French Toast Casserole

I love French toast.  Remember?  Love it.

I love bread pudding.  Remember?  Loves it.

Now, French toast + bread pudding = this.

This = french toast casserole.

Math is good.

Math is delicious.

This was by far the best breakfast I’ve had in a long time.  The cinnamon-y nutty topping is the best part.  Perfectly eggy. Not mushy.  Perfectly spiced.  With a splash of the boozy.  Meant to be shared.  Your family and/or friends would love you for it.

French Toast Casserole
adapted from Paula Deen

Ingredients:

• 1 lb day-old challah bread
• 8 large eggs
• 2 cups half and half
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp Grand Marnier
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt

Praline Topping Ingredients

• 1 stick of butter (1/4 lb)
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped walnuts – only b/c that’s what I had on hand.  Next time, I’ll try pecans
• 2 tbsp light corn syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Directions:

1. Slice challah bread into 1 inch slices.  Arrange slices into a buttered 9 x 13 flat baking dish in two rows.  I overlapped the slices a bit.
2. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, half and half, milk, sugar, vanilla, Grand Marnier, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
3. Make sure it’s all combined.  Pour mixture over the bread slices to evenly cover all the bread slices.  I had to spoon some of the mix over the bread after pouring to ensure even coverage.
4. Cover the pan with foil and refrigerate overnight.
5. The next day, preheat the oven to 350F.  Take off the foil.
6. Prepare the praline topping by mixing all the praline topping ingredients and blending well.
7. Spread the praline topping over the bread evenly and bake for 40 minutes, until the bread puffs up and gets golden brown.
8. Serve warm.

Note:  I don’t think you need maple syrup as it is sufficiently sweet on its own.  However, if you want to, use hot maple syrup.

Baby Shower Goods

I have been in a work-related whirlwind for the past three weeks.  The end of this whole mess was marked by the most fantabulous baby shower I have ever received.  Well, I’m not one for surprises and I wanted to be involved.  I donated my baking abilities.  Remember the smorgasbord?

After a grueling three weeks of response writing, which at the end included a grand total of 600 complied documents, 60 of which were my written product, I went on a baking spree.

Meet the results.  (Lemon Blossoms from here; Goat Cheese Terrine from here; Mexican Wedding Cookies from here.)

And, some additional items.  (Pumpkin bread and chocolate cookies – recipes to come)

My mom made Southwestern Egg Rolls – yep, she’s that awesome, and my MIL made her famous chicken salad sandwiches on croissant.

It was foodie heaven.

And presents and decorations heaven.

I must say that this really did mark the beginning of nesting and preparing for the new baby’s arrival.  I have had baby on the brain night and day.  I plan on balancing that out with more baking.  🙂

How do you unwind?  Do you cook your stress away?

Catch Up

I’ve been gone for a while – I apologize.  Well, I apologize if you missed me.  If you didn’t, well hello there!

I’ve been busy doing some family stuff and trying to catch up to some semblance of normalcy.  Let me see if we can update each other (me first) on what’s been happening on this end.

1.  I made the most delicious red velvet cupcakes with the most dreamy cream cheese frosting.

The recipe comes from none other than Ms. Deen herself.  I had it once at a chili-cook off and finally made it myself.  I can’t wait to make it again – with a slight twist that I’ll be sure to share.

2.  I’m attempting to be crafty.  

Mind you, I have no creative bone/nerve in my body.  But, when I saw this, I had to try.  Here is my current progress.

I can’t wait for the finished result.  So far it’s been easier than I thought.  Well, I’ll probably eat my words once the felt flowers come into place.

3.  We have been eating out more.  And the spicier the better.

Now that we have been balancing more with my mom/sister and making sure that we have a lot of family interaction to make this transition somewhat easier, I have been ignoring my home-cooking duties.  Therefore, a lot of lunches and dinners taken to go.

I thought my pregnancy spicy-cravings would decrease as time went on but alas – no.  I can handle the heat and the some.  It’s quite pathetic.  When someone asks me what I want to eat, my answer has almost always been ‘something spicy.’

Luckily, I work across from one of my favorite Thai restaurants in Dallas (Thai Soon), and they have an excellent lunch special.

Pictured above is a beef enchilada and puffed taco from Ojedas.  What is not pictured is the pitcher (yes, pitcher) of salsa that I drank with a side of chips.

4.  We have been painting.

What started out as a project just to paint the nursery turned into a whole-house paint project.  Working closely with our favorite Benjamin Moore paint and advice we read online, it’s been a project that’s mainly done by Binks.  Although I work very closely at the end to make sure he knows all the places he missed.  I’m sure he loves that.  🙂

I’ll show you finished projects soon!

So tell me, what are you up to?