Baked French Toast Casserole

I don't know about you, but if given the choice, I will almost always choose French Toast over Pancakes or Waffles. I'm not sure why, exactly, but it must have something to do with the bread-y nature of French Toast?

What can make French Toast even more decadent? Making it into a rich casserole dish that is, let's face it, easier to do overall. No having to cook individual slices of bread on your frying pan. Instead, it's all in a nice casserole dish, ready to head into the oven after some preparation and sitting. Yes, you do have to let this sit for a while to allow the bread to soak up all of the eggy mixture. But is it worth it? Um, duh.

Now, if you know Paula Deen (whose recipe this originates from), you know she doesn't skimp on the heavy ingredients. This has not only half and half, but also a whole stick of butter and a cup of brown sugar. Yeah, it's not for those on a diet. That said, it's rich enough that you can be pretty satisfied by just having a small amount rather than eating up huge swaths of it. I did omit the corn syrup called for in the topping, and actually reduced the butter a bit, and it still turned out rich and decadent anyway.

One thing I would also recommend is perhaps using Challah bread or even a Texas Toast bread. I used a regular French loaf from the grocery store, and while it certainly worked, it didn't soak up as much of the egg as I would've liked, and I think a thicker bread like one of those two might work a bit better, personally. Speaking of soaking up the egg, this will have almost a bread pudding consistency. If you don't like that, you can probably reduce the amount of eggs and dairy mixture and get it how you like it. I think this is probably a fairly adaptable recipe for whatever you like best!

Baked French Toast Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 loaf (13-16 ounces) French bread
• 8 large eggs
• 2 cups half and half
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Dash salt
• For the Praline Topping:
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Cooking Directions

1. Slice French bread into about 20 slices, close to 1-inch each. Arrange the slices in a 9x13 baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices.
2. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half and half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, and whisk until blended but not overly bubbly.
3. Pour the mixture over the bread slices, making sure they're all evenly covered. You can spoon some in between the slices to double check.
4. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours/overnight.
5. When it's ready (when the bread has soaked up most of the egg mixture), preheat your oven to 350F and make your praline topping.
6. Combine the butter, brown sugar, pecans, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix together well. I just used a fork.
7. Spread your praline topping evenly over your bread and bake for about 40 minutes, until puffed and golden. 

Adapted from Paula Deen

Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Casserole

I know Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and perhaps I should focus on a Thanksgiving appropriate recipe, but whatever man! I'm just happy it's finally gotten cold enough to warrant baking things such as casseroles in the oven. Honestly, that's why there was a dearth of food posts over the summer. It was really just too dang hot. But now! Now I can turn the oven on again!

This dish combines some of my favorite dinner staples - chicken, broccoli, rice, and cheese sauce. Not to mention some delicious breadcrumbs to top it all off. How can you go wrong?

To be honest, I didn't season the sauce enough as I should have, but that's all a matter of perspective, I suppose. It was really hard to tell how seasoned it was when it was almost too hot to taste, so that's why I didn't get it seasoned quite as aggressively as normally would have. Nonetheless, it still turned out quite tasty!

I will say - this was a bit of a long process! First you have to get your meat and your rice cooked ahead of time. Of course, if you already have some leftovers lying around, then it will be super easy. What's nice is, this is all made from scratch, so you don't have to worry about any preservatives or other questionable stuff in the sauce. The original recipe also called for mushrooms in the sauce, but as my boyfriend and I are not fans of mushrooms, I simply omitted them from the recipe.

Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups milk
• 8 ounces (about 2 cups) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 cups (3-4 breasts) cubed cooked chicken
• 4 cups (about 1 pound) broccoli florets
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 2 ounces (about 1/2 cup) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup plain/Panko breadcrumbs

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Butter a 9x13" casserole dish.
2. In a large pan, melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Once melted, whisk in the flour and cook for one minute, whisking constantly. In a slow, steady, stream, whisk in the milk. Allow the sauce to come to a simmer.
3. You will see it has started to thicken. Whisk in the cheddar cheese a handful at a time, making sure it is completely melted after each handful. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.
4. Add in the chicken, broccoli and rice and stir until combined evenly. Pour into your prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle your 2 ounces of cheddar cheese on top.
5. In a small bowl, mix the melted butter with the breadcrumbs. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the top.
6. Bake until browned and bubbly, about 15-20 minutes. Let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving. 

Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker