Mother's Day: berry french toast casserole

Happy Mother's Day if applicable, and if not, make this for your mom this weekend.  Make ahead and bake that morning.  Super easy.  Many thanks to my Aunt Elaine for sending the recipe along from one of her and Uncle Jim's favorite B&B's.  It calls for 4  1/2 C of frozen blueberries, but I always have that grande bag of mixed berries from Costco so that's what I used.  The recipe also calls for 10 slices day-old French bread, but personally I'm a big fan of challah for french toast.  I used an entire loaf and had to squish and fit all the pieces across the casserole.  Worked out just fine.

Got to post and run.  No time to chat.  Kelly graduates from Purdue (3rd generation!) tomorrow morning and her celebration tailgate is in our backyard tomorrow evening.  So. Much. To. Do.

So busy I can only mildly freak out about graduation and the fact that I rarely if ever have both of them home for mother's day again.  Keep going, no thinking allowed.  No point in it.  Enjoying the NOW.  I've been to enough yoga classes, that even if I could not fit one in since Monday this week I can find the calm I need in there somewhere.  Keep reminding me of that if you see me!

see the berries in there under the french toast?

Berry French Toast Cobbler

4 eggs
1/2 C skim milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp baking powder
10-slices day old French bread (challah and brioche are great too)
4 1/2 C frozen blueberries or mixed berries
1/2 C sugar
2 T unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 T unsalted butter, softened

Whisk eggs, milk, vanilla and baking powder together until smooth.  Pour into a large shallow dish (13 x 9 x 2 glass or pottery baking dish with lid works great).  Add bread slices, turning each once to coat.  Cover dish and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

If you only have one 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish, after refrigerating the bread slices remove them from the dish to a platter and clean the dish for the casserole.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a 13 x 9 x 2  baking dish.  Toss berries, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon together.  Pour berry mixture into prepared dish.  Top with soaked bread slices. Spread softened butter over bread slices.  Bake, uncovered at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until toast is golden brown and berries are bubbly.  Serve hot with powdered sugar.  Serves 8

french toast ingredients

whisking the eggs, milk, vanilla and baking powder

bread soaking

tossing the berries, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon

berries in dish

soaked bread slices on top with softened butter spread on top of bread
yes, it's not diet or Paleo friendly
remember, it's for mom and she's okay with a splurge!