In my kitchen – Page 3 – Plain and Not So Plain

large family food idea– breakfast–baked overnight french toast

amy / 10/30/2013

large family food idea–breakfast–baked overnight french toast

I have found that making meals for a large family, really isn’t that much different than making it for a smaller sized family. Around our household, we make a breakfast meal once a week. One thing our family enjoys is french toast. We usually use our skillet and fry the toast on top of that. It can sometimes be a task that takes up much of my meal prep time, especially when you have to go through 2 loaves of bread.

I wanted a simplier way. When trying to plan large family food ideas I wanted to incorporate french toast into the mix, but I wanted it to be easier to make, otherwise I probably wouldn’t want to make it. I have found this baked overnight french toast recipe and we love it. I make it the day before and then refrigerate it. When it is time to cook dinner, we pop it in the oven. No prep for Mom! Very simple to make.

1 1/2 sticks butter
1 c brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
12 slices of bread
2 cups of milk
10 eggs

What I do first, since we don’t own a microwave, is I melt my stick of butters in a 9×13 pan.

While that is melting I mix up my eggs and milk.

After the butter is melted, I stir into it 1 cup of brown sugar. Spread it across the bottom of your pan to cover. I then sprinkle it with cinnamon. Place 12 slices of bread on top of the sugar mixture. Put bread 2 slices high in pan.

Pour your egg/milk mixture over top of your bread.

Wrap in foil and then refrigerate overnight. In the morning or evening, depending upon when you are going to serve your meal, place in 350 and cook for 45 minutes. This will puff right up out of the pan.

To serve cut sandwiches and then invert them onto a plate. No need for syrup, it makes its own. Our size family goes through 2 pans of this meal. Very delicious!

large family food idea snacks homemade hummus and pita chips

This is a favorite large family food idea in our household. We make this at the minimum of once per week.

I used to buy hummus at the store and spend an arm and a leg on it. After having so many children I realized that this was not going to be a frugal purchase for me, so I had to do without. Until one day, I came across a recipe to make your own hummus………hello?? Why didn’t I think of that??

This is super easy to make and my children gobble it up. It is sooooooo good for them, another snack that I don’t mind feeding to them, along with those energy bites.

Homemade hummus

2 cans garbanzo beans
4 teaspoons of minced cloves of garlic, less if you don’t want it so garlicky
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 T olive oil
4 T peanut butter
1 teaspoon cumin

In a food processor or blender add 2 cans of garbanzo beans, drain one can and leave the other can full of liquid

add your garlic

add your peanut butter

add your lemon juice and olive oil

add your cumin

puree your ingredients all together

that is it!!! super easy and tastes delicious! You can leave this out on the counter and let your flavors mix together a bit. We love it, the children dip their vegetables, pretzels, or pita chips into it. We also spread it on pita bread, add some shredded carrot, green onion, and shredded cheese for a healthy sandwich.

To make homemade pita chips, we wipe on some olive oil onto pita, add some spices, basil, oregano, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese. Bake in 400 oven until crisp. To serve we cut apart with scissors.