Family Meal Plan: Strawberry French Toast Cupcakes+Strawberry Yogurt Frosting+Strawberry Vanilla Smoothies

Strawberry French Toast Cupcakes

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• bake :

  to cook food with dry heat, as in an oven.

• beat :

  to vigorously mix ingredients with a whisk, spoon, fork, or mixer.

• blend :

  to stir together two or more ingredients until just combined; blending is a gentler process than mixing.

• chop :

  to cut something into small, rough pieces using a blade.

• coat :

  to apply a covering of flour, breadcrumbs, oil, sauce, or batter to food before baking or frying.

• frost :

  to cover or decorate a cake or other baked dessert with icing.

• measure :

  to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).

• soak :

  to immerse a hard food for a certain amount of time in a liquid to soften it.

• whisk :

  to beat or stir ingredients vigorously with a fork or whisk to mix, blend, or incorporate air.

History of French Toast!

• The first known reference to a food similar to French toast was found in the Apicius, a first-century Roman cookbook written in Latin. It describes a sweet dish made of large pieces of white bread soaked in milk and beaten eggs, then fried in oil and topped with honey. 
• Legend says that French toast got its current name from Joseph French, a 1724 innkeeper in Albany, New York. When he created his version of the dish, he named it after himself but inadvertently left off the apostrophe and 's' after his last name to make it possessive. So, "French's" toast became "French toast."
• Bread has been a staple food for most cultures since food first began being prepared. Up until very recently, the vast majority of humans would have never dreamed of wasting any food. The French call it "pain perdu" or "lost bread" because they use stale or "lost" bread to make the dish.
• Soaking bread in milk and egg and then cooking it seems logical enough, making a good tasty meal while not wasting any bread. Slices of bread are coated or soaked in an egg and milk mixture. You can also add vanilla, cinnamon, or both. The soaked bread is fried on both sides until browned and cooked. Chefs often recommend day-old bread because the stale bread will soak up more egg mixture without falling apart.
• French toast toppings may be simple, like butter and powdered sugar, or you can add honey, syrup, jam, or fruit in any combination.
• In the United Kingdom and Ireland, French toast is called eggy bread, Gypsy toast, pamperdy, or poor knights pudding; in Portugal and Brazil it is "rabanada;" in Spain, "torrija;" and in India, Bombay toast.

Let's Learn About France!

• Bonjour (hello)! Bienvenue en (welcome to) France and the spectacular Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo da Vinci, and ancient Roman ruins in the Provence region.
• France is a European country, and its official name is the French Republic. The capital city is Paris, which also has the most people. 
• France's land area is 248,573 square miles. That is almost the size of the US state of Texas! The number of people in France is 67,874,000, about 43 percent more than in Texas.
• The official and national language is French, which is also the official language in 12 other countries, and a co-official language in 16 countries, including Canada. 
• France's government consists of a president, a prime minister, and a parliament and is divided into regions and departments rather than states and counties.
• The French have a well-known motto, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity."
• In addition to the Eiffel Tower, France is known for the Louvre, the most visited art museum worldwide (the Mona Lisa resides there), the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and the French Riviera (Côte d'Azur) in southeastern France on the Mediterranean coast.
• France is famous for the "beaux-arts" (fine arts). Paris is still home to many artists and great painters, artisans, and sculptors. Great literature came from French authors, such as Victor Hugo's novels Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
• Paris has two popular nicknames. The most common is "The City of Light" (La Ville Lumière), which came about because Paris was the first European city to implement street lighting in 1860, lighting up the city with 56,000 gas street lamps. The second is "The City of Love," (La Ville de L'amour). This name is probably due to Paris being considered one of the most romantic cities in the world and the high number of marriage proposals at the Eiffel Tower!
• French cuisine is known for its freshness and high quality. Many of the world's greatest pastries originated in France, such as the croissant, eclair, and macaron!
• Other French foods are escargot (snails!), baguette (bread), ratatouille (roasted tomato, zucchini, and eggplant—remember the movie?!), and crepes (very thin pancakes).

What's It Like to Be a Kid in France?

• Most kids start school (preschool) at around age three. Depending on the area and the school, students go to school 4 to 5 days a week. They often get a 1½-hour lunch break, and some kids go home for lunch. 
• Dinner is served at 7:30 pm or later, so afternoon snacks are essential. "Le goûter" (goo-tay), or afternoon tea, often includes a "tartine," a slice of bread topped with something sweet or savory (like cheese, butter and jam, or Nutella). Other popular snacks are yogurt, fromage blanc (white cheese), and fruit. 
• Popular sports for kids are soccer, bicycling, and tennis.
• There are several parks in France, in and around Paris. Napoleon III even designed one of them, the Bois de Boulogne, where you can find beautiful gardens, lakes, a zoo, an amusement park, and two horse racing tracks. In addition, kids can go on pony rides, play mini-golf, and race remote control boats at many public parks.  
• Of course, kids can also go to the most popular theme park in Europe, Disneyland Paris, which opened in 1992. While there, kids can go on a ride unique to Disneyland Paris: Ratatouille: The Adventure!