FoodieFriday: Summer Strawberry French Toast

As you may know, and for those of you who don't, I work at Whole Foods Market. This means that I am constantly exposed to healthy foods, recipes, and nutrition advice. Health Starts Here is a program that is publicized by the Healthy Eating Specialists at each Whole Foods Market location. I've recently decided that I am going to try my hardest to eat healthier and get in better shape. It has been easy to say I want to do this, but actually doing this is a completely different story when I'm working 10 hours a day or taking care of a 3-month-old on my "days off". So in tribute to the Health Starts Here program, I am going to start a FoodieFriday series where I try and re-create at least one of their recipes each week and share them on here with pictures and my review! I hope you enjoy them!

Summer Strawberry French Toast

Serves 4
 
2 cups sliced strawberries
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 banana, mashed
4 pitted dates, soaked in hot water, mashed to a paste
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
8 slices Health Starts Here 6 sprout rye bread with carawa

1. Pour the balsamic vinegar over the strawberries and cover. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Combine the banana, dates, cinnamon, vanilla, and almond milk in a bowl. Whisk until incorporated.
3. Dip the slices of bread in the batter mixture and let it soak through.
4. Cook in a skillet or frying pan for about 2 minutes on each side.
5. Top with strawberries and enjoy!


I'm a fan of maple syrup and would have added this too if I had some on hand, but instead I went for my mom's homemade jams. Yum! Also, the original recipe called for cinnamon raisin bread, but the store was out when I went so I grabbed a different Health Starts Here bread. I'm sure most breads will work wonderfully. I would also like to try this replacing the strawberry syrup with blended raspberries! Mmm.

My review:

This recipe was very straight forward and easy to make and it smelled delicious. Substitutions are easy to make, as I did with the bread and could be done with the berry topping. I didn't taste much of the banana batter on the finished product and think it would have been better if I let the bread soak longer in the batter. If the banana was more present, these would be perfect!


Comment if you want to or have tried this recipe before and let me know what you think!


Click here for more recipes and to learn more about the Whole Foods Market Health Starts Here program.