French Toast Pie (Breakfast!)

It turns out that Betty Crocker is NOT a real person, she is a name thought up to sound homey and like some sort of reliable source for domestic things. Oh well. Despite this huge blow, I still mustered up the courage to enter the kitchen this morning and make the French Toast Pie. It sort of sounded like a lot of work when I was making the candied almonds myself but it turns out that it's not at all hard or time consuming to candy nuts. Who knew?! I did do the nuts the day before though, that probably saved time...

Dave requested that I mention how much he really liked this one because he thought I was making him sound really negative about my cooking. So Dave thought it was the most delicious breakfast he has ever had the pleasure to ingest. Jo looked at me during breakfast and said, "Mommy, you make the best French Toast in the world!" I don't know how many other times she's eaten French Toast but I'm going to graciously accept the compliment and assume she is right.

French Toast Pie

Ingredients
5 slices sourdough bread
2 eggs + 1 egg white
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups (chopped) candied almonds*
1 microwave baked apple**
Butter for non-sticking a pan

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400. Whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Slice the bread into strips and soak for 2 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, butter a pie pan and sprinkle 1/2 of the crushed almonds over the bottom.

3. Arrange half of the bread slices in the pan and top with the apple pieces. Layer the remaining bread on top and then sprinkle the top with the remaining almonds. Bake 15 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve with syrup if you are so inclined.

*Make some nuts: 1/2 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 1 Tbsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp salt. Mix together and heat in saucepan over medium high until boiling. Add 2 cups of any kind of nut you like (almonds) and stir constantly until almost all liquid is gone. Spread on wax paper and separate with a fork to dry (15 minutes)

**Microwave an apple: Cut apple into bite-sized pieces, place in a microwave safe container with a tiny drizzle of water and as much cinnamon as you see fit. Microwave for 2 minutes. Done!