Wisdom teeth extraction post-op: It was a rough weekend. Despite the fact that I had a pretty smooth recovery — minimal pain & swelling — I was still experiencing a fair amount of discomfort which made it difficult to eat non-soft foods.

However, I had a huuuuge urge to bake something — but it had to be something sweet (cause I love sweets), semi-soft (because I just got 4 teeth pulled), and delicious.

I’ve been wanting to try a recipe that was given to me by my friends’ (Lauren & Ali) kind mother and so I figured it would be the perfect time.

Saturday night, after ending a wonderful Harry Potter flick, I told my boyfriend we MUST make this french toast casserole for breakfast tomorrow. And so we did. And it went a little something like this:

I cubed a loaf of challah, while my boyfriend combined eggs, vanilla, and milk in a large bowl.

I gave him the cubed bread and he dumped it into the egg mixture and mixed it all together, like a pro!

Then we covered the bowl in saran and let it sit in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, my boyfriend almost left before baking the casserole. Crazy, eh? But then I told him I’d make him a delicious vegetable omelette and he agreed to stay just a little longer (he’s not so big on sweets in the morning — weird).

Next step: I mixed together brown sugar, maple syrup, and melted butter and drizzled it over the bread mixture.

And it was ready to bake.

After 45 minutes at 350°F it looked something like this.

Golden, crispy, and just the right amount of sweetness.

By the way, I ate a slice for breakfast. Then another slice for lunch. Then another slice as an afternoon snack. And one last slice for dinner. That’s ALL I ate all day. French. Toast. Casserole. And it’s all gone now 😦

Best day ever.

French Toast Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 loaf of Challah
•  7 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups milk (I used skim)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Method

1. Slice bread into 1-inch cubes.
2. Combine eggs, milk, and vanilla in large bowl.
3. Add bread cubes to egg mixture, mix well, cover with saran and refrigerate overnight.
4. The next morning: Preheat oven to 350°F.
5. Place bread mixture in 9 x 13 inch greased baking dish.
6. Combine sugar, syrup, and butter and drizzle over dish.
7. Bake in oven for about 40-45 minutes until golden and puffy.

Yours edibly,

Elana