Blueberry French Toast

        

     
           Breakfast for me is the most important meal of the day. If you think of it, it literally means “breaking the fast” after a good night’s sleep. That’s why it should be packed with    things that boost your metabolism and give you energy that will help to stay on a track throughout the day (well, at least, till lunchtime!). Ideally it should include some protein, grains, dairy products and vegetables or fruits. Let me give you a perfect example of a combination of these groups of food – a French toast: slices of bread soaked in eggs and milk and served with some veggies or fruits. I have a number of recipes for different varieties of toasts (both savoury and sweet) that I often use when I want to serve something nutritious and delicious for breakfast. The last one I tried was a blueberry and cream cheese stuffed. Yes, I know, mentioning it definitely evokes the image of a luscious cheesecake topped with blueberry compote. Well, the French toast actually tasted very much like the all-favourite dessert but, of course, was a more suitable option for the start of the day: full of vitamin-packed and rich in antioxidants blueberries, slowly baked in the oven with as little butter as possible, it was definitely a guilt-free indulgence!

Ingredients:

8 slices of bread, crust removed

4 eggs

300 ml milk

250 gm blueberries

160 gm cream cheese, room temperature

3 tbsp butter

2 tbsp vanilla sugar

Method

1. Use 1 tbsp butter to grease a square dish. Make a layer of 4 slices of bread at the bottom, spread cream cheese, arrange blueberries and top with the remaining slices of bread. In a bowl, whisk eggs with milk till just combined, pour over the bread slices and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C. Put the dish with the toasts in it and bake, covered, for half an hour, remove the foil, dot the top with the remaining butter, sprinkle with the sugar and return to the oven for 15 minutes more or until golden brown.
3. Remove the toasts from the baking dish, cut into triangles and serve hot with blueberry jam and/or blueberry yoghurt.

Notes:

1.      You can bake the toasts a day before and reheat them in the morning. They will definitely taste good as well, but won’t be as puffy as when they come straight out from the oven.

2.      Strange as it may sound, my husband especially enjoyed his mint spring that was used simply as garnish. Actually I also found the combination and blueberries and mint quite refreshing, so next time I’m planning to try to put some chopped leaves in the stuffing.