My favorite meal of the day!

This week I had a bunch of people over for brunch on the table I just recently refurbished! I made Caramel French Toast, a bacon and egg scramble, Raspberry Cream Cheese coffee cake, and sangria, along with some fruit and juice and coffee. It was really nice, everyone seemed to like what I made, even the kids seemed to enjoy the foods, especially the Caramel French Toast! It was a lazy week, only highlighted by an FRG meeting, which was interesting, and going to some garage sales! Gotta love deals :) Well, on with the recipes I suppose. Most of these are things that can be made early, so you have plenty of time to socialize or get the house ready, that's why I love them so much :) Hope you enjoy!

Baked Caramel French Toast

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 6 T butter or margarine
• 1/3 cup whipping (heavy) cream
• 1 T light corn syrup
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/4 t salt
• 8 (3/4-inch-thick) diagonally cut slices of french bread. You'll wanna get the skinnier kind if you can, the fat kind doesn't fit in the dish as well, but still tastes just as great :)

Spray 13x9 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. In 2-quart saucepan, mix the first 4 ingredients. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Do not boil! Spread topping in baking dish. In shallow bowl, beat eggs with fork. Beat in milk, vanilla and salt. Dip bread slices into egg mixture, making sure all egg mixture is absorbed; arrange over topping in dish. Cover; refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.
When ready to bake, heat oven to 400 F. Uncover baking dish; bake 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and toast is golden brown. Remove from oven; let stand 3 minutes. Place large heatproof serving platter upside down over baking dish; turn platter and baking dish over. Remove baking dish, scraping any extra caramel topping onto toast. Serve immediately. If you don't have a big heatproof serving platter, consider baking it in smaller containers so you can just flip it onto plates. Makes 8 servings.

Make-Ahead Scrambled Eggs

• 8 slices bacon
• 1 package (8 oz) sliced fresh mushrooms (I omitted these, in an attempt to make it more kid friendly)
• 3 T margarine or butter
• 16 eggs
• 1 cup half and half or milk
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 2 T chopped fresh chives
• 4 italian plum tomatoes, quartered, sliced
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese  

In 12-inch nonstick skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Crumble bacon, or cut. I prefer to cut it as it makes more uniform pieces; set aside. Reserve 1 T bacon drippings in skillet. Add mushrooms to drippings; cook 4-5 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Remove from skillet; set aside. Wip skillet clean with paper towel. Melt margarine in the same skillet over medium heat. Beat eggs in large bowl. Add half and half  (or milk), salt and pepper; blend well. Add egg mixture to skillet; cook over medium heat until firm but still moist, stirring occasionally. Stir in soup and chives. Place half of egg mixture in 3/12 or 4-quart slow cooker. Top with half each of the cooked mushrooms, tomatoes, cheese and crumbled bacon. Repeat layers. Serve immediately, or cover and keep warm on low setting for up to 4 hours. Makes 12 servings

Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup margarine or butter
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 t almond extract
• 1 egg
• 1 package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup raspberry preserves
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Heat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour bottom and sides of 9 or 10 inch springform pan (these pans are awesome btw. Have a nice cake come out clean every time!) In large bowl, combine flour and 3/4 cup sugar; mix well. With pastry blender or fork, cut in margarine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1 cup of crumb mixture. To remaining crumb mixture, add baking powder, baking soda, salt, sour cream, almond extract and 1 egg; blend well. Spread batter over bottom and 2 inches up the sides (about 1/4 inch thick) of greased and floured pan. Just make sure to have enough of a dip in the middle to hold the cream cheese and raspberry mixture. In small bowl, combine cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 egg; blend well. Pour into batter lined pan. Carefully spoon preserves evenly over cream cheese mixture. In another small bowl, combine reserved crumb mixture and sliced almonds. Sprinkle over preserves. Bake for 45055 minutes or until cream cheese filling is set and crust is a deep golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes; remove sides of pan. Serve warm or cool. Store in refrigerator. Makes 16 servings. 

Simple Sangria

• 1 bottle of red wine (I used shiraz)
• 1 lemon
• 1 orange
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 shot brandy (I used rum)
• 2 cups of ginger ale

Pour the red wine in a pitcher. Slice the lemon and orange into wedges. Squeeze into the pitcher, making sure not to add any seeds. A good way to do this is hold your hand under the fruit as you squeeze it, so you can catch any seeds, and the juice can just run through your fingers. Once the fruit is all squeezed, add the wedges as well. Add the sugar and the brandy or rum. Refrigerate overnight or until cold. Right before serving add the ginger ale. Enjoy! And drink responsibly ;)