Berry Nice

Good morning, Kitschies!!  It's Wednesday.  But it feels like Tuesday.  What's up with that?!  I really don't want to do yesterday over.  K?  Thanks.  I'm super tired today for some reason.  Good thing I'll be out and about at lunch - maybe the fresh air will do me good.

I told you that I'd post the recipe for the yummy French toast some time soon.  Is today soon enough for ya?  When we decided that the girls would make a meal and the guys make another meal, the bestie and I decided that we were going to make breakfast.  Good thing we settled on that because the guys didn't arrive at the cabin til almost midnight!!  There's no way we would've been able to wait that long to eat.  We talked about it and we decided that we wanted to make something with fruit.  Originally it was blueberries, but I found this recipe instead and all it took was one look and we were good to go!


Raspberry Cheesecake Stuffed French Toast
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup white sugar
2 Tbsp cinnamon
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup raspberry puree
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 loaf French bread, cut in to 1" slices
butter
confectioner's sugar for dusting
nutmeg for topping

In a bowl, whisk milk, vanilla, sugar, and cinnamon into the beaten eggs until well blended. Set aside. In a separate bowl, cream together raspberry puree and cream cheese until smooth. Make 'sandwiches' by cutting each slice of bread in half and spreading raspberry-cheese mixture in the center, then top with the other half. 

Melt butter over medium heat in a large skillet or griddle. Dip bread into egg mixture, coating thoroughly. Cook until well-browned on both sides, about 5 minutes. Dust with confectioners' sugar and nutmeg. Serve immediately. 

NOTES:  We didn't use the whole 2 Tbsp of vanilla extract because that sounded like an insane amount, but I think it could've used it.  It's just mixed in with the eggs, so it's not like it's actually IN the French toast.  Can't find raspberry puree.  Period.  So, we grabbed a couple bags of frozen raspberries because we weren't sure how much it would take to make a cup of puree.  Turns out that one bag made exactly 1 cup of puree.  If you don't like cream cheese or cheesecake, don't let the title fool you.  The filling was so creamy - it wasn't cheesecake-y or overly cream cheese-y.  I didn't slice the bread all the way through; I think it was much easier to deal with as a pocket instead of two separate pieces.

OMG YUM!!!  In all honesty, I was afraid of this recipe.  I was afraid this would be too much of a PIA to make, but it was super easy.  I was afraid that the stuffing wouldn't stay in, but that wasn't a problem.  I sliced the bread thicker than 1" and it turned out just fine.  I was afraid the bread would be too soggy (soggy bread = nastiness) but it was perfectly browned on the outside and soft on the inside - not soggy at all.  I was afraid that it wouldn't be sweet enough because we didn't bring syrup, but really, the powdered sugar and nutmeg were perfect.  I guess I need to just be "afraid" of a recipe every now and then.  If we don't try things outside our comfort zones, what's the point?

I'm going to Sam's Club to look for a cute costume for Mason today at lunch.  I breezed by them last week but didn't actually look.  I do, however, remember that they were around $10.  Can't beat that!!  Cross your fingers that I find one that's 1) super cute for my Mr Mason, 2) it fits and 3) is really $10.  I'll let you know what I find.

Listening to: Layla by Eric Clapton (the lame unplugged version)  

Mood: Zoooommmmbie