I know, I know another French toast recipe for another perfect Sunday morning! Well what can I say... If you red my other posts you might know by now that we really love Sunday mornings! And French toast... And strawberries!
Strawberries and Cream is something I really missed when I stopped eating dairy... Like really! Cream in general: creamy pasta sauce, cream on cake, cream on berries, cream cheese, just cream on everything! But strawberries and cream in particular. Back in the day when I still ate dairy I used eat bowls just full of strawberries and whipped cream. Big bowls! Well I suppose you can imagine, I missed it...
Anyway thanks to coconut whipped cream and vegan cream cheese I am no longer in withdrawal for strawberries and cream. And to be honest after 5 years of being dairy free, I wouldn't want to go back! To forgo dairy and dairy products was the biggest problem for me in beginning. I simply loved dairy, especially cream and cheese and I felt a serious withdrawal. There were days where all I thought about was eating cheese. And to this day forgoing cheese is not easy for me, however it has completely changed for any other dairy produce.
One might think that I simply got used to not having it and while I think this is partly the case , it's not the whole story. Quite recently I stumbled across a blog post on why dairy isn't good for humans (check it out here). I was surprised at first as growing up I was always told, that dairy is very healthy for your bones and also the food pyramids of most countries of the northern hemisphere seem to recommend a decent amount of dairy per day...
I kept researching the topic and suddenly it did make sense. Why would any milk other than mother's milk be so very healthy for us? I've been working as a midwife for almost ten years now, specializing in breastfeeding for at least half of it and as all mammals humans stop to breastfeed at some point. Why? Because the baby has grown and no longer needs milk! If milk was that important to us why did evolution not make us breastfeed longer? And why would we humans be the only species that has to rely on another mammals milk in order to live a healthy life? It's not plausible.. All mammals stop breastfeeding at some point and there is now species other than humans that drink milk after they weaned... It's just the way it is supposed to be. Milk is for calves, mother's milk is for humans.
So let's share this recipe! But first thank the Lord for dairy free cream cheese! Dairy free cream cheese is not something I have often, just because it is quite a processed food and I try to stay clear of them. But it's a blessing nevertheless. And every now and then I think one is supposed to have a treat. And what better way to treat yourself than with french toast stuffed with cream cheese and strawberries after a lay in and Sunday morning cuddles!
Enjoy!
Serves: 2 Prep Time: 15 min Cooking time: 15 min
Ingredients:
8 tb vegan cream cheese
3 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tb flex meal ( finely milled, more like flex seed flour)
1 cup milk
2 tb sugar
1 ts cinnamon
10 strawberries hulled and sliced
8 slices gluten-free bread
vegan butter for frying
- extra strawberries for decoration
Start with washing and chopping your strawberries.
To make the filling mix cream cheese and maple syrup until smooth and combined. Gently fold in the strawberries. Set aside.
In a medium bowl combine milk, flex seed flour ,sugar and cinnamon.
Heat some vegan butter in a large non-stick frying pan. To assemble the French Toast, spread cream cheese mixture one one slice of bread and cover with a second slice of bread. Soak in the batter for about 30 second on each side. Make sure they are well coated. Fry over medium-high heat on both sides until golden brown.
Continue the same way with the other bread slices. Keep finished French Toast in oven at about 50 degrees Celsius/122 degrees Fahrenheit
Serve warm with additional strawberries.
If you tried this, please let me now how you liked it in the comment section down below and if you want to get notified about more recipes like this, a subscription is just three clicks away.