Savory Mushroom French Toast

& a weekend recap!

Hi! Welcome to “good mood food” from Kale Me Maybe’s Carina Wolff. If you’ve made it here and aren’t yet a subscriber, come join! You can expect recipes, musings, and faves in your inbox every Wednesday! Paid subscribers get even more! Learn more about my paid membership here. You can also try a week for free!

CATCH UP!

Hello friends!!

I did not sleep well last night, so I am a tired girl writing this. I hope my brain is working properly, but we’ll try our best. I managed to get myself to yoga this morning, but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a struggle, ha.

Let me think about what’s new…

Went to the beach and roller skated over the weekend. That was lovely! We realized it had been a long time since we took our skates to the beach (probably since we got Willow), but we actually brought her, and she ran alongside us ! It was so sweet.

We also saw Barbie, which I actually really enjoyed. I thought it was colorful and fun, and I know people were critiquing how basic and rudimentary its feminism was, but I’m okay with it! It’s the Barbie movie, after all. It’s geared towards both young and old, and some young girls haven’t even been introduced to some of these concepts yet. I thought it was cute, although I know there has been mixed reception.

We also had some friends over for dinner, and I cooked a few different dishes, which you can check out in this TikTok! I loveeee summer food, and I especially love being able to eat it outside while the sun’s still out. To me, this is the epitome of summer joy.

And that’s really it! Hoping to bang this newsletter out so I can go rest for a little ;).

THINGS I’M LOVING!

I love a good nostalgia documentary series, and Grant and I have been watching The Dark Side of the 2000s together. With everything Y2K popping up again, it’s fun to go back in time and revisit what was going on with pop culture at the time. But beyond being fun, it’s also important to look at what went wrong back then, especially when it came to treatment of women, the media, etc.

I kind of took a break from vegan cheese for awhile, but I forgot how good some brands are, particularly Miyokos! I’ve been eating this Miyokos Double Cream Classic Chive Artisan Vegan Cheese on toast, and it is sooo good as a soft cheese spread. The flavor is amazing, and it doesn’t have a weird fake cheese taste since it’s made from cashews.

Do you ever put off buying something basic and simple, because it’s just so basic and simple and you’ve made it this far without one? No? Oh ya, me neither…. Anyway, on a TOTALLY UNRELATED note, I finally got myself a microplane, and it was stupid I waited this long. I zest lemons all the time, and now that I spent FIFTEEN WHOLE DOLLARS on a wonderful zester, my life is so much easier. Gone are the days where I try to grate a lemon on the side of a cheese grater. Silly. Don’t be like me, and get the items you need.

RECIPE!

This savory french toast is inspired by a brunch dish I had at Grand Lake Kitchen when I was up in Oakland. It was a mushroom french toast on rye with arugula, and it was one of the best breakfasts I’d had in awhile. I’m relatively new to savory french toast (I put out a fennel french toast recently), but I definitely prefer it to sweet french toast, as I really don’t like having sweets in the morning!

I ended up using brioche in this recipe instead of rye because I love how it tastes as french toast, but I tried to recreate the rest of the dish with my own little spins! I sautéed up some oyster mushrooms and made a lemony arugula salad that goes along with it. And finally, true to the original, the dish is finished off with some poached eggs!

Savory French Toast

Ingredients (serves 2)

French Toast

• 8 oz oyster mushrooms

• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• Pinch of salt

• Knob of butter

• 2 slices of brioche

• 4 eggs, divided

• 1/2 tsp garlic salt

• White vinegar

• 1 tsp chopped parsley

• 1 tsp chopped chives

• Aleppo pepper/crushed red pepper

Arugula

• 1 1/2 cups arugula

• 1/4 cup shaved Parmesan

• Generous drizzle of olive oil

• Juice of 1 lemon

• Pinch of salt and pepper

1. Start by preparing the mushrooms. Break up mushroom pieces with your hands, and then heat olive oil in a cast iron on medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, and cook undisturbed for 4 minutes. Then cook for another 3-5 minutes until nice and brown, stirring occasionally. Mix in the garlic and a pitch of salt, and remove from heat after a minute.

2. While mushrooms are cooking, prepare the arugula mixture by tossing everything together in a medium bowl.

3. Prepare the french toast by cracking 2 of the eggs into a small bowl, and whisk together with the onion salt. Dip the brioche into the egg mixture, one at a time, coating the brioche completely on both sides.

4. Heat your knob of butter in a nonstick skillet on medium heat, and add the brioche. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until bread is golden.

5. While the french toast is being prepared, bring a few inches of water to a boil in a separate skillet. Crack each of the remaining 2 eggs into 2 separate ramekins. When the water has come to a boil, add a splash of white vinegar, and swirl the water with a slotted spoon. Carefully dip the eggs from the ramekins into the water. Cook for 3-5 minutes until eggs have just completely set. Remove immediately from water with a slotted spoon.

6. Top each slice of bread with the arugula mixture followed by the cooked oyster mushrooms. Top with the poached eggs, drizzle with a little more olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and garnish with herbs. Serve immediately.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!

Last week, paid subscribers received a recipe for a Lemony Dill Kale & Carrot White Bean Salad! This plant-based salad is super easy to make, extra nutritious, and of course, tastes great! Become a paid subscriber now to get access to this recipe, plus all of the exclusive ones in the archive! I super appreciate everyone’s support!!