French toast is my signature breakfast for sleepovers. It works for any kind of sleepover, the romantic just the two of us kind or where did this horde of hungry teens come from kind and everything in between. The moorish bread soaked in egg and cooked in butter till golden and a bit crispy can then be topped with sweet or savory depending on your tastes. It’s been known to be requested by those in the know.

It also uses stuff you have on hand; stale, sorry day old, bread, eggs, milk and toppings that are lying about.

And it’s easy to send a nearly awake better half to the shops for more ingredients for those teens that seem to keep stumbling out of bedrooms. You can just keep dipping bread in egg, cooking it up and in the case of hordes of teenagers they’ll polish it off as fast as you can dish it out or keep it warm in the oven for a romantic sit down.

Magic.

It turns out the french toast is also the perfect breakfast for migraineurs. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day physiologically speaking as it is breaking the fast. It’s been 10-12 hours since the body has had in influx of raw materials to work with. So you want to set it up well and you don’t want to over stimulate the nitric oxide (NO) pathway. Remember that excess NO causes vasodilation that could induce a migraine. You don’t want to start the day off on the back foot.

French toast is the perfect combination of raw materials, egg, milk, butter and if you top it with a dollop of yoghurt and warmed through fruit or leftover roasted veg well magic. Even better, it’s done in one pan and ready in 20 minutes.

Migraineur’s French Toast

• Servings: 1 egg per serve
• Time: 20 min
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

One pan and 20 minutes for the perfect breakfast.

Credit: headachefreefoodie.com

Required skills: egg breaking with no shells in the bowl, cook in butter without burning

Many migraineurs prefer sweet over savory as their sensory experiences are enhanced to non-sufferers. This recipe delivers an amino acid balance that is heavy skewed towards lysine by cooking in butter and a topping with seasonally available apples or mangoes fried with a hint of berries or cherries. We like apples/cherries and mango/raspberry. Things to avoid are cooking in oil; bread that has preservatives or malted flours; and topping with rhubarb, cranberries and nuts. Enjoy my friends.

You'll Need

• 1 egg
• Splash of milk
• Enough bread to soak up milk and egg mixture
• Butter
• 1 apple or mango sliced
• Handful frozen berries
• Good pinch of brown sugar
• Pot set yoghurt
• Fry pan
• Baking Tray

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150C (xxxF) and place a baking tray in the oven.
2. Pick a bowl that will accommodate the bread you are using, alternately cut bread to size that will fit your bowl.
3. Break egg into bowl and lightly beat with a fork. Add milk to the consistency you would for scrambled eggs.
4. Thinly slice the apple or mango from their centers. I like to leave the skin on the apple but it’s a personal choice. You may be stuck in a house of no skin eaters.
5. Heat fry pan over medium heat. Add a good knob of butter. It crisps up the edges.
6. Dip bread in egg and milk slurry so that it is well coated on both sides. Lift up and let excess drain back into the bowl.
7. Fry in the buttered pan until golden 3-5 minutes, flip and repeat. When done remove to tray in the oven to keep warm. Add butter to the pan as needed.
8. When you’ve finished with the bread bit it’s now time to quickly make the topping circa stir fry method.
9. Add a good knob of butter to the pan. When it’s good and bubbly toss in the apple or mango. Move the apple and mango about the pan similar to stir frying. Add more butter if you need to.
10. After about 2 min throw in a handful of frozen berries or cherries and a good pinch of brown sugar.
11. Continue to toss the fruit for another 2 minutes.
12. Take French Toast from the oven and put back into the fry pan. And spoon fruit over the top.
13. Serve straight from the pan with a dollop of yoghurt.

Informed by science, cooked by you.