Breakfast Bread Pudding

Back when I was looking for a savory French toast recipe, I stumbled upon this French toast casserole from Unhealthy Vegan (no offense, but it’s not really that unhealthy!) Also I really think it’s more like a bread pudding. But it can be savory or sweet, vegan, gluten free if you want, and just amazing comfort food!

Here’s the basics:
Tear up bread and put it in a casserole dish
Mix together:
– pumpkin
– almond milk
– corn starch (I used ground flax seed because I don’t have corn starch, or tapioca flour, or arrowroot, or anything you would normally substitute, but I remembered using whipped flax meal and water in place of an egg once… I don’t know what difference it made or didn’t make)
– cinnamon and vanilla (she says to do all the typical pumpkin pie spices, but I am lacking)
– and anything else you want. I added pumpkin seeds and pecan pieces; cranberries or raisins would have been good too. You can also make it savory with sautéed onions or whatever. And she also recommends things like ginger.

I also used coconut oil to dot the top (and grease the pan) instead of earth balance. Earth balance is pretty delicious, with it’s slightly salty flavor, and it’s kind of like the-more-the-merrier. Not so with coconut oil – I just think it’s heavier, so make sure not to add toooo much, and sprinkle some salt on top too.

Also, if you’re not going full-on savory, it really does need a touch of sweetness (I’ve made that mistake before) so I just swirled a bit of maple syrup on the top after it was done, and called it a day.

Perfect warmed up on a cold morning. Throw a few spoonfuls in a pan and let them crisp up! I’m a little sad I can’t just go eat more of it for dinner, too.