“Rrrrow!”
Hannah turned to look at Moishe, who was standing by his empty food bowl. “Sorry, Moishe. Just let me put this breakfast in the oven and then I’ll feed you.”
That seemed to satisfy her pet for the moment and Hannah hurried to place the bread in the pan she’d chosen, stick it in the oven, and set the timer. Then she took a can of chicken-flavored cat food out of the cupboard, and gave a fleeting thought to why it was labeled chicken flavored. She mixed it with some dry kitty crunchies, and spooned it into Moishe’s bowl.
As she watched her cat begin to eat, Hannah wondered how busy working wives managed to juggle children, pets, and husbands at breakfast time, not to mention getting ready for work themselves. Here she was with no children and just one pet, and she’d almost forgotten to feed Moishe!
OVEN FRENCH TOAST
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
(That’s not a misprint. It really is five-hundred degrees!)
3 large eggs
? cup whole milk
1 Tablespoon white (granulated) sugar
? teaspoon salt
? teaspoon ground cinnamon
? teaspoon ground nutmeg (freshly grated is best)
8 slices white bread
2 Tablespoons (1 ounce, ? stick) salted butter
Hannah’s 1st Note: Lisa says she sometimes uses raisin bread to make this recipe because her husband, Herb, likes it so much. I’ve used cinnamon swirl bread, and that’s wonderful, too.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: You don’t have to use an electric mixer for this recipe. A fork from your silverware drawer will do nicely.
Crack the eggs into a large, flat bowl. Beat them up with a fork or a wire whisk.
Add the whole milk and mix it in. Then add the sugar and the salt.
Sprinkle in the cinnamon and the nutmeg. Mix everything up thoroughly with the fork.
Place the salted butter in a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan. Stick it in the preheated oven for 1 minute.
Use potholders to take the pan out of the oven. It will be hot! Set it on a cold burner on your stovetop to wait for its contents, but don’t shut off the oven!
Working quickly, dip each slice of bread in the batter mixture, flip it over to coat the other side, and transfer it to the hot, buttered cake pan.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: You can scrunch the battered bread together a bit to make room for all 8 slices in the cake pan.
If there is any batter left in the bowl, simply pour it over the slices of bread in the pan, distributing it as evenly as you can.
Again, using potholders, return the cake pan to the oven.
Bake until the bottoms of your Oven French Toast are brown. This usually takes 5 to 8 minutes. (Check by lifting the edge of one slice with a fork and peeking at the bottom.)
Once the bottoms of your Oven French Toast have browned, flip them over with a fork and bake them for 2 to 4 minutes longer or until the tops (which are now the bottoms) are golden brown.
Remove the pan from the oven and set it on a cold, stovetop burner. Shut off the oven, and cover the pan of Oven French Toast with foil until your family comes to the table.
Serve your Oven French Toast with plenty of salted butter, syrups, and jams of your choice.
Yield: 8 one-piece servings or 4 two-piece servings, but only if you don’t invite Mike. He’ll eat at least 3 pieces, and sometimes 4.
Andrea’s Note: This recipe is so easy, even I can make it. Bill loves it with one of the flavored syrups, like blueberry or apricot. Tracey and Bethie want theirs buttered and spread with strawberry jam.
Lisa’s Note: Sometimes, when I make this for breakfast for Herb, I’m in a real hurry. I just turn a stovetop burner to MEDIUM-HIGH, dip the bread in the Oven French Toast batter, and fry it on both sides. It’s really good that way, too. I do this in the summer, too, when it gets really hot and muggy in Minnesota and I don’t want to turn on the oven and heat up my kitchen.
Chapter Five
“So how was the honeymoon?” Lisa asked, the moment Hannah walked in the back door of The Cookie Jar.
Hannah smiled, remembering the lazy mornings when she hadn’t bothered to set the alarm clock by their king-size bed, the carafe of hot coffee that had been waiting for her just outside their stateroom door, and the table on their huge balcony where she’d enjoyed her first cup of coffee with Ross. “It was fabulous, but it’s good to be back.”
“Michelle told me that they refurnished your whole condo while you were gone.”
“That’s true. They did.”
Lisa took a deep breath. And then she asked, “I’m not sure that I should open this can of worms, but . . . do you like it?”
“I love it! They didn’t touch the kitchen. Michelle threatened Mother with dire consequences if she did anything to change the kitchen. And the rest of the place is . . . well . . . you’ll have to see it to appreciate it. Andrea calls the living room a media room because of the gigantic flat screen television, the master bedroom is gorgeous with all new furniture and bedding, and the shower is totally incredible.”
“They changed the shower?”
“Yes. I didn’t really discover how great it was until this morning. It has all new tile, a bench you can sit on, and four adjustable jets. You can stand there and massage your back and neck.”
“Wow!” Lisa looked duly impressed. “I’ll bet Herb would love to have a shower like that. His neck is always stiff when he gets up in the morning and he’s tried every remedy there is. We spent a fortune buying special neck pillows and creams right after we were married. Do you know how much a shower like yours costs?”
“No, but you can ask Mother. She’ll be here in a half-hour or so. At least that’s what she said when we had dinner last night.”