Good morning everyone, and happy day after!
First of all, I love Christmas – it is most definitely my favorite holiday of the time – I think mainly because it actually gets it’s own season! I mean, when combining Chanukah, and Kwanzaa, it’s not far off for people to treat Christmas like it belongs in the entire month of December! It’s amazing. It’s also a massively busy time of the year, especially on the “harmony” side of things over here, so be sure to check out some of my instagram posts @harmonyandhomes for some photos!
In our family, we celebrate Christmas twice, once with my side of the fam, and the second with Anjane’s side. For this year, we decided to do a potluck and our theme was “breakfast!” (You can imagine our excitement, seeing as how brunch is like our favorite meal)! I wanted to share the recipe of our French Toast Casserole we had, inspired by Ina Garten’s similar recipe, we had to make this as gluten free and lactose free friendly as we could, for those of us with tummy digestion issues, and then, of course, make it pumpkin spice for the season.
Ingredients
Sour Dough Bread (we got ours from Zak the Baker, purchased at Whole Foods)
Non-Stick Spray (we used olive oil spray from Trader Joe’s)
8 eggs
5 cups of lactose free milk
2 table spoons of vanilla paste
4 tablespoons of realmaple syrup (yes there is a HUGE taste difference)
8 tablespoons of cinammon
2 tablespoons of nutmeg
2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice
Dishes for baking and mixing, see below
French Toast Casserole Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 350° F.
2. Sour dough bread can be tolerable to many gluten free people, so if you are gluten free, give it a try! (For extra soaking capabilities, we got our ZTB bread a couple days early to be just a little stale).Slice the bread into at least 1″ slices.
3. Next, coat a casserole dish, we used 9×14 with non-stick spray, like olive oil or coconut oil – both can be found at Trader Joes.
4. Then, arrange the sliced bread within the dish.
5. Afterwards, in a separate, large, mixing bowl, crack open 8 eggs, 5 cups of lactose free milk, 2 tablespoons of vanilla paste, 4 tablespoons of real maple syrup, 8 tablespoons of cinammon, 2 tablespoons of nutmeg, 2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice, and whisk well together. Feel free to substitute your own flavorings – this makes pumpkin spice.
6. Now, pour the mixture over the bread, trying to cover all slices. Feel free to purposefully soak any missing pieces.
7. Using a larger container, create a bath for the casserole dish, fill thewater about halfway up the sides of the casserole dish.
8. Bake COVERED for 45 minutes, then remove cover, and bake 45 minutes more.
9. Remove from oven, let cool slightly, and serve with real maple syrup.
10. Enjoy, then comment back with your thoughts!
Write back to me to let me know what you think! Tag me in your own photos! 
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