Teacher Appreciation Week...

This week, was Teacher Appreciation Week at my son's elementary school.  Today, to show our appreciation, the PTO hosted a Teacher Breakfast to thank the teachers for all their hard work.  Cooking breakfast, right up my alley!!

I immediately volunteered to make two casseroles.  What a perfect chance to try out my new double ovens! (Side note, I have not done a very good job keeping up with this blog, between moving out of one house, building another, and the entire family moving in with my parents for two months, things have been a little crazy.)  So, equipped with a new kitchen and the need to get back to cooking, I looked through my recipe archives to get some ideas for breakfast casseroles that would be tasty, easy to make (I still had to get two boys and myself ready this morning) and easy to transport.

What I found was a recipe I made on Christmas morning, Christmas Day Baked French Toast Casserole with Maple Syrup courtesy of Paula Deen and Food Network. I knew this recipe would be good, but because I had it before, I already knew of a few minor adjustments that I would make to the recipe. This recipe is great because it is mostly prepared the night before and just baked in the morning.  Perfect considering I needed to prepare a breakfast and still get two kids ready for school!  After the first time making this, I decided that rather than slice the bread and arrange it in rows as directed in the recipe, I would dice the bread into cubes, making it a little more like a bread pudding, but still keeping everything else the same so it was still "french toasty" in it's flavor.  I also found that the easiest way to add the praline topping was with a small scoop.  I arranged the scoops over the casserole and part way through the baking, I pulled the casserole out, spread the topping over the spots not covered, put it back in to continue baking.  Lastly, I omitted the maple syrup.  The praline topping is so sweet, I didn't think it needed the syrup.

The second recipe I found is called Oven Omelet Brunch.  It is from a recipe collection of my grandmother's and courtesy of the Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library.  I decided it was a good base, but I wanted to adjust the recipe as well, make it a more inclusive dish.  So I have the recipe in its original form, and then in the notes are my modifications.  I am a little leery of posting this recipe since I didn't have a chance to taste it, but it smelled very good, so I think I am OK!

Christmas Day Baked French Toast Casserole with Maple Syrup
Paula Deen, Food Network
1 loaf french bread (13-16 oz)
8 large eggs
2 cups half and half
1 cup milk
2 T sugar
1 t vanilla
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
dash of salt
Praline Topping (recipe to follow)
Maple Syrup

Slice bread into 20 slices, about 1 inch each.  Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9x13 baking dish in two rows, overlapping slices.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half and half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. 

Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture.  Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

Prepare Praline Topping
1/2 lb butter (2 sticks)
1 c packed brown sugar
1 c chopped pecans
2 T light corn syrup
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well.

The next day, preheat the oven to 350F.  Spread the praline topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden.  Serve with maple syrup.


Oven Omelet Brunch
Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library
1/4 c butter
1 1/2 dozen eggs
1 c sour cream
1 c milk
2 t salt
1/4 c chopped green onion

Heat oven to 325F.  In oven, melt butter in 9x13 baking dish, tilt dish to coat.  In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sour cream, milk, and salt until blended.  Stir in onion.  Pour in dish.  Bake until eggs are set but still moist, about 35 minutes. 

Modified recipe -
Omelet Casserole with Red Peppers, Potatoes and Bacon
Cooking Spray to coat pan
1 1/2 dozen eggs
1 c sour cream
1 c milk
2 t salt
1 red pepper, chopped
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 potato, peeled and chopped
about 8 slices of bacon (the small pack), fried and chopped
1 t fresh ground pepper
1/2 t cayenne pepper
2 T fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

Saute onion and pepper in a little olive oil.  Remove from pan.  Saute potatoes in pan, add a splash of chicken broth or water with the potatoes to deglaze the pan.  Cover the pan to finish cooking potatoes.  Add onion and pepper back to the pan, season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. 

I made this the night before, refrigerated until the next morning, then mixed eggs, sour cream and milk, added sauteed veges, chopped parsley and bacon.

Spray pan with cooking spray, pour egg mix into pan.  Bake at 325 for about 45 minutes.  I cooked for 35 minutes as recommended in the original recipe and it was not set.  I continued to watch it until set, which was about 45 minutes. 

Enjoy!