Meals: Breakfast for Dinner || Stuffed French Toast

Breakfast for dinner, in my opinion, is absolutely delicious, not to mention pretty inexpensive.  I could eat it once every week.

Last night, we had the missionaries from church over.  The problem was... we had an ice storm and I couldn't make it to the store.  I had to rely on what we had in our house and something quick that my husband could pick up on his way home from work.

I found this recipe in one of my favorite recipe books: The Gathering of Friends, Volume 2.  I had to make a few modifications because we don't like some of the ingredients and didn't have some other ingredients.

Sweet Stuffed French Toast
(adapted from The Gathering of Friends, Volume 2)

Feeds 4; 45-50 minutes total time

Ingredients:

• 20 thinly sliced pieces of french bread (slice the loaf into pieces a little less than 1/2 inch; about the size of a regular piece of bread)
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 6 tbsp. of butter
• 1/3 c. of syrup
• 4 tbsp. sugar
• 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 4 eggs
• 1 c. whole milk (the recipe calls for 1% but we only have whole in our house)
• 1 1/2 tbsp. vanilla
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 9"x13" glass pan with cooking spray.

Brown Sugar Glaze

Melt butter in microwave in a medium-sized bowl.  Add brown sugar, maple syrup and mix together well.  Put the other half to the side.

Spread about 1/2 of the brown sugar glaze mixture on the bottom of the pan.  

Add 10 slices of bread on top of the brown sugar glaze. 

Cream Cheese Filling Mixture

In another bowl, whip the cream cheese until creamy.  Add sugar and cinnamon and mix well.  Spread cream cheese mixture onto one side of the remaining 10 slices of bread.  

Place these slices of bread (cream cheese mixture side down) on top of the bread in the pan... like you are making a sandwich.  

Egg Mixture

Beat eggs, milk, vanilla and nutmeg together.  Pour over bread.  Let the bottom pieces of bread soak up the egg mixture.  

Spread the remaining brown sugar glaze on top of the bread.

Bake for 15 minutes.  Flip each "sandwich" over to allow the egg mixture to soak the opposite side.  Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes.  Make sure egg mixture is completely cooked (it shouldn't be runny anymore). 

Broil for 3-5 minutes to reach a golden-brown.  

Top with whipped cream and strawberries... and ENJOY!

Serve with scrambled eggs and hashbrowns for a wonderfully inexpensive meal.  Most of these items can be found in your kitchen already!

A Meager Grocery Budget

Since my husband and I are on such a tight budget, we have to stick to a strict grocery budget of $280 a month.  When you do the math, it is about $9/day for food.  That is very small but absolutely doable!

We eat the same thing every day for breakfast and lunch.  It is monotonous but we know that we can mix things up and have a great dinner to look forward to.  It keeps us right on track and we can avoid overspending that way.

Here is a sample day for food:

Breakfast (about 50 cents/person)-

Cereal for Jonny

Cereal or Yogurt for me 

Lunch (about $1.25/person)-

Sandwich

String Cheese

A piece of fruit/Fruit Snacks

Snack item (Ritz Crackers/cheese, Austin PB sandwiches crackers, or store-brand Breadsticks/Cheese)

Granola Bar

OR 

Leftovers from dinner 

Snacks:

A piece of fruit

Popcorn

Vegetables and dip

Cheese and Crackers

Quesadilla

Bowl of cereal

Dinner (between $5-7 for meal)

The trick here is to find dinners that can last for more than one meal.  I am not a huge fan of leftovers, but we try to work in at least one "leftover" dinner night a week to cut down on the expenses.  

Examples:

Chili

Lasagna

Breakfast Casserole

Chicken Pot Pie

Swedish Meatballs

Take a look at your monthly grocery budget.  Do you need to trim it down? Try some of these ideas to see if they work for you and your family.

Coming soon: Dinners on a budget-- how to make delicious food that doesn't break the bank. This will be a recurring post topic. 

Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe is my own version of a recipe found here: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/chicken-pot-pie-ix/Detail.aspx  
With a handful of changes, this Chicken Pot Pie is a sure crowd pleaser!!

Chicken Pot Pie

Right out of the oven

Ingredients

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - Shredded
• Vegetables: The recipe calls for 1 cup sliced carrots, 1 cup frozen green peas, 1/2 cup sliced celery but my husband doesn’t really dig vegetables.  I used 1 cup of frozen vegetables and a can of whole potatoes (I would have used fresh potatoes if I had them)
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed (don’t skip this… great flavor!)
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth (I used 1 ¾ cups water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes)
• a bit of poultry seasoning (I used Montreal Chicken seasoning)
• a bit of garlic powder
• 2/3 cup milk 
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts (I used Walmart Great Value – frozen crusts)
• 1 egg white 

Directions

1.  I used a crock pot to cook my chicken and veggies.  It makes for more tender chicken. Cook chicken, chicken broth, garlic powder, and poultry seasoning in crockpot for at least 5 hours on low.

2.  After 5 hours, shred chicken.  Throw veggies in the crockpot with chicken for about 15 minutes on high.

3.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4.  In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Drain chicken broth from chicken and veggies into a bowl to use later- don’t get rid of broth. 

5.  Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed to the onions/butter mixture. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.

6.  Brush the bottom crust with egg whites and bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. 

7.  Place the chicken/veggies mixure in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.  Brush with egg whites.

8.  Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.