Eat first, bike later. French Toast Casserole

Sometimes the priority is to eat. Especially when it's a Saturday off after Thanksgiving. Especially when it's chilly out and the initial 1st pot of coffee has been downed along with a couple chapters of the latest vampire novel. (OK I am a sucker for young adult fiction. I'm not young, and as for being an adult... OK, so sue me.)

Anyway, the morning is getting on, and it's time to eat!

Now I saw a recipe for a French Toast casserole thingy in Cooking Light. So I thought. But I can't find it after paging through twice, both forwards and backwards. I know there's a name for the stuff, but darned if I can think of that either! (Like I said, not young!) So there's no looking it up by name on a nice informative cooking blog or website. Looks like I am on my own here. How hard can French Toast made into a casserole thingy be?

OK. Here's the starting line. No bike required.

Get out your favorite French Toast recipe. Mine is on the bottle of Spice Islands vanilla in my cupboard. Cube up what ever bread you have on hand. (Straight to the freezer. We are normally Zone followers, so a loaf of bread lasts for months sometimes. Lucky it freezes so well. Today I find 2 peices of 100% whole wheat and a few slices of multi grain sour dough.) Mix the cubed bread with the milk and eggs, a little vanilla and sugar, maybe some sliced fruit if you have it. Throw it in a greased casserole dish and bake it. Like I said, how hard could it be?

Oh, a recipe???

French Toast Casserole

5 eggs or equivilent egg whites, or mixture thereof.

1c. milk (skim worked fine)

5+ slices bread (cook's choice)

2 T. brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 pear, thinly sliced (an apple would be good too)

dash cinnamon

dots of butter (optional)

Heat oven to 350.

Cube the bread.

Stir the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar together in a fairly large bowl.

Fold the bread cubes and pear slices into the egg mixture.

Pour the whole mess into a greased cassarole dish. My 10x8 oval worked nicely. If yours is smaller, larger, adjust cook time.

Sprinkle with some more brown sugar and dot with butter, if you like.

Bake at 350, forty minutes. Test with toothpick or sharp knife. Comes out clean when it's done.

Let it sit a couple minutes.

Then scoop it up and serve it with yogurt and grade B maple syrup on top. And maybe, if the Zone has been deserted completely - for one morning at least - a couple slices of country ham. All right!

We are ready to get rolling! Well, in a few minutes. It's an hour's drive to the Econ. Then we get rolling.

Ride on!