These brownie cookies were delicious and perfectly named! Thank you Lindsey from Cafe Johnsonia. I used mini chocolate chips and M&Ms instead of regular chocolate chips, but other than that, I followed the recipe verbatim and these bad boys turned out perfectly. Great recipe, Lindsey!

I can’t believe I forgot to mention this in today’s post… like pizza, baked french toast benefits greatly from being reheated in the toaster oven!!!I know some of you aren’t quite sold on this indispensable kitchen appliance, but I’ll keep plugging away until you’re all converted!

Same “recipe” as reheating pizza… heat leftover french toast in microwave first (to get it hot), then put in toaster oven on ‘toast’ setting (definitely use the tray on this one!). Here is why this method rules: if you just did the microwave, it would be hot but soggy. If you just did the toaster oven, it would be burned on the edge before it was hot enough. You gotta do both. Everyone can thank Nate (my husband) for this culinary stroke of genius.

My friend Jenn (who infamously bought a toaster oven last week) also made a good point…the toaster oven uses a lot less energy than your full oven, so you’re helping the environment. I should really be working for the toaster oven lobby in D.C.

Picture disclaimer: This pic isn’t so pretty, but toaster oven wanted to represent! You can see it’s old and well-loved, and I’m not even letting you see the whole thing…

Today’s featured recipe is Baked French Toast. While I listed this recipe under main dishes, I gotta admit it may be more appropriate under desserts. But I’m going to continue to think of it is a main dish so I can have it for dinner once in a while.

A few quick notes on this recipe. This last time I used Brioche bread and it was PERFECT for this recipe. Also, pecans are by far my favorite nut to use in this. Not much else to say except it’s mighty delicious. Oh – and sorry there’s no picture of the final product… I forgot to take one, but the ingredients sure are pretty!

Featured Recipe: Baked French Toast

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

35 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

Mighty delicious baked french toast!

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Main Dish, Breakfast

Ingredients

• ½ C brown sugar
• ⅓ C butter
• 2 T corn syrup
• Chopped pecans, almonds, whatever
• 2 t. orange zest
• ½ C OJ
• ½ C milk
• 3 T sugar
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 t vanilla
• 3 egg whites
• 2 eggs (or 4 eggs)
• A bunch of slices of bread (probably 12, give or take – depending on the size of the bread, enough to fill the cookie sheet)

Instructions

1. For the bread, I love to use a loaf of brioche (which is pictured here). Sliced french or italian bread would work, too. But a nice rich, soft bread like the brioche is my favorite.
2. Mix brown sugar, butter and corn syrup. Spread with nuts on cookie sheet and lay slices of bread on top. Mix rest of the ingredients and pour on top of bread. Sit for 1 hour in fridge. Bake 350 for 35 mins.

3.2.2265

After all this chocolate-dipped strawberry talk (by the way, I received some as a gift yesterday…chocolate-covered strawberries are my destiny), I think it’s time for a little healthy eats.

Check out The World’s Healthiest Foods website – it’s a great resource, and it’s free! They provide nutritional info, recipes, menus and more. They also have compiled a list of the 130 healthiest foods and explain why those foods made the list, including a nutritional breakdown for each of item.

After reading an article in my yoga magazine, I’ve decided I need to start exploring the world of greens beyond spinach. I’ll keep you posted on my progress! Feel free to share any healthy greens recipes (you know, swiss chard, kale, collards, etc).

After all this chocolate-dipped strawberry talk (by the way, I received some as a gift yesterday…chocolate-covered strawberries are my destiny), I think it’s time for a little healthy eats.

Check out The World’s Healthiest Foods website – it’s a great resource, and it’s free! They provide nutritional info, recipes, menus and more. They also have compiled a list of the 130 healthiest foods and explain why those foods made the list, including a nutritional breakdown for each of item.

After reading an article in my yoga magazine, I’ve decided I need to start exploring the world of greens beyond spinach. I’ll keep you posted on my progress! Feel free to share any healthy greens recipes (you know, swiss chard, kale, collards, etc).

Strawberries are on sale in all our grocery stores and markets here in San Diego, so I’m thinking they must be in season – I love this time of year! Strawberries are definitely one of those awesome memory foods… the smell alone takes you back to summers past, or in the case of San Diego, springs past that feel a lot like every other time of year. 😉 (I love living here, but I do miss seasons!)

Now that it’s strawberry season, I need to make some freezer jam. We ran out a few months ago and have had to eat store-bought jam since – horror of horrors. Oh and now that it’s the season, I also need to keep the homemade hot fudge and strawberries APART or I will eat every strawberry in San Diego county, and then the children will be sad. And all that chocolate can’t be good for me… can it? (Please say yes!)

It’s a big day here at This Week for Dinner… I’m happy to present my first guest blogger, Emily Wignall! Emily is a great friend and is also the reason this blog even exists… I didn’t know blog from fog before Emily introduced me to this fun world. Emily is awesome – smart, stylish, good cook and entertainer, you name it. I’m so happy she is contributing – enjoy!

* * * * * * *

I’m honored to be the first guest blogger for This Week for Dinner! Jane is practically my next-door-neighbor…I am one of the lucky few who can just drop-in and make sure she is really making what her blog claims.

I don’t have a lot of food knowledge to dispense; however, I have 2 food loves I constantly work at pairing up and perfecting.

My favorite food isn’t something I make, it doesn’t have to be refrigerated, baked, microwaved, thawed, grilled, broiled, or mashed. I LOVE crackers & chips. Wheat, white, cheese, bbq, tortilla, garlic, graham, with sesame seeds, fish-shaped, round, rectangular, square…I don’t care. I even like those crackers with the fake cheese sandwiched in between.

