Let's Cook! Stuffed French Toast

Do you any of you still have a major stockpile of cream cheese hanging out in your fridge? I sure do! Here's a yummy recipe to use up some of that cream cheese.

This is one of my favorite breakfast recipes to feed a crowd. First of all, you do all the messy prep work the night before so in the morning, all you have to do is pop it in the oven and everyone will sing your praises when the beautiful puffy creation comes out of your oven!

STUFFED FRENCH TOAST

12-16 slices bread with crust - White bread or fresh french bread works best

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese - I microwave mine so it's thin and easy to spread

1 doz. eggs

2 c. milk

1/3 c. maple syrup

ground cinnamon

Cut bread into cubes and place 1/2 in 9 x 13 inch casserole dish. Spread/pour cream cheese over top of bread already in the pan, add remaining bread. Whip eggs, milk and syrup together; pour over entire area. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Cover with plastic and let sit overnight in refrigerator. Remove plastic for baking. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Serve with warm butter, maple syrup, and powdered sugar for sprinkling - yum!

 

Here are the ingredients I used:

I meant to snap a picture of it all ready to sit in the fridge overnight, but I forgot. And I also forgot to take a picture of it before I popped it in the oven the next morning! Imagine little pieces of bread and cream cheese floating around a soupy mixture of eggs, milk, & syrup.

Here it is fresh out of the oven, but not before a couple of eager beavers grabbed their share. I don't blame them.... it is that good.

A closer shot...

Enjoy!

AZ Blog Hop: Free Movies in the Park!

Have you ever taken your family to see a movie in the park? It's a ton of fun and now that it's starting to cool down a bit, it won't be miserably hot outside!

The movies in the park have died down over the summer due to the heat, but they are starting back up again! This Saturday, 9/11 at 7pm at the Fountain Park Amphitheater in Fountain Hills, the Fountain Hills Community Services will be presenting the Walt Disney Film "UP" on a 3 story foot screen. There is no cost to attend the movie, but refreshments will be available for purchase, such as hot dogs, beverages, candy, and popcorn.

Tomorrow night, Goodyear Community Park is also hosting the same movie, "UP"! Seating starts at 5:30pm, the show starts at 6:30pm.

If Fountain Hills or Goodyear is too far from your home, keep checking your local papers and city websites for events closer to you. As the fall temperatures cool things down, more outdoor activities will start popping up.

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My Favorite Deals - 9/8/10 edition

ALL COUPONS AT SAFEWAY & FRY'S ARE WORTH $1.00!

FRY'S IS ACCEPTING COMPETITOR COUPONS!

CHEAPEST GALLON OF MILK: 1.67 at Albie's

CHEAPEST EGGS: 1.99 18 ct. Lucerne eggs at Safeway (in-ad Q)

CHEAPEST BREAD: 1.25 Ovenjoy Sandwich Bread at Safeway

For complete coupon match-ups, click here to view Pinching Your Pennies.

All coupons are worth $1 at Albie's this week!

Shopping Albertson's - The Arizona Savings Way

View weekly ad here!

A few freebies at Albie's...

1.00 Butterball Turkey Bacon
-1.00/1 IPQ - print here
FREE

1.00 Breyer's Ice Cream
-1.00/1 tearpad MQ found at Circle K
FREE - assuming these are the pint size or larger

1.00 Combos
-1.00/1 Combos 13 oz + IPQ - print here
FREE - assuming the 1.00 Combos are 13 oz. or larger
Thanks Sheryl!

1.00 Marcal Single Paper Towel
-1.00/1 MQ 8/22 SS
FREE

1.00 Marcal Toilet Paper (4 roll) or Tissue
-1.00/1 MQ 8/22 SS
FREE


1.00 Tony's Pizza
-1.00/2 Tony's Pizza IPQ - print here
.50 each wyb 2

1.67 Dannon Danonino, DanActive, Activia, Danimals Yogurt
-1.00/1 Activia Dessert MQ 8/29 SS
-1.00/1 Danimals Smoothie, Crush Cup or Coolision MQ 08/15 SS
-1.00/1 Dan-o-nino IPQ - print here or here
-1.00/1 Activia IPQ - print here
.66 each
The Danoninos are not free, but these are great for my 2 year old. Perfect serving size and its super thick so she can feed herself and it doesn't slide off her spoon before it gets in her mouth.

