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Easy Baked French Toast with Mixed Berries

We love breakfast at our house but admittedly anything more than cereal or frozen waffles can be a challenge during the week when trying to get the kids out the door by 7AM! So we tend to make up for it on the weekends which is just fine with everyone!

An easy to make favorite is Baked French Toast with Mixed Berries. Both my boys love berries of any variety so I used a combination but if you lean towards one variety or the other, you can forgo the mix and just use what you like.

Who says pie plates are just for baking pies?

(Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis's recipe)

Ingredients

3 eggs

3 cups whole half and half

¼ cup agave nectar

2 teaspoons Chinese Five Spice

pinch fine sea salt

½ lemon, zested

6 slices whole wheat bread (you can use Challah or Sourdough) cut into one inch cubes

1 ½ cups fresh or frozen, thawed, and drained mixed berries—I used both fresh strawberries and frozen mixed berry combo which had raspberries, blueberries and blackberries

Directions

Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 9 baking dish or a pie pan with butter or cooking spray. Set aside.

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or large bowl beat the eggs until frothy. Add the half and half, agave nectar, Chinese Five Spice, salt, and lemon zest and combine until well mixed. Turn off the mixer and gently fold in the berries.

In the prepared dish, arrange the bread cubes. They don't have to be in one layer, just evenly spread out in several layers if needed. Pour the egg/berry mixture into the prepared baking dish and coat the bread cubes evenly. You can gently toss everything together using your hands (this is where a little one can help) or a wooden spoon.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top is golden and the filling is set.

Serve with your favorite syrup or whipped cream and enjoy!

 

May Chicago Food Swap Recap

This past Sunday was Mother's Day and what a better place to have to be than this month's Chicago Food Swap. As my six year old quipped, "Why on earth would you have a food swap on Mother's Day? Oh, yeah, that's right, so you can hang out with other moms!" Note, this was the same child who almost had a meltdown at last months' swap over the compound butter!

And so this time, I brought not just my trusty foodie sidekick Louie, but his older brother and equally the foodie, just not so interested in the process, Bubs. We prepped ahead of time and had our swap cards and pen ready before we left for the Scrumptious Pantry, our gracious host for the May Swap. (A huge thank you to Lee Greene, the owner and of course, Emily and Vanessa for organizing!)

As always, Louie had to set up the table and Nik scoped out the swap items he wanted, practicing his cursive as he signed his name at the top for a bevy of deliciousness. Little brother could not be outdone of course and practiced his best printing and went after every tomato plant at the event! (So glad penmanship is on the curriculum at their school!!)

What happens when you bring two little boys to a food swap? You come home with tomatoes, homemade marshmallows and graham crackers, Evan's delicious focaccia, Michelle's boule, as many brownies as you can puppy dog your eyes for, whoopee pies, Dora's Labneh Cheese, Sara's cantaloupe jam, rhubarb bars (for daddy—evidentially, rhubarb is a very Pennsylvania Dutch ingredient)…And of course being at the Scrumptious Pantry, we had to scope out their goodies and came home with pasta, a bottle of Lee's tomato sauce (which was a swap item) and their herbed sea salt. Items that were that we didn't score but hope to next time—the delicious donuts with rhubarb glaze and Emily's Breakfast Cookies.

We are collectively already plotting out what to bring to the June swap which is going to be the biggest yet! The boys have already decided to bring the end table from their room as their own—hmmm, mom has other ideas on that one as it's a bit small…