Oven-Baked French Toast

What a great breakfast this morning!  Another fast and easy recipe and very economical.  This receipe is taken from the Pampered Chef Stoneware Sensations Cookbook.  I will post the receipe, based on what I used, without the refrences to the Pampered Chef products needed.  This breakfast cost me less than $10 and fed my family of 6. 

Recipe for Oven-Baked French Toast

1 loaf French Bread ---$1.49
6 eggs --- ($1.00 - they were 1.99 per dozen and I used half)
1-1/2 cups milk
3 TBS. granulated sugar (for egg mixture)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Powdered sugar
Strawberries about 12 ---($1.00 - I paid $2.99 for 2 lbs. and I used about 1/3 of pkg.)
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. lemon juice
3-4 TBS. granulated sugar (for strawberry topping)

Spray 9 x 13" casserole baker with vegetable oil.  Using a serrated knife, cut the ends off the bread and cut loaf into 1-inch-thick slices (10-16 slices depending on the size of the loaf) and arrange closely in a single layer in prepared pan.  In a bowl, beat the eggs and add in milk, 3 TBS. granulated sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon; mix together and pour over bread. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.


The slices in greased pan

Pour egg mixture over and at this point, cover and refrigerate

(At this point, I left it overnight in the refrigerator and set my oven for delay start for the morning)

Preheat oven to 400ºF.  Bake uncovered, 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven.  Top with strawberry topping and powdered sugar, or you can sprinkle with powdered sugar and top with fresh strawberries.

While the french toast was baking, I cooked the bacon and strawberry topping.  For topping, wash and slice strawberries.  I placed them in a small saucepan with 3-4 TBS. granulated sugar and 1/4 cup orange juice.  I let the strawberries break up and release their juices.  I cooked until they looked syrupy and poured that over the hot french toast and sprinked powdered sugar over that. 



Slice strawberries small for easy cooking



Sliced strawberries, sugar and orange juice



French toast out of the oven and ready for topping



Ready to serve

Ready to eat

Serve with bacon.  I used a pound of bacon that I paid $2.99 for.  Add this to the cost of the ingredients for the french toast and it cost about $8-9 to make.

Tip for the Day!

Sometimes I need just a little cheese grated but hate to bring out the large metal grater.  I don't like to cut the cheese in slices because it doesn't melt quick and even. 

I've discovered that when you want a small amount of grated cheese in a hurry, you can use a lemon zester.  This is the perfect tool and the cheese comes out in thin strips for easy distribution and melting.

I used the zester in my previous post "On the Go Breakfast" and you can see the picture of what the cheese looks like after being "zested."

On The Go Breakfast!

When we want breakfast quick but we don't have time to really get things out and cook, I like to make this easy, fast, microwavable egg and cheese burrito.

There are only 4 ingredients and no pans or no mess to clean up.  Just grab a small microwavable container with lid, spray with cooking spray really well, break open an egg or two and scramble with a fork.  Place the lid on top, (if lid doesn't have a vent built in, lay the lid on top of container without sealing so egg doesn't explode) and start microwaving at 30 second intervals, checking to see doneness of egg.  When egg is almost done, remove from microwave and break up the egg and add some shredded cheese.  Place back into microwave (without lid) and put the flour tortilla on top of the container and microwave for 20 seconds or until tortilla is hot and softened.

If bacon is desired, you can cook the bacon in the microwave before the egg is cooked.  Just put a couple slices onto a microwave safe plate covered with paper towels to absorb the grease.  Microwave 1 minute per slice.  When done, remove from microwave and cook the egg.

That's it. Remove from microwave, fill tortilla and roll into burrito and you have breakfast in just a few minutes.  So easy and with no clean-up!