Tutta la Storia: vintage illustrations

My bloggy friend Jen over at Balancing Beauty & Bedlam (gotta love the name of her blog) has been running a regular Tasty Tuesday theme for a while now. I keep meaning to join in, but always seem to be posting bits about my own cooking adventures on Fridays or Mondays--not Tuesdays. SO, I saved one up for today, and am officially joining in on the Tasty Tuesday fun!

My Dad has been holding a vintage Sunbeam electric skillet for me that I got to bring home after our visit over Father's Day Weekend. He always has said that you can't have better pancakes, grilled cheese or French Toast than this skillet can make. This one is actually my Mom's. He found another one in an antique store box for a $1.00--so this one is now mine. ALL MINE.

As you can see it has been lovingly assisting with meal preparations for years. For this installment of Tasty Tuesday I am going to highlight a simple and cheap dinner idea--Vintage Skillet French Toast. (We tend to have breakfast a lot for dinner in our house). This is by no means a complicated meal, nor an expensive one! (Jen promotes frugality on her blog, so I know she'll like this one!)

I used a loaf of IGA white bread that was on sale for $1.29, and a dozen eggs that were on sale for 99 cents. I already had butter from my weekly local dairy home delivery. (Okay, so the generous amount of local maple syrup that I pour all over mine is not cheap. Let's not even go there. But the good stuff is worth it!)

Start by whisking 3 eggs and a couple of cups of milk and some cinnamon and a pinch of salt together. (I made 8 slices). Get the skillet heating (mine was on 380 degrees). Toss in a generous slab of butter and you are on your way!

Since the IGA bread was pretty thin, I just want to pace it in the egg mixture briefly, turning once to coat. For a heartier, homemade bread you would definitely want to soak it. Lay the slices in the skillet and listen to the yummy bubbling!

Flip when they have reached the desired doneness. I was being overly cautious since I was going to be giving a slice to Ella.

Move to a warm plate, add butter and local maple syrup and dig in!

Seriously folks, my Dad is so right--my French Toast never cooks this evenly in a regular fry pan, nor does it get the great crunchy edges that it has here. Can you see those crunchy edges? Can you smell the French Toast goodness??

I think James liked them!

Ella did too!

Mmmmmm . . . . just . a . moment . I . am . chewing . my . last . golden . buttery . bite . . .

YUM!!!!!

Introducing Dolly Dumpling, and Bobby Bobbs, a pair of sweet paper dolls from the 1920s that my Dad has in his auction this week.

Isn't Dolly sweet? I just want to pinch her little cheeks!

I love that Bobby has his own little paper doll accessories, including a Bulldog!

These paper dolls remind me of a time when children were raised in a much simpler way. No cell phones, no Xboxes, no computers. I hope that despite the "information age" I can give my children an environment that is somewhat more based on using their own imaginations to keep them growing, learning and having fun!

(My husband read this after I posted it and noted that James was watching Super Why so don't think I am a purist by any means, LOL!)

Happy Vintage Friday Finds!