This French toast recipe combines sweet mandarin oranges with creamy ricotta for a delicious, protein-rich breakfast.
Disclosure: While Wonderful Halos is a client of mine, I was not compensated for this post.
One of my favorite weekend morning activities is making French toast (like my Pomegranate Pecan French Toast and my Baked Butternut Squash French Toast). It's a fun way to add some eggs to my morning, and I love topping my French toast with fruit for some sweetness, instead of syrup or butter.
Because mandarin oranges are in season this time of year, I thought I'd try something new: mandarin orange French toast. I hope you love this mandarin orange recipe as much as I do!
After I created a batter of eggs, low-fat milk, and vanilla extract, I pan-heated mandarin orange slices to bring out their sweetness.
The mandarin oranges are an excellent source of immunity-helping vitamin C, and they also offer a little bit of filling fiber. (Give my Vegan Mandarin Orange Creamy Coconut Smoothie Bowl and my Endive with Goat Cheese, Mandarin Orange, and Mint a try, too.)
Part-skim ricotta is one of my favorite cheeses, and I like how it adds some creaminess and moisture to the French toast without a ton of added sugar like maple syrup or fat like butter. So I decided to top my French toast with both the mandarin orange segments and a ricotta mixture.
The ricotta adds protein to the French toast—so much so that when combined with the protein from the eggs and whole-grain bread, each serving of French toast offers 25 grams of protein, or half the daily value!
Helpful kitchen tools:
Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup low-fat milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract, divided
- 4 slices whole-grain bread
- 2 seedless mandarin oranges*, peeled and zested
- 2/3 cup part-skim ricotta
Directions:
Whisk eggs in a small bowl. Combine with milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Dip bread into egg mixture, turning to coat sides evenly. Spray a large non-stick pan or griddle with spray oil, and heat bread slices over medium heat until browned on both sides. Meanwhile, spray a small pan with spray oil; heat orange segments over medium heat, about 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently at the end, until segments are slightly browned. In a small bowl, combine ricotta
with remaining vanilla extract. Top toast with ricotta mixture, orange segments, and a sprinkling or orange zest. Serves 2.
*Note: I used Wonderful Halos mandarin oranges.
Nutritional information per serving: Cal: 390 Fat: 14 g Sat fat: 6 g Pro: 25 g Carbs: 41 g Sugar: 15 g Fiber: 6 g Chol: 215 mg Sod: 370 mg
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What are your thoughts on this topic? What are your favorite ways to eat mandarin oranges?
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