Creme Brulee French Toast Casserole

I had this at a baby shower a few months ago and I fell in love! It is rich and delicious. If you like french toast, then you will love this. I would tell you to watch the broiler because it easy for it to get a little too crispy.

Creme Brulee French Toast Casserole
Adapted from The Pastry Queen

1 large loaf of French bread
8 large eggs
2 1/4 cups milk
1 cup plus 4-5 T sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 T vanilla extract
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tsp cinnamon
3 T unsalted butter

Combine eggs, milk, 1 cup sugar, salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, vanilla, orange juice, and 2 T melted butter in a large bowl. Whisk together until well incorporated. Use remaining butter to heavily butter a 9x13 baking pan. Slice bread into 1/2" thick slices and then cut slices into cubes. Combine remaining cinnamon and 1 T sugar. Add bread cubes to pan and toss with cinnamon sugar mixture. Pour custard mixture over bread cubes, pressing cubes down with a spoon to thoroughly soak bread. Cover with foil and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Bake approximately 40-50 minutes until golden brown and set. Remove from the oven and sprinkle remaining 3-4 T of sugar over the top of the casserole in an even, heavy layer. Set broiler on high and return to oven or use a kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar. The sugar will turn brown and liquefy and then harden as it cools. Serve warm with maple syrup if desired.

Ham and Swiss Breakfast Casserole

On weekends, I love to cook special breakfasts, but we have kinda gotten stuck making the same things over and over again-mostly because they are delicious. But I wanted to try something different this weekend and I must say that I am pleased. This casserole is easy to make and I think that it is probably a little more healthy than some of the other more sugary things I usually make for breakfast! Since there is just two of us, I cut the recipe in half and it turned out great.

Ham and Swiss Breakfast Casserole

8 eggs

2 cups milk

1 tsp salt

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

8 slices sandwich bread

2 cups thawed frozen spinach

1 roasted red pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 oz ham, cut into 1/2" chunks

8 oz Swiss cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (if you are going to bake right away). Spray a 9x13 casserole pan with cooking spray or grease with butter. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and milk together. Add salt and pepper and set aside. Cut or tear the bread into about one inch pieces and toss in the pan. Add vegetables, make sure your frozen spinach is well drained - add it to a double layer of paper towels and wrap it up and squeeze out all the water. Add garlic and ham and toss everything together in the pan. Pour egg mixture over the top, pushing everything down if it floats up. Top with grated cheese. At this point, you can cover the casserole with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight if desired.

Bake covered for about 30 minutes, remove foil and continue baking an additional 15 to 30 minutes until casserole is set and golden brown. Let stand about 10 minutes before cutting.