How to Make Skinny French Toast

Oh me Oh My HOW I L-O-O-O-OVE BRUNCH !!

When I was a mere “tween”, I would occasionally join my dad and grandma for brunch at our local diner. He would go to church with my grandma every Sunday and I would sleep in and meet them for brunch after church!

Total tween move – sleep in as late as possible or until free brunch calls.

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Per usual, portion control was outta control at the diner.

This diner serves omelettes that are 3x the serving size and french toast that is drowning in a sea of maple syrup! Before the oversized plates of buttery and sugary delicious-ness arrived, they would provide us with a large woven basket of fresh, warm croissants wrapped in a cloth napkin.

Brunch game ON POINT… !!

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I may have been eating in the ‘burbs of Chicago, but it truly felt like a classic NYC brunch – minus the bagel and lox.

Since moving to New York, I’ve noticed that people eat out quite often. Like… for every meal!

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When I moved into my apartment style dorm, I realized exactly why that was… The kitchens are SO. DAMN. TINY…!

When I meal prep my overnight oats, I use up the entire 2×2 countertop space with oatmeal, chia seeds, cinnamon, milk, flax meal, greek yogurt, stevia, and a little bottle of vanilla – IF we are lucky! I won’t even try to explain how I meal prep my salads for work… that requires creativity and a few blessings from Sunday church.

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Between the end of last semester and my arrival to NYC, I had a surplus of time in the morning. I would ditch the overnight oats and ball out with my own brunch.

As you all know, I crave sweets. Like, BIG time. When splurged on the ( maple syrup with a side of  ) french toast for brunch, I would ALWAYS overeat.

But here’s the thing – my metabolism isn’t as fire as it was when I was a tween and the maple syrup pool ain’t helping the waistline sitch… Especially in the midst of bikini season!

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SO – here’s the big Q : How do I satisfy my sweet tooth while not exceeding my daily recommended dietary allowance of sugar and carbs before noon…

UGH. The struggle is real. BUT, I have a solution that will BLOW your mind…

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CHIA. SEED. JAM.

* Cue the round of applause *

It’s just about the GREATEST creation ever. And guess what? I can actually prepare it in my itty bitty teenie weenie NYC kitchen! Maple syrup is so tween anyways.

When I make the jam in my kitchen, I just mash up the strawberries with a fork and mix in the chia seeds. HOWEVER, if you had a kitchen with a bit more space, you can warm up your jam on the stove.

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If you have a stove, you MUST utilize it. The jam tastes even better when heated up and the chia seeds soak into the strawberries quicker. I’ll def be heating my jam when I get home, but in the meantime I’ll settle for a microwave. :’)

I enjoy topping my french toast with chia seed jam; however, it also works in PB&J Overnight Oats.

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Recipe:

1 T white chia seeds

1 cup strawberries

2 slices Ezekiel bread

1 egg, 1 egg white

splash of milk

dash of cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

splash of vanilla extract

ghee

Directions:

Mash strawberries with a lemon squeezer into a sauce pan under low-medium heat. Mash in chia seeds with a fork. When the chia seeds absorbed into the strawberries, remove from heat.

Whisk eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla extract in a flat bottomed pie plate. Place bread slices one at a time into the egg mix and allow to soak for ~10 seconds on both sides. Melt ghee in a non stick skillet and place bread slices in the skillet. Cook on medium heat until golden.

Top the toast with your strawberry chia jam and dig in!

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My top tip for making strawberry jam is to squeeze the strawberries in a lemon squeezer before putting them in the saucepan. This way, you don’t have to go ham when mashing the strawberries with a fork!

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This chia seed / strawberry duo is THE dynamic duo for TWO REASONS:

  1. They are both CRAY high in fiber… 1 T of chia seeds has about 5.5 grams of fiber ( that is about 1/5 of the RDA for women 18-50 y/o ) and 1 cup of strawberries has 3 grams of fiber.
  2. This combo is sweet AF… but the high fiber helps control blood sugar levels and the total amount of sugar in the jam is equal to 1/2 T of maple syrup. You get a whole lot more bang for your buck !!

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Is chia / strawberry the new PB&J?? 😉

xx hails