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Overnight French Toast Casserole

Ingredients

1/4 cup (4 T.) butter, melted

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 loaf challah bread

8 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup whole milk

1 T. vanilla extract

1 t.  ground cinnamon

1/4 t.  ground ginger

1/2 cup pecans, measured then chopped

1/8 t. salt

maple syrup and powdered sugar for topping, optional

Directions

In a bowl, combine the brown sugar and melted butter. Pour in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Arrange slices of bread in the baking dish overlapping if necessary.

Combine milk, eggs, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a bowl. Pour evenly over bread slices. Sprinkle the chopped pecans over bread slices. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and take the casserole out of the fridge. Let the casserole sit to room temperature while oven preheats. Bake casserole for 30-35 minutes. If the top starts browning too quickly, place a foil loosely over the top of the casserole for about the last 10 minutes or so. Remove casserole from oven. Let it cool slightly before serving.

4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate

1/2 cup  butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2 whole  eggs

2 egg yolks

6 Tbsp.  flour

1/2 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping (optional)

HEAT oven to 425°F.
BUTTER 4 small custard cups; place on baking sheet.
MICROWAVE chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min. or until butter is melted; whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Add whole eggs and egg yolks; mix well. Stir in flour. Spoon into prepared cups.
BAKE 13 to 14 min. or until sides of desserts are firm but centers are still soft. Let stand 1 min. Carefully run small spatula or knife around cakes to loosen; invert into dessert plates.

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You'll need:

1/4 bar Ivory soap*

1/3 cup Borax

1/3 cup Washing Soda**

Water

A big bucket or plastic storage bin to mix your soap in

Storage containers of your preference (see my note below)

Funnel (optional)

Grate your soap. I use my food processor to make quick work of it, but a box grater would do just fine. In a medium sauce pan, combine the grated soap and 4 cups water. Place over medium-high heat, stirring until soap is completely melted. To the pan, add Borax and the washing soda, stirring until all ingredients have dissolved completely and mixture is a whitish color. Pour the soap mixture into your plastic bucket. To this, add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water, stirring thoroughly to combine. If desired, use a funnel to pour into the containers of your choosing.

Use about 1/2 cup per load.

*Many of the recipes I have found call for other, more obscure types of laundry-specific soap (Fels Naptha being one that comes to mind), but in doing this I wanted to avoid having to special-order any ingredients. The key here is to use a variety of soap that is as pure as possible, NOT greasy, and sans additives that boast "skin-moisturizing" qualities. The good news? The soaps that fit this bill tend to be very inexpensive!)

**This is not baking soda. I found mine at Kroger, where the stain-removing products are located.

A few more notes:

• This soap will not produce suds like you are used to seeing with commercial laundry detergents. Rest assured, it is not the bubbles that clean you garments, so their absence shouldn't be any cause for concern.
• This mixture will form a fairly liquidy gel, very unlike the homogenous type you are used to in standard laundry detergents. Again, this shouldn't be any cause for concern.
• I have tried a couple of storage options, and I am actually finding myself gravitating toward storing the prepared detergent in a 20-quart plastic storage bin with lid rather than in the vinegar bottles I used initially (and which are shown in the photos above). Even though the bin takes up more space in my laundry room, I find it much easier to re-stir the soap as needed with my measuring scoop rather than attempting to shake and then pour from those heavy bottles. (The gel tends to separate a bit after it sits for a while.) But that is just a matter of personal preference, and you can find a storage system that works for you.
• I probably do an average of 3 loads of laundry a day to keep up with the clothing/towel/etc. demands of my family of five, and the last batch I made using these measurements lasted me just shy of a month. Not bad, huh?

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