Today is Thursday and I'm pretty excited today. Had a winner at breakfast and I'm looking forward to dinner! But first, what did I pack for Eva's snack?  Today she got: strawberries, colby cheese cubes, yogurt, goldfish, carrot sticks, fish grahm crackers, and a home made chocolate chip cookie.  For Gerald's lunch, I didn't have leftovers and I'm out of soup in the freezer!! (gotta get crackin' on that, lol) So poor Gerald got: a Market Day turkey and cheese on pretzel sandwhich, whole wheat cheese and crackers, applesauce, grapes, and carrot sticks. I packed for breakfast in his Fit & Fresh: Kashi's 7 grain flakes, milk, and sliced bananas.

     Breakfast:  French Toast Cupcakes
     Lunch: left overs
     Dinner: Chicken and Italian Sausage Bake, spaghetti noodles

Breakfast was VERY yummy! I used blueberry bread instead of the cinnamon swirl bread, but the next time I make it, I'll use that. The one thing that I would do different is - I would whip up the egg mixture, then toss in the bread cubes, let them soak, THEN fill the muffin tins. My eggs kept running off of the cupcakes (the bread didn't soak it in fast enough). (I used those cute little tinfoil bakers as I could not, for the life of me, find any tinfoil cupcake liners! I know I have some SOMEWHERE!!)  Also, I doubled the recipe since this made 4. Each child ate 1 and I ate two, along with a breafast sausage patty. Guess what Gerald's getting for breakfast tomorrow?

French Toast Cupcake

Ingredients

• 4 teaspoons pure Maple Syrup
• 4 slices Cinnamon Raisin Bread
• 4 Eggland’s Best Large Eggs
• 1/2 cup 1% milk
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• --TOPPING--
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Place 4 foil cupcake liners in cupcake pan.  Place 1 teaspoon maple syrup in each of the four cupcake liners.
• Tear 1 slice of bread into smaller pieces and place in one of the cupcake liners.  Repeat for all 4.
• Mix eggs, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla extract well with wire whisk.
• Pour equally into each of the 4 cupcake liners.  Let sit 5 minutes so that bread can absorb the egg mixture.  While this is standing, mix together the topping and sprinkle ½ teaspoon over each cupcake.
• Bake for 25 minutes until puffed and golden.

Notes and Suggestions

Save valuable morning time by assembling the night before and placing in the refrigerator.  You can also bake ahead and simply warm in a toaster oven when ready to serve.   

Makes 4 servings

Nutritional Facts

1 Serving: Calories 213; Fat 6g (25.5% calories from fat); Protein 10g; Carbohydrate 28g; Dietary Fiber 1g; Cholesterol 213mg; Sodium 186mg.

Chicken and Italian Sausage Bake

Hands-On Time: 15 minutes
Ready In: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Yield: 4 Servings
Ingredients
1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
1 head of garlic, cloves separated, but still in their skins
1 pound of sweet chicken Italian sausage, each link cut into thirds
¼ cup olive oil
Juice from one lemon
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried sage, crumbled
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
½ cup dry white wine or chicken broth
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken (skin side up), garlic and sausage in a roasting pan. Season each piece of chicken with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with the herbs.
2. Squeeze lemon juice over the chicken, then drizzle the olive oil over everything in the pan. Shake the pan to distribute the oil a bit.
3. Place pan on a rack in the middle of the oven and bake for one hour, or until chicken is cooked through.
4. Place chicken, sausage and garlic on a large platter and cover with foil. If desired pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the drippings from the roasting pan, then place pan on a burner over medium heat. Add ½ cup of dry white wine or chicken broth and simmer until mixture is reduced by half. Serve alongside the chicken.