Happy Meat-Free Monday, Everyone! I love to eat and my favorite meal is brunch. I mean when else can you have an excuse to be drunk before 11am and not be viewed as a lush? But there aren’t many vegan-friendly options in the traditional brunch menu. However, I have veganized this delicious and decadent French toast. The original recipe comes from the cookbook Favorite Brand Name Vegetarian Cooking by Publications International.
You can of course choose to use regular cream cheese or vegan (Tofutti is my fave) and regular or non-dairy butter (I will forever sing the praises of Earth Balance). You can also dip the bread in the traditional egg batter. However, using vanilla soymilk instead imparts a subtle sweetness while tasting much lighter than the traditional French toast. So enjoy this sweet yet hearty dish for breakfast, brunch, or anytime!
Strawberry & Banana Stuffed French Toast
1 loaf (12 inches) French bread
2 tablespoons strawberry preserves
4 ounces vegan cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup chopped strawberries (1/4 cup for cooking, 1/4 cup for garnish)
1/2 cup chopped banana (1/4 cup for cooking, 1/4 cup for garnish)
4 cups vanilla soymilk
3 tablespoons non-dairy butter (Earth Balance is best)
Directions:
1. Cut loaf into 2-inch thick slices.
2. In a large bowl, pour soymilk and set aside.
3. In a small bowl, combine cream cheese and strawberry preserves. Then combine 1/4 cup chopped strawberries and 1/4 cup chopped bananas.
4. Put one tablespoon of butter in a large skillet on medium heat (you will add more butter as you cook the slices).
5. Scoop out an indentation in each slice of bread in order to spoon a small portion of the fruit/cream cheese mixture. But try to leave a bottom so the filling doesn’t fall completely through.
6. Now dip a slice of bread on both sides in the soymilk, (tricky as the filling may fall out) then immediately place in skillet.
7. Cook on both sides, should be a nice golden brown.
8. Put on a platter and garnish with remaining strawberries and bananas.
Bon appetit!
Image by John (uits) via Flickr and the Creative Commons License.
The Opinioness 
This recipe gave me a foodgasm. Both when you made it, and then when I read it again just now. Thaaaaank youuuuu.
😉
This recipe OUTRAGES me
OMGosh Megan, french toast is one of my FAVORITE FOODs!!! This looks like a great recipe. I’m going to try it out. Keep your fingers crossed. : \
Wait a second, Steve, how can this recipe outrage you?? I gotta know…
Speaking from experience… This recipe is freaking outrageous. Don’t make too much, you’ll be tempted to finish off the last of it no matter how full you are!
It almost has a “cordon-bleu” appearance, though it does look good!
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Sooooooo planning on making this for my weekend, Megan! Looks positively scrumptious! Strawberries & bananas are always a winning combination in my book! Just also wanted to let you know that I’ve nominated your very diverse, informative blog on vegan food/politics and feminist culture for the Liebster Award. Thanks for bridging a uniformed gap between issues of being a woman and the rights of animals in a man ruled world- because women and animals both don’t need to continue unjust suffering. http://afroveganchick.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-liebster-award.html
Janyce ❤