Liam had a day off he had to use up this month so he took monday off. We spent the day at Humber nurseries scaring up a few last plant purchases – yellow strawberries, chocolate mint (yay!) and pink champagne geraniums – they have pretty hot pink flowers and give off a citrusy perfume – very much like pink champagne! It is the girliest flower of all time, and I am in love with it.

To start the day off right, I made a fancy breakfast – not something I do very often. I do dinner, but I don’t really do breakfast. We usually grab some toast or cereal and that’s about it.

But I had come across some dutch “pain d’epice” in the grocery store tucked in a shelf between the cookie and the cracker section. Pain d’epice is normally a french – and specifically alsacean food – it’s a spice laden honey cake. It smelled really good – like rich gingerbread, so I decided to give it a try.

When we got it home we realized it was a little dry and lacking on it’s own – but I had a brainstorm. I had recently seen Nigella whip up a donut french bread.

Hrmmm…

What could be better than spicy donut french bread?

And instead of strawberry sauce, how ’bout some spicy apples, since we got some nice organic ones in our food box?

Well, it seems my instincts were good that day, because Liam has proclaimed it the best thing I have ever made, and that he would like it every day, at each and every meal (which is not gonna happen unless we want to weight 300 pounds each!).

Pan D’Epice French Toast

• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 1 cm thick slices of pain d’epice or other spice loaf or cake
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon icing sugar mixed with a pinch of cinnamon (garnish)

1. whisk the milk eggs and vanilla in a small shallow dish
2. dredge the bread/cake in the eggy mixture
3. heat the butter and the oil on a medium heat in a frying pan until they are gently sizzling
4. fry up the eggy bread in the frying pan until it is cooked and crispy
5. garnish with the sugar mixture sprinkled on top, and a dollop of spicy apples

Quick and Spicy Apple Sauce

• 2 apples (peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks)
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed into 1/2 cup of water
• more sugar and cinnamon to taste

1. heat the butter in a small sauce pan until it is melted and gently sizzling
2. add the apples and sugar to the pot and saute until the sugar melts and the apples start to soften
3. add the cinnamon and the cornstarch slurry and continue to cook until the apples are softened and the sauce has thickened
4. add more sugar and cinnamon if you feel like it needs to be sweeter and/or spicier