Mixed Berry French Toast

Let's just say that this is AMAZING!  I wanted to make a brunchy type dish for when my friend came over for breakfast, did a little search, and came up with this gem.  It was so good that the two of us ate half of it!  oops! :)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 loaf (1 pound) French bread, cubed
• 6 egg whites
• 3 eggs
• 1-3/4 cups fat-free milk
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 package (12 ounces) frozen unsweetened mixed berries
• 2 tablespoons cold butter
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar

DIRECTIONS

1.  Place bread cubes in a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine the egg whites, eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and salt; pour over bread. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

2.  Thirty minutes before baking, remove the berries from the freezer and set aside, and remove the baking dish from the refrigerator. Bake, covered, at 350° for 30 minutes.

3. In a small bowl, cut butter into brown sugar until crumbly. Sprinkle berries and brown sugar mixture over French toast. Bake, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

SERVINGS & WW INFO**

Serves 8

WW points - 7 (and worth every one of them)

Kneekole's Notes & Comments

* Do not think "Oh, I've got a loaf of sandwich bread here, I'll just use that."  You will waste your sandwich bread and your breakfast on a sub-par meal.  It's the thick French bread that makes this dish so amazing.

* Shout outs to Craig, who cubed that bread like no other, and Carolyn & Ellie for enjoying it with me.

* I cannot wait to make this again!  I just need to find friends to eat it with me to help me with my self control. :)

**For more nutritional information and for the original recipe, check it out on Taste of Home.com

Bacon Pierogi Bake

Throw chronological-ness out the window, I'm posting about the great dinner I made tonight!  Thanks to Cooking Light, Dec 2010, my belly is full with this baked-pierogi goodness!

Ingredients

• 1  (16-ounce) package frozen potato and onion pierogies 
• Cooking spray
• 2  center-cut bacon slices, chopped
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3  cup  (3 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 1/2  cup  chicken broth
• 1/2  cup  shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4  cup  thinly diagonally sliced green onions
• 1/4  cup  chopped seeded plum tomato
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

• Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 400°.
  2. Arrange the pierogies in an 11 x 7-inch glass baking dish coated with cooking spray. Cook bacon in a saucepan over medium heat until crisp; remove from pan. Set aside.
  3. Add garlic to drippings in pan, and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add 1/3 cup cream cheese to pan, and cook for 1 minute or until cream cheese begins to melt, stirring frequently. Gradually add chicken broth to pan, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Pour the cream cheese mixture evenly over pierogies. Top evenly with 1/2 cup cheddar cheese. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until bubbly and thoroughly heated. Remove from oven, and sprinkle with bacon, green onions, tomato, and pepper.

  Servings & WW info**

  Serves 4 (3 pierogies each) 
  WW Points - 8 pts.  
  
  
  
  
  Kneekole's Notes & Comments
  * Growing up, we would boil pierogies and serve them with butter = slippery buttery blobs.  This is WAY better and WAY tastier!  I like the slight crunchy effect from being baked.  Yum!
  * Really simple and not a lot of tools or ingredients involved. 
  * I forgot the pepper and it was still great....great enough to eat two servings (oops!).
  * The garlic press is a godsend.  No more chopping garlic...just press and you're off!
  * You should serve this with some sort of vegetable (mixed greens salad, steamed broccoli, etc.) but I didn't. :)  Hey, it's Valentine's Day and I'm making myself dinner...I'll eat whatever I want. :)
  * Anyone have any tips on how to cook bacon, and be able to use the drippings, without creating the "bacon haze"?  I love the flavor of bacon, but I hate how it stinks up the kitchen and anything porous within a 50 foot radius.  
  
  
  Scrumptious meal, that's for sure!
  
  
  Thoughts/Comments/Suggestions? Let me know!
  
  
  **For more nutritional information and for the original recipe, check it out on My Recipes.com
  
  

From baking to cooking

I've always been a fan of baking...cookies, muffins, sweet breads...all the stuff that you try to convince yourself is somewhat good for you ("But it's got fruit...dried and sugared fruit, but fruit nonetheless!"). But as 2010 came to a close, a new interested peeked itself - cooking! And not just "easy and cheap" cooking, but healthy cooking with mostly fresh ingredients.

With the help of Cooking Light magazine, eager friends to try my new creations, and my gracious budget, I have successfully satisfied many tummy rumbles and blasé pallets.

And of course, with a new hobby comes a new buzz - sharing successes and failures, seeking tips & tricks of the trade. And seeing that this new hobby involves food, people either want to try it, want the recipe, or both. With much encouragement from my cooking-blogger-friend Jill, you see this blog before you. Hopefully it will be a great way to share my savory (and sweet) successes with all of you.

I beg for patience as I attempt to catch up on the last 2 months of recipes. If you've had the chance to consume one of my creations and would like the recipe, leave me a comment and tell me what you're looking for. My mathematical mind is telling me that my recipes should be displayed chronologically in the order I made them, but I'm thinking that's going to add stress that I don't need. ;)

Thanks for your support and your empty and eager bellies!