Night time Reflections

It's here at 9:26 pm. My husband is fast asleep and I sit on the couch wondering what to do next. The first time he's fallen asleep without me by his side but he went to be at 8:30 pm. I'm not a grandma yet - so I didn't go to bed. But now my kitchen is clean and the living room is picked up. There is no laundry to wash and the bathrooms I cleaned earlier today so now I sit here wondering what I can do until I'm tired enough for bed. Some may say reading is a good way to calm your mind and fall asleep but I read ten chapters in my latest book today and quite frankly I'm all "read" out.

So I guess the only thing left to reflect on is how horrible dinner went. I never dreamed that something I love to do so much could cause such strife. I ventured out to make this meal - Overnight French Toast Casserole. Since this was the first time I would make something like this I scoured Pinterest and Google and all my cookbooks to find a simple recipe to follow and this was the simplest one I could find. I had all the ingredients besides the whole milk - we drink 2% in our home and from other cooking times when I've used 2% instead of whole I knew it would work out fine. And from watching plenty of cooking shows I know that whole milk simply increases calories and taste.

I started out with half of a french baguette. Mind you we don't buy french baguettes ever so my husband looked at me funny when I put it in the cart. All I could tell him was I was planning a special meal with it - I was so excited because I had been planning this meal for a week!

So the recipe calls to make a large portion which we would never finish so I halved it. We aren't big eaters so I usually halve all my recipes - I am very comfortable with it. For the recipe I followed the directions one by one - here is how each one went down:


1   In a small bowl combine brown sugar and melted butter and pour on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. I forgot to halve this but even if I didn't it made a thick paste and definitely not something "pourable". I figured it would just melt up into the bread and make it super yummy - no worries here

2   Arrange slices of bread in the baking dish overlapping if necessary. I cut the french loaf in 1 1/2 inch slices (yes I used a measuring tape) and I put them in a bread pan - it took 6 slices.

3   Combine milk, eggs, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a bowl and pour evenly over bread slices. Did all of this besides the ginger because it turns my stomach. I mixed it and poured it over and in between the layers of bread. This really smelled amazing and I was already hungry for it/

4  Sprinkle chopped pecans over bread slices. The husband doesn't like pecans so I skipped this step - instead I sprinkled a cinnamon/sugar mix on top and dotted it with butter. Yay calories!

5   Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 4-12 hours. Yep did this but since we were having it for dinner it was refrigerated from 9am to 5:30pm. Ample enough time for it to soak up all the goodness

6   In the morning, take the casserole out of the fridge for at least 10 minutes while you are preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Took it out at 5:30pm and let it warm up as the oven preheated

7   Bake casserole for 30-35 minutes. If top starts browning too quickly place a foil loosely over the top of the casserole for the last 10 minutes or so. You want it to cook long enough to make sure the bottom part is cooked but don't dry it out completely. I took heed to this warning and put the tin foil on top in the beginning so I could brown the top at the end. 10 minutes with the foil on top then 10 minutes with it off. I cooked it longer then half of the time recommended because I had a feeling it needed it..and boy did it.

8 Remove casserole from oven and let it cool slightly before serving. Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar and a drizzle of maple syrup. I removed it from the oven, set it on the table, called the husband to eat. We prayed and he began to dig into the delicious looking and smelling french toast dish. He pulled the first slice up and what is dripping from it?? RAW egg. I about cried. The saint that he is said it would eat it anyway but I shot down that idea fast. Instead I put my thinking cap on and took the slices out and laid them flat in a bigger baking dish. They definitely soaked up the egg and milk bath but there was still a lot left in the pan. I then baked side A at 350, then a low broil then 375 for a total of 10 minutes. Then I turned the pieces over and baked the same way. After this I figured any egg that was left in the pan or on the bread was fully cooked so it would be safe to eat. And despite being a step away from bread pudding we ate it anyway. I made a raspberry sauce which definitely made it taste better!

All in all I still have no idea what went wrong but I did find a way to fix it. Next time I make a french toast bake/casserole I will be chopping the bread up in pieces and using much less milk/egg bath then it calls for - just to be safe. I would rather have dry bread then soggy raw egg bread. 

Such is life. Looks like I'm about tired enough to go join my husband in a silent slumber.

P.S. The coffee in my mug is french roast and will be french roast for a while yet. I received a 5lb bag as a bridal shower gift and I'm working my way through!