{Originally published on Chaos In The Kitchen}
first appeared on Blog Nosh Magazine on March 30, 2009

I love french toast. Our family has always made french toast for special breakfasts, more so than pancakes, eggs, or waffles. I have always enjoyed making it for the kids when they were little but now that we are so busy in the mornings before school we don’t have it very often. A great weekend recipe is a huge batch of french toast, with all the extras sliced into sticks and stashed in the freezer for the grab and go convenience of school mornings.

I made these with some indulgent challah bread but any Texas Toast or thick cut sliced bread will work. The nice thing is you can buy the ”priced to sell” stale bread since you will be soaking it in egg and frying it anyway.

{Originally Posted at Chaos in the Kitchen}

We don’t make many casseroles in the Chaos household. I have nothing against them but the kids don’t eat well when their food is all mixed up together. This is one of the few casseroles that I do make. It is like a lasagna in that it is not a quick, one dish meal-it requires making different things then assembling the final dish, but it isn’t difficult and it makes a TON. I usually take the opportunity to divide this into two smaller casseroles then I store one in the freezer for another night. The great thing is leftovers are just as wonderful, and you will have plenty of them.

This is another Greek dish that I cannot vouch for its authenticity. I will tell you though not to freak out about the cinnamon stick. It is not like putting ground cinnamon in the dish-please don’t do that!-it just imparts a subtle warm, richness to the beef. Honestly I can’t taste it at all, the meat just tastes meatier. Daddy Chaos says he can taste it but not enough to freak him out, he told the kids it was Christmas meat.

I love pastitsio. The meat sauce is flavorful and rich and the bechamel covered noodles are light and creamy. The edges get chewy and browned-a requirement for any good casserole. Try this for the first time on a chilly weekend when cooking and baking seem like the perfect afternoon activity and I promise you’ll be hooked after the first bite.

Pastitsio

serves 12, prep 1 hour, cook time 2 hours

Meat Sauce

• oil
• 2 onions, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 lbs ground beef, pork, lamb or combination
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes in puree
• 1/3 cup kalamata olives, chopped

{Originally published on Chaos In The Kitchen}

I love french toast. Our family has always made french toast for special breakfasts, more so than pancakes, eggs, or waffles. I have always enjoyed making it for the kids when they were little but now that we are so busy in the mornings before school we don’t have it very often. A great weekend recipe is a huge batch of french toast, with all the extras sliced into sticks and stashed in the freezer for the grab and go convenience of school mornings.

I made these with some indulgent challah bread but any Texas Toast or thick cut sliced bread will work. The nice thing is you can buy the ”priced to sell” stale bread since you will be soaking it in egg and frying it anyway.