Eat Skinny: Baked French Toast Casserole with Ricotta & Strawberry Syrup
PIN IT!Happy Tuesday friends! I apologize for the lack of post yesterday but I was SO busy with work. I had about 6 articles to finish and 5 recipes to make, photo and edit! Let’s just say it was a doozey of a day! I hope you all had a great start to your week though! Now, to make up for my absence yesterday, I made something extra awesome today. Yep. And, as you can clearly read from the title, it’s got ricotta. AND strawberries. AND FRENCH TOAST!
As I was perusing my recipe database yesterday (for website revision purposes), I stumbled across these darling French toasts and thought “what a cute idea for Easter brunch.” Then, went on my merry way to scour the fridge for daily inspiration and saw these plump, juicy strawberries.
I took them out with no real direction in mind until I saw a loaf of crispy French bread. Light bulb went off and I thought “A-HA! Strawberry french toast!”
Now, strawberry french toast is awesome, but I wanted something even more decadent, even more delicious. So, I perused my fridge again and found a lovely container of fat- free farm fresh ricotta.
Then, my weird mind went to visions of CHEESY French toast with chunky, fresh strawberry syrup and that trumps regular French toast any day.
So, that’s how this happened.
Plus, E, who never, EVER requests anything (weird, I know) asked if I could please make French toast casserole again. Let’s just hope there is some leftover when he gets home from work.
Baked French Toast with Ricotta & Strawberry Syrup
Serves 8
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 40 – 45 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 loaf of crispy French bread (1 – 2 days old is best)
- 7 large eggs
- 2 cups light cream
- 1 cup skim milk
- dash of salt
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2/3 cup fat-free ricotta
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3/4 cup mashed strawberries
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
Directions:
- Liberally coat a 3 quart baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Cut french bread into slices (about 1/4 inch think). Then cut into bite size squares or pieces. Layer bread in the greased pan (create about 2 – 3 layers) until all the bread has been used.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, milk, vanilla, sugar, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Pour mixture over the bread and evenly coat it. Sprinkle with additional pumpkin pie spice and cover with foil or plastic wrap. Chill overnight.
- Once mixture has chilled, remove from fridge. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread ricotta over the top of the mixture. Sprinkle chopped walnuts and brown sugar over the ricotta.
- Bake for 40 – 45 minutes, or until the mixture is custardy and the cheese is slightly browned.
- While French toast cools, prepare syrup by bringing the sugar and water to a rapid boil, stirring constantly. Add in mashed strawberries, reduce heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes, or until mixture is thick.
- Pour over French toast and enjoy!
Nutritional information 1/2 cup serving (with 2 tablespoons syrup):
Calories: 325
Fat: 9 grams
Carbohydrates: 40 grams
Protein: 10 grams
Fiber: 2 grams
Weight Watchers Points: 7
all done 100% good.