Strawberry French Toast Bake

Have I made it abundantly clear yet that I like leftovers?  I've always liked leftovers.  My mom would make these huge meals for us, and make sure there was something left over for my dad to take to work for lunch later in the week.  As I got older, I started beating him to some of those lunches.  (Whoops, sorry Dad!)  I still love eating leftovers as they are, but now I'm REALLY into taking leftovers and creating something new.  How fun is that??

Bread.  Yeah, I know... this really shouldn't qualify as a "leftover" but I made a loaf of white bread to go with dinner and there was more than half a loaf left.  I didn't feel like making croutons or bread crumbs.  But I did have these luscious strawberries in the fridge that I found on sale.  Strawberry french toast anyone?

I love french toast.  Bread, soaked in custard, fried to golden perfection and then drowned in butter and syrup.  What's not to love??  Actually, I don't love the work involved with frying up each piece.  Not to fear though!  My mother-in-law though has introduced me to this glorious world of the "french toast bake."  I get all of the flavor with WAAAY less work involved.  Yippee!!  So I took this recipe I had for a peach french toast bake and just swapped in the strawberries.  I'd recommend all of you try this with whatever fruit (fresh or frozen) you happen to have around.  Delicious!

Strawberry French Toast Bake
Recipe adapted from The Food You Crave


At least 1/2 loaf of bread, white or whole wheat
4 large eggs
4 large egg whites
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pint strawberries, hulled and quartered (or use a bag of frozen ones, thawed)
2 tbsp firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

1.  Coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.  Cut the bread up into large cubes and arrange in the pan.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg whites, milk, and vanilla.  Pour over the bread in the pan.  Gently push down a little to make sure all the pieces get a chance to soak up the goodness.  Scatter the strawberries evenly over the bread.  Sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon [note: I dare you to live a little and don't measure the sugar or cinnamon].  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

3.  Preheat oven to 350.  Uncover and bake until it's slightly puffed and the bread is golden brown, about 40 minutes.  This is really good with old-fashioned syrup but also quite tasty with some plain or vanilla yogurt too.  Enjoy!


 Psst!  Try this with yogurt.  No, I'm serious!  Before drowning this beauty in syrup, give the yogurt a chance.  It adds this really fantastic creaminess to it that is just awesome.  Even my 3-year-old loved it. :)