Orange-Maple French Toast

I work constantly. I get up around 6:30, get dressed, make a quick breakfast, and start work at 7. At some point, I go into the office. I get more work done on the 40 minute metro ride in, work at my desk, leave, work on the ride home. I grab a quick dinner and get back to work until 9-10 at night, and then I go to bed. I am not exaggerating -- you (those of you who know him!) can ask my husband and he will be happy to verify, largely because he works the same hours!

Bear in mind, I am not even close to complaining. I work constantly because I love to work constantly. However, to keep up the pace, I need to make sure to steal a few moments to fuel up for each awesome day with an awesome breakfast. Today, I'd like to share with you a fun twist I whipped up on french toast -- orange-maple french toast.

Savory French Toast

I know this is a total shocker to you guys, but I have a pretty huge backlog of recipes and crafts to post here as I find the time. I was scanning through my photos, trying to figure out what to post  today, and realized I had yet to share with you one of my delicious triumphs: savory french toast.

One day, I came home from work with a very specific craving. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted. I only knew that it had to include eggs in some way -- but not whole or scrambled -- had to have carbs, and just needed to be savory. Obviously eggs + carbs immediately made me think of french toast, but french toast is usually sickly-sweet to me. I despaired of solving my craving dilemma momentarily before it occurred to me that there was no law against making savory french toast. Fortified by this thought, I went about developing a recipe.

Gingerbread french toast

When the boy took his LSATs (the first time -- second coming up in December!), I got up extra early to make him a ginormous breakfast that would keep him full through the long test. In addition to delicious sausage, I made him gingerbread french toast. This recipe--especially the orange fake-butter--was inspired by this recipe from And All the Trimmings, a cooking blog I have begun following.

"Brie" Stuffed French Toast

Aromas in Williamsburg, VA, has a heart-stoppingly delicious breakfast: Brie stuffed french toast. Everything about it is delicious. The cheese: melted and gooey. The overall taste: sweet yet savory. The boy was even kind enough to run out of the hotel and bring some back for me when I developed a hankering the next day.

When we started eating healthfully, I knew I would have to make a slimmed down version of this dish. We started with brie, but when we found out that no grocery store near us carried light brie, we switched to Camembert. I think this actually was a great idea, because the Camembert has more flavor in and of itself. As such, it stands up better in a slimmed-down version of stuffed french toast.