Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

Strawberries and cream in a brunch casserole

Recipe: Treat Mom or yourself to an easy spring dish

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED MAY 1, 2022

Strawberries and cream cheese star in a casserole

prepared ahead of time. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

Do we need another way to celebrate spring and enjoy strawberries? I definitely think so, and was thrilled to find this recipe at Sally's Baking Addiction for an easy overnight brunch casserole. Certainly easier than regular French toast, it's perfect for Mother's Day (hint, hint) or any brunch occasion this season.

My version below makes enough for 4 to 6 people, depending on what else is served, but as the original shows it's easily doubled and baked in a 9-by-11-inch baking dish. I used a little over half of an artisan sourdough loaf and baked it in 9-inch pan, but the quantities are easily adjusted for whatever you have. This also can be made with blueberries, blackberries or (just coming in to season) fresh cherries.

The cream cheese in the recipe makes it special, and the resulting sweet creaminess eliminates the need to pour syrup over the whole thing. (OK, if you like maple syrup, go for it.)

Strawberries and cream French toast casserole

Serve 4-6

Once the bread is cubed, this all goes together quickly.

Ingredients:

6 to 8 cups of day-old bread, such as sourdough, french or challah, cut into 1-inch cubes

4 ounces full-fat block cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract, divided

1 cup of half and half, whole milk or nondairy milk

4 eggs

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup hulled fresh strawberries, sliced or chopped

Optional pre-bake toppings: Demerara sugar or cinnamon sugar

Optional accompaniments: Powdered sugar, maple syrup or more chopped berries

Instructions:

Grease an 8-inch or 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray or butter. Put half to two-thirds of the bread cubes evenly across the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

Whisk or stir together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla until thoroughly mixed and light.

Dab spoonfuls of the cream cheese across the bread cubes. Spread the strawberries over the bread, saving some out for garnish if desired. Add the rest of the bread cubes.

Baked and ready to serve, with syrup or not.

Whisk together the milk, eggs, cinnamon, brown sugar and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Pour this mixture over the bread. Gently press the top cubes down into the liquid. Cover pan tightly with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.

When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove the cover on the pan. Sprinkle Demerara sugar or cinnamon sugar over the top, if using, and bake 30-35 minutes until golden brown.

Let cool at least 5 minutes and serve, topped with powdered sugar, if desired. Pass syrup and/or additional berries as desired.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

baking recipes Sacramento produce management brunch strawberries gardening farmers markets produce breakfast spring Mother's Day

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Aug. 25: Crape myrtles, Sacramento's unofficial tree of summer

Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

Local News

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

Find our summer recipes here!

Sites We Like

Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com

Taste Spring! E-cookbook