New Favorite Breakfast Food: French Toast Bake

Last week I mentioned that not only do I love brunch, but Chris' family was coming in town for the weekend. Now, Chris and I don't make that fancy of meals for ourselves, since it's just the two of us, but when people come in town to visit we think it's nice to prepare a nice dinner or breakfast for them. But, let's face it, I can't really cook, so Chris usually cooks for them. My cooking repertoire consists of pigs in a blanket and other apps, grilled cheese, mashed potatoes, and, yes, breakfast food. I can definitely fry a mean piece of bacon (because what's breakfast without bacon!) and flip the fluffiest pancakes like the best of them, or, at least better than Chris. I can also bake much better than Chris. But, back to how I can cook a scrumptious breakfast . . .

For Chris' family's visit, I decided to try out a new breakfast recipe, because, well, I love breakfast, this recipe looked yummy, and, like I just explained, breakfast food is pretty much all I can cook . . . So, I made French Toast Bake, and, of course, I found the recipe on Pinterest . . .

And, let me just preface the recipe by letting you know that it was a hit!! Everyone liked it, even Chris who thought the picture of it below made it look gross. Not only was it fairly easy to put together, but it was also inexpensive (all I needed to do was buy the texas toast) and I made it the night before so all I needed to do was pop it in the oven that morning!

Here's the recipe for French Toast Bake (via Rach's Blog):

 Photo from Rach's Blog, Pinned by Kristin

Ingredients:

• 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, and syrup, as needed!

Directions:

1. Melt the 1/2 cup of butter in the microwave and then add the brown sugar. Stir until mixed.
2. Pour the butter/brown sugar mix into the bottom of a 9x13 pan and spread it around so it's even.
3. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, milk, and vanilla.
4. Lay a single layer of Texas Toast on the bottom of the pan. (I kept the crust on the Texas Toast, which I liked, but Chris said he would have preferred to have cut off the crust.)
5. Spoon egg/milk/vanilla mixture on top of that layer of bread. (The original recipe says to use 1/2 the mixture, but I probably only used about 1/3 because I didn't want it to end up too mushy. I just made sure the mix covered and soaked into the bread a little.)
6. Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon,a s desired. (I also added pecans to half of it, and we all agreed that it might be good with sliced bananas or strawberries).
7. Add another layer of Texas Toast.
8. Spoon on more of the egg/milk/vanilla mixture. (Again, the recipe says to use the remaining mix, but I only used about another 1/3 of it. I made sure it soaked into the bread and I also spooned it into the cracks between the slices of bread. Yes, I dumped the remaining mix, sorry!)
9. Cover and let it chill in the fridge overnight.
10. In the morning, or whenever, bake it at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
11. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, syrup, etc. and Enjoy!!

I thought it was scrumptious!! The top slice of bread was a little crispy and the bottom slice of bread was still gooey = heaven in my mouth. Chris said it was like a french toast sandwich (and I think that's a good thing)! Hope you decide to make it as well, and if you do, let me know what you thought and if you made any changes too!

Also, I'm hoping I can get Chris to share his peach-glazed pork chop recipe that he made for dinner that night. It. was. awesome!