Pecan orange French toast: using up eggs for breakfast, without just cooking eggs!

What was for breakfast this morning? Well, I have a lot of eggs on hand, so....another very inexpensive and delicious meal, thanks to using several home sourced ingredients. Sweet pecan orange French toast, paired with spicy sausage zucchini patties. YUM! Read on for the recipe and pics!

I love periodically making this French toast, because it's the "overnight" kind, which equals saving preparation time AND having few dishes to wash up all at once. This is another Taste of Home recipe which can be found here. It has a bright citrusy taste, but isn't overpoweringly orange-y, and I've also added cinnamon to change the flavor a bit.

I didn't have a fresh orange on hand, so I substituted 1 teaspoon of dried orange peel for the tablespoon of grated peel

INGREDIENTS
4 eggs
2/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 slices Italian bread (1 inch thick)
1/3 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup chopped pecans

You can't beat $1 for a loaf of Italian bread at Kroger, especially when this recipe uses only half the loaf, but I need to try this with homemade bread sometime

Place the bread slices in an ungreased 9x13 baking dish or pan. In a small bowl, whisk together the first 7 ingredients.

My budding chef has lately begun cracking the eggs herself

Adding the sugar

Pour the mixture over the bread slices. Then either flip the slices or lift the edges to allow the mixture to flow underneath and coat the bottoms. Cover the pan, place in the refrigerator, and let sit overnight or all day, depending on which meal you're making it for--I've made this for dinner far more often than I have for breakfast! :) Flip the slices at some point midway through their soak time.

Wash the prep dishes and happily walk away

I had the fun of cracking the pecans myself. One of my siblings lives down South and has a yard full of giant mature pecan trees! When they came to visit, they brought some bags of their VERY bountiful harvest last year.... which I have no quibbles about cracking, because they are so sweet and juicy (not to mention free, haha). Who knew higher quality pecans actually oozed oil when you pick them out of the shells? I can't resist snacking on them as I work!

I digress....

When you're ready to make the French toast, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the butter on a 15"x10"x1" baking pan and stick it in the oven for a minute or so as it begins to preheat. Take it out when melted and tilt the pan to coat.

Add the bread slices, and top with pecans.

Bake 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. It's really tempting to take them out right when they're puffed and golden, like this pic, but wait until they actually start browning!

While the toast was baking this morning, I got out a package of hot and spicy sausage we bought last fall as part of a deal to purchase half of a friend's hog; as well as a package of zucchini from our garden last summer. I had shredded and frozen it by the cupful.

I simply mixed together the sausage, zucchini, another egg, and a couple tablespoonfuls of flour; formed them into patties about half an inch thick, and cooked them in an ungreased skillet over medium heat until no longer pink, flipping them over when browned on the first side. Pour off the fat occasionally.

Drizzle maple syrup over the French toast (my husband prefers powdered sugar)...

Breakfast is served!!

The sweet-spicy-nutty flavors in this bite were ohhhh soooo goooood!!!

ENJOY! And thank you for reading!