Mango Stuffed French Toast

Somehow I forgot the most important recipe I made on Christmas--our breakfast!! I was looking at recipes on the Rick Bayless website recently and saw this recipe for Mango Stuffed French Toast. Oh man...I wanted to make it right then! I figured I'd save it for Christmas morning. I like to have some kind of breakfast casserole that can be in the oven while we're opening presents. It worked out even more perfectly because there were mangos in my basket from Bountiful Baskets.

Mango Stuffed French Toast
Copyright © 2009 Rick Bayless

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 1 tablespoon softened butter for casserole dish
3 mangos (approximately 2 1/2 pounds) peeled and diced into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar (divided use)
12 ounces cream cheese (softened)
12 slices egg bread (challah) sandwich loaf
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half & half
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Powdered sugar for garnish
Warm maple or agave syrup

In a very large (12-inch) non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Add the mango and saute for approximately 10 minutes or until soft. Sprinkle in a 1/4 cup sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, mix the softened cream cheese and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar.

Butter a 13 x 9 casserole dish with 1 tablespoon softened butter. Divide the cream cheese mixture equally between the slices of bread and spread, covering the entire surface. Place 6 of the slices in the bottom of the prepared dish with the tops of the bread facing out. You may need to squeeze the slices together to make them fit. Spoon the cooled mango slices and their syrup evenly over the bread. Press the remaining slices, cream cheese side down, on top of the mango layer.

Whisk together the eggs, half and half, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour the mixture over the top of the stuffed French toast, making sure to cover all the bread with the egg mixture. Wrap tightly and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, remove the baking dish from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until lightly browned and warmed through. Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and serve with warm syrup.

*****

I just realized we didn't have any syrup or powdered sugar with ours--we just ate it as is (or as was). This was AMAZING. I have yet to be disappointed by a Rick Bayless recipe. I'm telling you, he's a god among men (but not in a blasphemous way). Jen B. and I are dying to take a trip to Chicago and eat at all three of his restaurants.

We all really liked this. It's definitely a breakfast dish I'd make again. It was easy to put together and tasted awesome. Just thinking about it makes me want it again!

Soggy and gooey, going in the fridge the night before!




Mmmmmm...pan of mango french toast...


See the yummy layers? Man I can't wait to have this again!

PW's Mashed Potatoes

Oh man, what a crazy week it's been. The husband's been laid up in bed since Tuesday, so I've been a single parent for basically five days now. Kudos to those of you that do it all the time--you should all be nominated for sainthood! Everything has fallen to the wayside, including finishing my posts for Thanksgiving #2 that we had last weekend. This week has been so long it blows my mind that was just a week ago. Man. Of course I still have leftovers sitting in my fridge from it, so let's hope it really was just a week ago. ;)

The husband's family doesn't have mashed potatoes at their Thanksgiving dinner, and it's one of the things I miss having the most. So of course they were pretty high priority for Thanksgiving #2. I heart mashed potatoes very, very much. Normally I just boil up the potatoes, mash, add butter and milk and call it good, but I'd seen that The Pioneer Woman had a mashed potato recipe that could be made a couple days before and reheated in the oven, so I thought I'd give that a try. Plus PW has never led me astray.

PW's Creamy Mashed Potatoes

5 pounds Russet Or Yukon Gold Potatoes
3/4 cups Butter
1 package (8 Oz.) Cream Cheese, Softened*
½ cups (to 3/4 Cups) Half-and-Half
½ teaspoons (to 1 Teaspoon) Lawry's Seasoned Salt
½ teaspoons (to 1 Teaspoon) Black Pepper

Peel and cut the potatoes into pieces that are generally the same size. Bring a large pot of water to a simmer and add the potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook for 30 to 35 minutes. When they’re cooked through, the fork should easily slide into the potatoes with no resistance, and the potatoes should almost, but not totally, fall apart.

Drain the potatoes in a large colander. When the potatoes have finished draining, place them back into the dry pot and put the pot on the stove. Mash the potatoes over low heat, allowing all the steam to escape, before adding in all the other ingredients.

Turn off the stove and add 1 ½ sticks of butter, an 8-ounce package of cream cheese and about ½ cup of half-and-half. Mash, mash, mash! Next, add about ½ teaspoon of Lawry’s Seasoning Salt and ½ a teaspoon of black pepper.

Stir well and place in a medium-sized baking dish. Throw a few pats of butter over the top of the potatoes and place them in a 350-degree oven and heat until butter is melted and potatoes are warmed through.

Note: When making this dish a day or two in advance, take it out of the fridge about 2 to 3 hours before serving time. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 20 to 30 minutes or until warmed through.

*****

If you want to check out her post on them--with step by step pictures--check it out by following this link.

These were super yummy, although I did have some spillage issues when they were in the oven in that some of the potatoes somehow spewed out over the side onto the bottom of my oven. Thankfully it was towards the end of baking so they didn't burn and ruin everything else that was in there at that time, which was, like, all our side dishes. It was so nice to be able to have made these the day before and be done with them. Honestly these were much more decadent than I would normally make mashed potatoes, but isn't Thanksgiving supposed to be decadent?! I mean, really, if you're going to indulge, you should really go all out right?! These would work out really nicely to take somewhere, too, I think. I'd make these again for a special occasion, but I think for normal mashed potato eating I'll stick with my usual way to save on the calories and fat. Plus it made A LOT!

By the way, they were good cold too. You know, from the one bite I took out of the container when they were cold. It's not like I finished off more than a serving that was left while they were still cold. I wouldn't do that. Nope. Not me...