CEiMB- Peach French Toast Bake

This week's Craving Ellie recipe was chosen by Liz of The Not So Skinny Kitchen. She chose Peach French Toast Bake.
When I first checked this book out from the library a year and a couple months ago, this french toast bake was one of the 4 recipes I had to make right away.

I made it with blueberries and blackberries, the first time, and have made it multiple other times, even made it into mini individual size servings.
It is fast and easy and I love that you can throw it together the night before. I have used different berries and was lucky enough to use the fresh peaches off my parents peach tree a couple of times when I made this.

Go check out what the other CEiMB-er's thought about this recipe by checking out the CEiMB Blogroll!

Recipe for Peach French Toast Bake

Overnight French Toast Mini Cups

Some things just have to be revisited. Last summer, I checked out The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger from the library and chose 4 recipes that I wanted to make right away. One of them was Peach French Toast Bake.

When I made it last summer, I added some blueberries and blackberries to the peaches that go on top and it was a delightful breakfast.
A couple of weeks ago, I had a loaf of french bread that was a little stale, so I decided to make this breakfast dish again.
We had some frozen peaches left from last summer and I decided to turn the french toast bake into single servings by cutting the bread into cubes and baking them in a muffin tin.
I just put some bread cubes into each well of the muffin tin and poured the egg/milk mixture over top. I added the peaches and blueberries, covered them with plastic wrap, and set them in the fridge overnight. I also reduced the baking time by about half.

My family really likes this breakfast.
If you need a filling and nutritious breakfast that can be put together quickly the night before and then just popped in the oven in the morning, make this one!

Here is the link to the Food Network Recipe

Here is the link to my post when I made this recipe last summer



Up Next- Greek Tuna Salad Pasta

Coconut French Toast with Grilled Pineapple and Tropical Salsa

I remember seeing this recipe a couple of years ago in a Cooking Light magazine and finally got around to making it for breakfast.
I had some coconut milk in the fridge that I needed to use and all the fruit ready to go.
I made this on a weekday, so it ended up being more like a brunch than a breakfast because all of the steps take up a little bit of time. The end result is worth it though.
I didn't think that the french toast was overly coconut-ty, it was pretty subtle. The fruit salsa was delicious.
I just warmed up my pineapple slices in an electric skillet instead of grilling them.
All of the parts of this recipe were delicious on their own and even better when they were combined.
I love fresh fruit for breakfast and it tasted great on the french toast.
I would recommend this for a weekend brunch or get-together. It has lots of colors and flavors and it was a great way to start the day (even if it was mid-morning when we ate it!)
Coconut French Toast with Grilled Pineapple and Tropical Salsa from Cooking Light
Easy to make, this rich dish is full of flavor and color. It's best prepared with day-old bread. You can serve the pineapple slices raw, but the deep, caramelized flavors you get from cooking them in a grill pan are worth the extra effort.
Salsa:
2 tablespoons flaked sweetened coconut
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
2 peeled ripe mangoes, chopped
1 pint strawberries, chopped
French toast:
1 cup egg substitute
1 cup light coconut milk
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 (16-ounce) loaf French bread, cut into 16 slices
Cooking spray
Remaining ingredients:
1 medium pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut crosswise into 8 slices
Powdered sugar (optional)

To prepare salsa, combine first 4 ingredients; cover and chill.
Preheat oven to 400°.
To prepare French toast, combine egg substitute and next 6 ingredients (egg substitute through eggs) in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Place bread in egg mixture; press down with spatula to completely submerge bread in egg mixture. Let stand 15 minutes.
Arrange soaked bread in a single layer on a jelly roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until set. Remove from oven, and keep warm.
While bread bakes, heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray.
Arrange 4 pineapple slices in pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until pineapple begins to brown. Remove from pan; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining pineapple and cooking spray. Arrange 2 toast pieces on each of 8 plates; top each serving with 1 pineapple slice and 1/2 cup salsa. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.

Up Next- 3 cookies-shortbread, chocolate and ginger

Barefoot Bloggers-Panzanella

I am always amazed at how simple and delicious these Barefoot recipes turn out. I have to admit that I wasn't expecting to like this one so much. I have heard of it before, but never tried it, so I thought that bread salad might be strange. Oh, how wrong I was! This was delicious. Homemade croutons, essentially, with tons of fresh veggies and a wonderful vinaigrette- WOW! We loved it. I did make a few changes- I reduced the amount of oil that was used to saute the bread cubes to 1 1/2 Tbls, used white wine vinegar in the vinaigrette (Thanks Anne!), used an English cucumber, and reduced the amount of oil in the vinaigrette to 1/3 cup. Delicious! Go check out how the other Barefoot Bloggers felt about this one!
This was chosen by Melissa of It's Melissa's Kitchen
Panzanella
Copyright 2001, Barefoot Contessa Parties!, All Rights Reserved
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 small French bread or boule, cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and sliced
1/2-inch thick 1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 red onion, cut in 1/2 and thinly sliced
20 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons capers, drained
For the vinaigrette:
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread and salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently, for 10 minutes, or until nicely browned. Add more oil as needed.
For the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients together.
In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion, basil, and capers. Add the bread cubes and toss with the vinaigrette. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Serve, or allow the salad to sit for about half an hour for the flavors to blend.

Peach and Blackberry or Blueberry French Toast Bake, you choose

When I was thumbing through this cookbook (The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger), there were 4 recipes that stuck out as ones that I had to try. This was the first one. I love pictures in cookbooks and that is usually what makes me want to try a certain recipe. This was a great make ahead breakfast. I doubled it and made two pans, topping each one with a different kind of berry.
Peach and Blackberry or Blueberry French Toast Bake adapted from Ellie Krieger's The Food you Crave

1 /2 loaf french bread, at least 2 days old
4 large eggs
4 large egg whites
1 cup skim milk
splash of half and half
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 cups frozen unsweetened sliced peaches, thawed
a handful of blackberries or bluberries, or both
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
cinnamon
pure maple syrup

Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Cut the french bread into 1/2 inch slices and arrange in a single layer in the pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together whole eggs, egg whites, milk, half and half, and the vanilla. Pour the egg mixture over the bread in the pan. Layer the peach slices evenly over the bread. Sprinkle evenly with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Uncover and bake until it is slightly puffy, and the bread is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Top with maple syrup.