Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Blueberry-Peach Overnight French Toast


I made this overnight French toast months ago, drafted the blog post, and forgot all about it. Which is a shame, because it's a nice, tasty breakfast dish--and blueberries and peaches are so very photogenic. So without further ado, I bring you Blueberry-Peach Overnight French Toast!

While touching up this blog post for publishing, a random guy in Starbucks came up and asked me for my opinion on a really deep, emotionally-weighted ideas that "came to him intellectually." The conversation ranged from racism, theology, psycho-sexual development, abuse, politics, and murder. Interesting coffee shop conversation.

Back to lighter, tastier topics . . . I really enjoyed this breakfast--both straight out of the oven, and reheated the next few days. It needs a few tweaks for next time, but I've covered those in the comments below the recipe.

This dish is definitely wet and custardy, so if you have a strong aversion to soggy bread texture, this recipe may not be for you.


Blueberry Peach Overnight French Toast

Adapted from Prevention RD
Yield: 4 servings

~4 oz wheat bread, cut into 1/2-inch slices
3/4 cup skim milk
1/2 cup coconut milk, divided
2 Tbsp. white sugar
4 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 15-oz. can peaches (in juice or light syrup), drained and chopped
1 cup blueberries
1 Tbsp. honey

The night before: Spray a 7 x 9 pan with cooking spray. Arrange bread in a single, flat layer on bottom of pan, packing it in as tightly as possible. Whisk together milk, 1/4 cup coconut milk, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Pour over the bread. Top with chopped peaches and rinsed blueberries. Drizzle with honey. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or 8+ hours.

The morning of: Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking. Preheat oven to 350. Pour reserved 1/4 cup coconut milk evenly over the top. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 30-45 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. After removing from oven, let the dish sit for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Nutritional Information per Serving (compliments of My Fitness Pal):
323 calories; 11.7 g. fat; 340.2 mg. sodium; 43.9 total carbs (2.9 g. dietary fiber; 26.6 g. sugars); 12.1 g. protein.
Note: It didn't give me an option to plug in (to My Fitness Pal) 1 can of peaches, drained. So I plugged in 3/4 of a full can, figuring that 3/4 can peaches plus juice would be close to the nutritional value of 1 can peaches minus juice.

Result and Comments:
This was very good, but I'll make some changes next time. I really wish I'd had a lemon or orange to zest, as that would have brightened the flavor. I'd recommend mixing the zest in with either the egg/milk mixture or the coconut milk that gets poured on the top right before baking.

It was ever-so-slightly under-sweetened, so I'll add a little extra sugar and/or honey next time.

I've made this once before with just peaches, and with cinnamon and brown sugar on top (closer to the original recipe from Prevention RD), and probably liked that version better than this trial run of the blueberry version. Perhaps I like cinnamon more than I like blueberries. Though with the addition of lemon/orange zest and a bit more sweetness, it might put them on an equal level for me.




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