Today I’m here at the Decocrated blog to talk a little about one of our favorite family traditions, French Toast Friday. Spending time together as a family can be such a struggle sometimes! I created a special tradition of having French Toast together as a family to combat our chaotic mornings. French Toast Fridays start our weekends on a fun note, while also giving my family some much needed time together.

Mornings can be so busy in our house. My husband is rushing to get ready for work, I'm usually bustling to get myself and the kids ready, and my kids are just running around yelling about being hungry. With all of that chaos, most mornings consist of a quick and easy breakfast for everyone. My husband eats and runs, and I eat whenever I can find a moment between cooking for the kids and refilling their milk approximately 25 times. With all of that chaos, I found myself longing for a TV show kind of breakfast. The kind where we'd all gather around the table to eat before going about our day. It was unrealistic to expect that we could do that every morning, but once a week is totally manageable. I thought Friday was the best morning because it symbolized the start of the weekend and made the day a little extra special. And thus, French Toast Friday was born!

My oldest daughter was around 2 years old I decided that I wanted to do something special to signify the start of the weekend as family. I've never been much of a pancake maker and bacon was a little much to me for a weekday breakfast, so I decided that I'd make French Toast and call it French Toast Fridays. Every Friday morning when I'd go get her out of bed, I'd excitedly ask her what day it was and she'd reply "Fwench Toast Fwiday!" It became such a bright spot to our weeks and something we all looked forward to. It took a little hiatus after I had my second daughter because life with a newborn is crazy. But as soon as we were back on a semi-regular schedule I brought it back. Now, we all look forward to the special breakfast. My husband even gets excited on Thursday nights because he gets French Toast the next morning. In fact, he may like French Toast Fridays more than anyone else.

Ever since my husband and I first started our family I've been obsessed with making a few small family traditions to pass on to our kids one day. While most of these traditions usually revolve around holidays, I also wanted a normal weekly tradition. French Toast Fridays have become our weekly tradition. Some families have Taco Tuesday or get pizza on Friday nights, but ours is a little family breakfast to kick off the weekend. I hope to continue this tradition throughout my girls' childhoods for as long as we can. I want them to always remember our special breakfasts and to pass the tradition of a special family meal on to their kids one day. I already tell my husband that whenever they visit as adults we will absolutely still do French Toast Fridays. I know that's all like 20 years in the future, but traditions and happy childhood memories are so important to me.

In order for French Toast Friday to happen, I have to wake up about 30 minutes earlier than usual. I make my coffee and relax for a bit in the silence before I start cooking. My recipe for French Toast is ridiculously simple, which makes it the perfect dish for a weekday breakfast. It's also dairy-free since my husband is lactose intolerant and sugar-free. We all add syrup to our French Toast, so I figure that it doesn't need any sugar in the actual toast. For special occasions I will add a little powdered sugar on top, but that's usually not the case.

My regular recipe consists of eggs,unsweetened almond milk, vanilla and cinnamon whisked together in a shallow baking dish. Then I lay a piece of regular sandwich bread in the egg mixture and flip it over, then add it to a preheated frying pan. I prefer to cook my French Toast in a cast iron frying pan on low heat, and it usually takes 2-3 minutes to cook each side. I set a timer for each side so I can do other tasks while the French Toast cooks. I usually empty the dishwasher, tidy up the kitchen and dining room, fix my husband's coffee, pour drinks for the girls or maybe have a little Friday morning dance party. Basically, anything I can do to help the rest of the morning run smoothly. An empty dishwasher and tidy kitchen also makes clean-up a breeze when breakfast is over!

My family usually needs 6-8 total pieces of French Toast to feed everyone, plus some fruit or scrambled eggs on the side, so cooking takes me 25-35 minutes. By that time everyone is downstairs and ready to eat. We all sit together at the kitchen table and eat our French Toast. We ask the girls how they slept and we talk about what plans we have for the weekend. It makes my heart so happy to have my whole family sitting around the table enjoying breakfast together. It's my favorite activity of the week. It requires a little bit of extra work on my part, but it's so worth it.

I know that as my girls get older it will become increasingly difficult to get our whole family around the table for any meal, let alone breakfast. They will have jobs, school activities, and friends, but I will continue to get up early and have French Toast Fridays. I hope it brightens their days and weekends for years to come like it does mine.

Does your family have any special traditions involving food? How about special family recipes that everyone loves?

Please share with me on Instagram by tagging me or hop on to Decocrated Facebook community, The Decocrators and share those special moments. 

Looking forward to seeing all the special ways you incorporate tradition into your family life. 

Love, 

Ashley, from Attempts at Domestication