Over the past month now, I have been trying to do different things to occupy myself throughout this time of being quarantined. As I have found out, the best way of doing that is by cooking. I have never been the cooking type. Maybe throughout my childhood, I wanted to be one of the best-rated chefs in the world and have a five-star restaurant. With that, things changed because once I was in sixth grade, that dream went right down the gutter. I was too busy to get myself into the cooking skill and had so many activities and clubs caused me to give that up.

Thanks to COVID-19, I can get back into cooking after all these years. Before starting my beat project for Journalism, I would cook breakfast or even lunch. Not dinner because we’re the family that eats so late at night that my family and I just make our food to eat. What I have cooked has been more simple recipes, and also ones that require not as many ingredients so my family does not have to go to the grocery store as frequently during this time of social distancing.

A few of my favorite recipes to cook have been shrimp scampi, salmon, and breaded roast pork. All food I’ve made would have some type of side dish and some veggies to go along because we are all about that healthy life. Especially now since all the gyms are closed.

With all this cooking I’ve been able to do, it’s what became my inspiration for my beat project for my Journalism class… food reviews! This is where the name for my website, Jenny Eats was born. The purpose of the website is to talk/review recipes, cook food, or (hopefully soon) eat at restaurants, and being able to rate them on a one-to-ten scale talking about them and what I think about them. My latest blog is about a recipe that’s popular among the breakfast community, and that is French toast. I named the recipe “Jenny’s Famous French Toast” (if you want to check out my review on this recipe, the website is https://sites.google.com/pennridge.us/jenny-eats/blogs). I put my twist on the classic recipe, simple enough for anyone to do! Here I will put the recipe for you to look at now if you’re curious:

JENNY’S FAMOUS FRENCH TOAST

Ingredients/What you need

• 3 slices of white bread
  • Recommend: Sara Lee Brioche Bakery Bread
• 2 eggs
• 1 & 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 3 tsp of creamer
• Confectioner sugar
• 1 tbsp of butter
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• Handful of blueberries
• Any syrup you have at home
• 1 bowl as big as your bread
• Spatula
• Plate
• Sifter

Recipe

• Cut the 3 slices of bread diagonally (you don’t have too, but it feels fancier that way if they are in a triangle shape).
• In your bowl, put the 1 and 1/2 tsp of vanilla, your 3 tsp of creamer (you could eyeball it, this makes the egg mixture fluffier), and 1 tsp of cinnamon.
• Then you mix that all up until smooth and there are no cinnamon chunks.
• In a pan or skillet, heat up to a medium high and take your 1 tbsp of butter and let it melt as you try coating the whole pan, so the bread doesn’t stick.
• Take your slices of bread, and dip on both sides the French toast mixture, where you then bring it to your pan/skillet. You might have to do a few slices separately (don’t leave slices in for too long, or your bread will get soggy).
• This is where I would lower the fire to a lower setting, so the bread doesn’t burn.
• Let your slices cook, flip to the other side once your spatula is able to slide under your toast without getting stuck (this means that side is done).
• Let the slices cook until all your bread has been “toasted”, and put them on your plate
• Setting that aside, take the pan/skillet you cooked the toast on and place your handful of blueberries in there, on low heat and stir them around for one minute, trying to not have them burst.
• Take the blueberries you heated off the stove and place them on top, all over your toast.
• Finally, take your confectioner sugar and put as much as you want in a sifter, and sift it around your toast to get a light coating of sweetness to your toast.
• Put some syrup you have at home on your toast, as much as you want.
• (Recommend to microwave for 15 seconds so all flavors mix together.)

Then you’re done!

For this being one of my first recipes created, I’m proud of it for my second blog. I chose French toast because of how easy and convenient it is for any age to make. What worked the best in this recipe was having the vanilla extract, but do not use too much. It gives this creamy taste almost, that by the end of making this recipe it tastes like French vanilla ice cream… but as French toast. I love how versatile it is to where you can add more ingredients or remove ingredients. You can personalize this recipe to how you want!

Creating this recipe to share with you, the community gives me the inspiration to start making more complex recipes. It gives me the creativity that I know I have, where I can share what I enjoy with others.