My second favorite food…dip. I’m not picky here either – spinach, cheese, sour cream, salsa, artichoke, marinara, hummus…

If I lived by myself, I am sure that I would live on a diet of various crackers, chips and dips. However, I live with my handsome husband and sweet baby girl, and they prefer to have a more well-rounded diet, so I will share just a few of my favorites which you can use as side dishes to Jane’s yummy recipes.

For a Mexican or Spanish food night, serve Corn Salsa w/ Tortilla Chips (My favorite is Tostitos Hint of Lime).

Go Italian! This Focaccia Bread from Martha Stewart is hard-work, but well worth the 4 hours of waiting. You can top it with cheese and dip in marinara, or just serve warm with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Each year during the Christmas season you will find men, women and children in my hometown anxiously awaiting the arrival of”¦my mom’s cheese ball. My mom doesn’t give away cookies or candy or carols – she prefers cheese. Last year my mom conjured up the Spinach Pepperjack Cheese Ball. Serve this cheese ball with your favorite crackers.

My final contribution isn’t technically a chip and dip…it is more like a chip and dip combined into one delectable treat…so perfect! These Crab & Cream Cheese Wontons are another Martha Stewart creation. They are good with or without the crab meat. I like them with red chile sauce, soy sauce, or just plain!

All this writing has made me hungry…off to the pantry. Happy chip dipping!

It’s a big day here at This Week for Dinner… I’m happy to present my first guest blogger, Emily Wignall! Emily is a great friend and is also the reason this blog even exists… I didn’t know blog from fog before Emily introduced me to this fun world. Emily is awesome – smart, stylish, good cook and entertainer, you name it. I’m so happy she is contributing – enjoy!

* * * * * * *

I’m honored to be the first guest blogger for This Week for Dinner! Jane is practically my next-door-neighbor…I am one of the lucky few who can just drop-in and make sure she is really making what her blog claims.

I don’t have a lot of food knowledge to dispense; however, I have 2 food loves I constantly work at pairing up and perfecting.

My favorite food isn’t something I make, it doesn’t have to be refrigerated, baked, microwaved, thawed, grilled, broiled, or mashed. I LOVE crackers & chips. Wheat, white, cheese, bbq, tortilla, garlic, graham, with sesame seeds, fish-shaped, round, rectangular, square…I don’t care. I even like those crackers with the fake cheese sandwiched in between.

My second favorite food…dip. I’m not picky here either – spinach, cheese, sour cream, salsa, artichoke, marinara, hummus…

If I lived by myself, I am sure that I would live on a diet of various crackers, chips and dips. However, I live with my handsome husband and sweet baby girl, and they prefer to have a more well-rounded diet, so I will share just a few of my favorites which you can use as side dishes to Jane’s yummy recipes.

For a Mexican or Spanish food night, serve Corn Salsa w/ Tortilla Chips (My favorite is Tostitos Hint of Lime).

Go Italian! This Focaccia Bread from Martha Stewart is hard-work, but well worth the 4 hours of waiting. You can top it with cheese and dip in marinara, or just serve warm with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Each year during the Christmas season you will find men, women and children in my hometown anxiously awaiting the arrival of”¦my mom’s cheese ball. My mom doesn’t give away cookies or candy or carols – she prefers cheese. Last year my mom conjured up the Spinach Pepperjack Cheese Ball. Serve this cheese ball with your favorite crackers.

My final contribution isn’t technically a chip and dip…it is more like a chip and dip combined into one delectable treat…so perfect! These Crab & Cream Cheese Wontons are another Martha Stewart creation. They are good with or without the crab meat. I like them with red chile sauce, soy sauce, or just plain!

All this writing has made me hungry…off to the pantry. Happy chip dipping!

I’m a cheater this week… 3 of my dinners come from the last 2 weeks’ menus. SO SORRY! The last two weeks have been kind of crazy, and we were invited to dinner one night. I already have the ingredients, so gotta cook the food! At least I have more pictures this week to make up for my lack of new ideas. 🙂 So tonight we’re having crepes. I bought some brie and a baguette last night to go with it. Oh, and we’re only going to speak French tonight. Just kidding.

Song of the Week: I’ve been wanting to do an Incubus song for weeks now. Even as I type I still can’t decide which one. I like their music a lot, but I REALLY love the lead singer’s voice. Okay, I’m going to choose now: “Dig” it is. This is probably the most “hard-core” band in the “Song of the Week” list so far, but this song isn’t hard-core at all, I promise. I’ll keep the other 2 Incubus faves in my back pocket for another week.

Have a great week!

I’m a cheater this week… 3 of my dinners come from the last 2 weeks’ menus. SO SORRY! The last two weeks have been kind of crazy, and we were invited to dinner one night. I already have the ingredients, so gotta cook the food! At least I have more pictures this week to make up for my lack of new ideas. 🙂 So tonight we’re having crepes. I bought some brie and a baguette last night to go with it. Oh, and we’re only going to speak French tonight. Just kidding.

Song of the Week: I’ve been wanting to do an Incubus song for weeks now. Even as I type I still can’t decide which one. I like their music a lot, but I REALLY love the lead singer’s voice. Okay, I’m going to choose now: “Dig” it is. This is probably the most “hard-core” band in the “Song of the Week” list so far, but this song isn’t hard-core at all, I promise. I’ll keep the other 2 Incubus faves in my back pocket for another week.

Have a great week!