French Toast Casserole

So I made this super easy delicious (can be healthy-ish) French Toast Casserole.  I had a whole bunch of bread that I had to use up.  So I found this recipe to make french toast casserole.  It uses about a whole loaf of bread- perfect!  And I have seen tons of recipes before but they were too involved or I thought not having the exact bread would ruin it.

Now this recipe did call for Texas Toast but I used just regular Whole Wheat bread.  I will post the recipe and give the original link.  I will then tell you how I adapted it twice!

Ingredient Checklist

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)

1 cup brown sugar

1 loaf Texas toast
4 eggs

1 1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Powdered sugar for sprinkling

Directions

1. Melt butter in microwave & add brown sugar....stir till mixed.
2. Pour butter/sugar mix into bottom of 9 x 13 pan....spread around
3. Beat eggs, milk, & vanilla
4. Lay single layer of Texas Toast in pan
5. Spoon 1/2 of egg mixture on bread layer
6. Add 2nd layer of Texas Toast
7. Spoon on remaining egg mixture
8. Cover & chill in fridge overnight
9. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes (covered for the first 30 minutes)
10. Sprinkle with powdered sugar
11. Serve with warm maple syrup

Ok so the first time I made it, I was using up my Whole Wheat bread and I made it for dinner.  So when I put the egg mixture on the layers, I just spooned enough on each layer to soak the bread.  So I probably had about 1/3 of the egg mixture left over.  I also made it around 10 in the morning and started cooking it around 5:00pm

Now for the more decadent version I made lol  My husband (and my kids) really loved this casserole so he begged me to make it again.  I had suggested doing a Stuffed version this time, and off to the store we went.

So for the bread, the first layer was the whole wheat bread and the second layer was Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon Bread :)  I still did the Brown Sugar bottom, then the Whole Wheat, spooned egg mixture.  Now this is where I changed it up.  I got Strawberry flavored cream cheese.  I spread a thick layer on each piece of the Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon Bread that I was using for the second layer.  After the second layer was laid, I again  spooned just enough egg mixture on that layer.  Now I did go back and put a second layer of egg on the Pepperidge Farm Bread because it seemed like it could use a little more.  This time because the dear husband was sooooo hungry I did not soak it but put it right in the the oven.  As my husband said "This is the single most amazing thing you have ever done in your life. I'm speechless"

If you have any questions, post them in the comments and I will answer them for you!

Veggie Pancakes

Ok So I posted a photo on Facebook about these Veggie pancakes I made, and there was some interest in the recipe and how they turned out so I thought I would write a blog post about them.

So they are definitely NOT a breakfast pancake.  But depending on how much you eat could be a meal or just part of the meal.

So I got the recipe from http://weelicious.com/2009/04/15/veggie-pancakes/ 

I doubled my recipe.  The adaptations I made are as follows:

-I used 3/4 White Whole Wheat flour and 1/4 cup flour.  I only did this because I ran out of the WWW flour.

-I used frozen carrots that I thawed and then chopped in my food processor

-I used the full amount of salt but I will be cutting it in half the next time.  

They are definitely a softer pancake, so if you want it more crispy, you will need to put them in the oven to dry them out a little bit.  I did freeze mine.  I let them cool and then portioned them out and into ziploc bags.  They reheat well.  I start in the microwave and then finish then in the toaster.  

The verdict?  I like them alot!  Especially with some dip.  Bella kinda likes them, Ada loves them (She's my veggie lover) and Caiden only eats them if he's really hungry and it's the first thing on his plate lol (he is not a veggie lover lol)  

I will definitely be making these again.  Not too much work and they are pretty healthy and filling!