Fried Okra, French Toast and Maple Milk

I have a confession to make...I am not a "real" gourmet.  I can't be, I am disqualified.  My bulk bottle of Cinnamon is older than my first born, who drives now.  I am about halfway through...perhaps I will be forced to buy a replacement sometime before I die.

In the spirit of out with the old and in with the new, I have been digging DEEP into my freezers, yes plural.  I found in the back of one of the freezers a bag of unopened breaded okra, a unopened loaf of bread, a half loaf of bread, 3 mostly empty, but air filled plastic bags (I seemed to have a collection of meat bone/onion kin bags), 4 half filled bags of freezer burned french cut green beans (now chicken food) and a jar of ?????, I think it's a dried herb, possibly burdock. I haven't purchased any frozen veggies for a few years now, so I can only guess how long they've been there.  They took up more space than the bread, and at least I can remember WHEN the bread was purchased.


Fried Okra
The secret to non slimy okra is to slice it REALLY, REALLY thin before breading and fry the snot out of it....pun intended.  A friend taught me that...her's are almost crouton crispy and much loved by people who "don't like okra".  This was purchased, so thickness was predetermined, but I did manage to fry it to a crisp.

Okras is really easy to grow if you have SUN and live in an area with hot summers.  It will keep going long after the cucumbers and tomatoes have burned to a crisp.  You need to pick the pod when young, but the over grown ones make great chicken feed.  The flowers are very pretty too.

Ingredients
Coconut oil
Breaded Okra
Salt

Heat the oil and add a small soup bowl's worth of okra per batch.  Fry until golden and crisp...about 7 minutes or more.  Drain well.  Put it in a bowl and add a thin layer of salt.  Repeat batches until finished.  I did a sniff test before using the Okra, it was ok...and coconut oil can cover up for a multitude of sins so to speak. We ate it like popcorn straight from the bowl.




Breakfast this AM was built around using up "remnants" of stuff that was taking up space in the fridge as well.  Obviously, I have a LONG way to go on the cinnamon. ;)

French Toast
The last 4 eggs in the carton
The last few sips of milk in the jar, 1/4 cup?
Dash of cinnamon (hey, every little bit counts)
Dash of homemade vanilla
Remnants of a cream of tartar/salt mix, 1/2 tsp or so
2 TBS of cane sugar

About a half a loaf of previously frozen sourdough spelt bread
(My guesstimate for how much dip to make is approximately 1 egg per 2 slices of bread.  Your mileage will vary depending on the density of the bread.)

And, of course, the last few drizzles of the too big bottle of maple syrup from the fridge door for topping.
(The whole point of french toast IS maple syrup in our house.  Adding sugar and cream of tartar to the egg helps stretch it though.)

I used coconut oil on the griddle and cooked at medium low ("egg" temperature) for a few minutes on each side, then placed them on my pizza tone in the warmed oven while I made the rest of the batch.

Maple Milk
Pour a glass of milk in the empty maple syrup bottle and shake, shake, shake.  Pour into glasses and serve with the french toast.  It comes out very foamy, almost doubles in volume.  You could substitute it for a whipped topping in a glass of hot chocolate too.

Pantry Challenge