Caramelized French Toast

I love brunch! I need to eat brunch more. I didn't exactly have brunch yesterday, but we got up late and I said, how about waffles? BB said, meh, so I suggested french toast. French toast was well received, so I got out How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, my trusty cookbook by Mark Bitman. We had some whole wheat Tuscan pane from Trader Joe's, which I thought would make great french toast. I looked up the recipe, and saw one of the variations ... caramelized french toast.





I had to make it! And it was delicious. Simple too, just sprinkle sugar (I used raw sugar) on the dipped slices before you put in the pan. The sugar caramelizes into the custard and form a slightly crunchy outer layer. We ate it with butter and a bit of maple syrup. I am definitely going to make this again, all I need is some people to come over for brunch!





I also made some pretty good pasta the other day using orrichetti. I think the translation is "little ears," but I think they look more like those little popper toys. Anyhow, I just sauteed up an onion with sliced baby Portabella mushrooms and some sliced fake italian sausage. When it was all browned, I deglazed with a generous amount of red wine. Then, I added some spinach, some pasta cooking water, and covered. When I added the pasta, I added a bit more of the cooking water and mixed it all together. It was really good, and pretty hearty as well.





The cast iron pan was really important for BOTH of these dishes. I love mine!