Oven French toast with berries

This is a delicious brunch dish to make, especially for Christmas, New Year's Day or any holiday when you don't want to fuss around the first thing in the morning. It's already prepared and just needs to be popped into the oven and baked!

Spray a 9x13" pan with nonstick spray.
Thinly slice up a loaf of French/Italian bread into 1/4" slices- there should be approx. 24 thin slices.
Have ready: 6-8 cups frozen (separated, not clumped together) berries - sprinkled & gently tossed with 1 Tblsp. cornstarch.

In a mixing bowl, measure and mix together:
2 cups milk (2% or whole)
1 cup half & half
1 cup dairy eggnog OR heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
6 extra large beaten eggs
1 teasp. vanilla

Pour 1/3 of the milk mixture on the bottom of the pan. Lay half the bread slices on top of the milk, overlapping the slices. Place half the berries evenly over the top of the bread.

Pour 1/3 of the milk mixture over the berries/bread. On top of that, lay the other half of the bread slices, overlapping as needed. Place the other half of the berries evenly over the bread.

Pour the remaining 1/3 of the milk mixture over the bread & berries. Cover with foil & refrigerate for 6 hours, or preferably, overnight.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the berry toast for 45 minutes, or until the middle is set and the top is golden. Serve with heavy cream or syrup, dusted with powdered sugar or topped with additional berries.

Sausage-egg-cheese breakfast bake

Here's another 'no-brainer' for holiday mornings or ANY morning!

Spray a 9 X 13" pan with nonstick spray.
Cube 8 slices of plain, white or LIGHT wheat bread. Scatter the bread cubes in the pan evenly.

Saute a 1# roll of loose breakfast sausage, breaking it apart as it cooks. Drain any excess fat from the pan, but leave a Tblsp. or 2 for flavor. Cool - break into small pcs. and spoon the sausage over the bread cubes evenly.

Sprinkle 1# of shredded co-jack cheese evenly over the bread & sausage.

In a mixing bowl, beat 8 eggs with 2 cups of milk. Add 1/4 tsp. pepper. You don't really need salt since the sausage is pretty salty already. Slowly pour the milk/eggs over the top of the pan mixture - let it sit for a couple minutes to absorb.

Cover with foil. Refrigerate several hours or preferably, overnight.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake - UNcovered - for 45-60 minutes, until the top is golden and the center is set.