't my post or my recipe, but I'm passing it on because of a conversation my partner and I had Christmas Eve. He was making the traditional-for him and his kids and spouses-Christmas morning breakfast. Bacon, sausage, a strata, pancakes, and french toast, some kind of store-bought pancake syrup. Strawberries. I asked, "so, how do you make french toast?" He answered, "the way my mother did, mix eggs and milk together, dip the bread in it and fry it." Now I promise, I did not roll my eyes, snarl, curl my upper lip in disgust, or in any way dishonor his late mother. I said nothing (hey, it's his family tradition, I wouldn't mess with it).

Ron is a wonderful, rudimentary cook; meat and potatoes, rice and (god help him) Campbell's cream of something soup (about which I do roll my eyes, snarl, etc.), BUT-I point this out-he does cook, and adheres to (my) rule that the one who doesn't cook cleans up. And he endures endless taste tests of the recipes I'm experimenting with. Who could ask for more? Except perhaps for a more interesting french toast, in this circumstance.

About a half hour later , he asked me "so, how do you make french toast?" I told him I make a batter of egg, milk, flour, powdered sugar, vanilla, dip the bread in and fry it. He had heard of using vanilla, but I suppose he made it his traditional way Christmas morning. We had so much other food, I didn't try the pancakes (if someone has a great pancake recipe to share, let me know-I just don't like the things-I mix chocolate chips in with waffles to tolerate them) or french toast.

So thanks, Paula, these look and sound delicious, and I hope to try them soon. Thanks for the post: Egg Nog French Toast

Things I wish I'd thought of

I got this in an email:

This was in Pennsylvania:

"Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But several things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents 'cuz they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder and almost killed herself putting it against my house! She didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that.

Lastly, my yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard in an effort to "help".

Happy Holidays.

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Corn Pudding

I was looking for a simple corn pudding recipe for a holiday potluck, which I found on all recipes.com. I made some changes, used one less egg, added chopped veggies for color and flavor, and I have a somewhat slow oven, so inserted a knife at one hour and cooked it 20 minutes more. But I wanted to give credit for the basic recipe to the original cook :)

4 eggs
1/3 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 15.25 ounce can whole kernel corn
1 14.75 ounce cans cream-style corn
1/4 cup chopped scallion (which I hadn't used before and found more potent than a regular onion)
1/4 cup chopped jalapeno (seeds and veins removed it you want less heat)
1/4 cup chopped roasted sweet bell pepper strips


Preheat the oven to 400 and oil a 2 quart casserole dish.

Whisk the eggs lightly in a large mixing bowl, add melted butter, sugar, milk. Mix in cornstarch, whole kernel and cream-style corn. Add the chopped vegetables and mix well. Pour into prepared casserole.


Check for doneness by inserting a knife in the center. It should come out clean, otherwise continue baking and check until it does. Voila!