Triple Berry French Toast

For the Fourth, my husband and I drove two hours North to celebrate with friends and family from my hometown. Since we had pool party plans in the evening, my mom decided to host a 4th of July brunch instead of the traditional cookout.  I spent several minutes on bettycrocker.com looking for something breakfast-y, delicious, and just a little festive. I finally found this Triple Berry French Toast Bake.

French toast is seriously one of my favorite foods ever. I love that you can have protein and carbs all in one sweet package. The berries in this bake add a decadent tanginess. We ended up accidentally [due to lack of communication] making two of them, but not to worry! They were both almost completely gone by the end of the day!


Ingredients for the Bake:


1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
6 eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
1 loaf (or eight cups) of soft French bread, cut into 1 in. cubes
1 1/2 cups mixed berries 
      {Note for berries: the recipe called for Cascadian Farm frozen berries. We tried both fresh and off-brand frozen.  Frozen allowed more of the juice to flow throughout the bread cubes. Fresh berries just ended up sitting on top. I recommend any brand of frozen blueberries, strawberries and/or raspberries.}


Ingredients for Sauce:
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. orange juice
1 1/2 cups mixed berries {frozen works and tastes best!}


Method:

Grease a 13X9 in. glass baking dish. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, milk, sugar, vanilla, eggs, and salt until smooth. Fold in bread cubes cup by cup. All cubes should be covered with mixture. Fold in berries. Pour entire mixture into baking dish and cover with aluminum foil. Refrigerate for at least one hour. {Definitely don't leave it in the fridge for longer than 24 hours.}

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Uncover your glass pan and bake for thirty minutes. After fully baking, if you insert a knife into the center of the bake, it should come out clean. While you're waiting, create the sauce mixture. Combine sugar, cornstarch, orange juice and berries {from sauce ingredients} in a saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. It should cook for about 4 minutes. 

And now...for my favorite part...    Enjoy!!  Serve up the French Toast Bake with the warm berry sauce. We poured our sauce mixture into a small serving pitcher for easy self-service. 

I absolutely loved our family's time around the table with this dish. My mom fired up the coffee maker first thing. Then my grandparents arrived with a tray of fresh fruit. My husband eventually drifted in from the living room. One by one family members joined the laid-back time of fellowship. This dish reminded me of how sweet and fresh life can truly be. I hope this dish brings that kind of refreshment and celebration to your life.