OTHER AWESOME DEALS:
1.67 gallon Albie's milk (limit 2)
.79/lb. seedless grapes
1.49 Prego Pasta Sauce
BOGO Jennie O Fresh Sliced Deli Turkey (4.99/lb.)
BOGO makes it 2.49/lb AWESOME PRICE!

Manufacturer's coupons are doubled up to $1 at Bashas' every day!

Shopping Bashas' - The Arizona Savings Way

View weekly ad here!

Not much going on at Bashas' this week...

1.50 Wish-Bone Salad Dressing or Spritzers
-.50/1 IPQ - print here or here
.50

1.99 Mott's Apple Juice
-2.00/2 Mott's Apple Juice 64 oz from Safeway MDA Coupon booklet
1.00 each wyb 2

OTHER AWESOME DEALS:
.77/lb. Utah peaches or California Gala Apples
.87 Bashas' 1/2 gallon milk
1.67/lb. fresh round ground beef (sold in 5 lb. + value pack)

All coupons under $1 equal $1 again this week!

Fry's is accepting competitor's coupons for a limited time!

Bring your reusable bags for a 5 cent discount per bag!

Shopping Fry's - The Arizona Savings Way

View weekly ad here

I am not very impressed by the "Cart Buster" event. This is a much slower week than the past few weeks at Fry's.

1.99 Hostess Snacks
-.50/1 Hostess Muffins Target IPQ - is this a Target coupon or a MQ?
-.50/1 peelie MQ found this week at Fry's
.99 MQ only, .49 if Target IPQ is a Target coupon


1.99 Wesson Cooking Oil or Pam Cooking Spray
-.35/1 Pam Cooking Spray MQ 8/29 SS
.99


OTHER AWESOME DEALS:
.50/lb. Gala apples or Bartlett Pears
.77 Hass Avocados
1.67/lb. boneless skinless chicken breast
1.77 Fry's milk gallon

All coupons under $1 equal $1 again this week!

View Safeway's NEW coupon policy here!

Shopping Safeway - The Arizona Savings Way

View weekly ad here!

Some cheap items at Safeway, but I am not even going to bother typing up their cereal extravaganza. It's not really an extravaganza at all.

1.09 Kozy Shack Pudding, 6 oz.
-.55/1 MQ 6/6 SS
.09
 
1.25 Trident Gum
-.50/1 IPQ - print here
.25

1.25 Fage Greek Yogurt
-.50/1 IPQ or 1.00/1 IPQ
.25
 
1.25 Sunny D
-.25/1 MQ 8/8 SS
.25

1.99 Welch's Healthy Start Juice (with in-ad Q)
-1.50/1 IPQ - print here
.49
Thanks Anon!
1.29 Mission Tortilla Chips (in-ad Q)
-.55/1 MQ from Safeway MDA coupon booklet
-.55/1 EQ - load here
.29 with MQ only, possible .26 overage combining both MQ & EQ



OTHER AWESOME DEALS:
.88 Hass avocados - SATURDAY, SUNDAY, & MONDAY ONLY
.77 Pepsi or 7-Up 2 liter- SATURDAY, SUNDAY, & MONDAY ONLY
.99 Ragu Pasta Sauce wyb 5
1.29 Safeway Apple Juice (in-ad Q) - limit 4
.59 Del Monte Canned Veggies (in-ad Q) - limit 6
1.99 Lucerne Large Eggs (in-ad Q) - limit 2
3.99 DiGiorno Pizza (in-ad Q) - limit 3

WHAT OTHER DEALS ARE YOU DOING THIS WEEK?

A Labor Day Fry's Run!

 Well, I decided to get out of my laid off funk and head out for a Fry's run. I wanted to use this Fresh & Easy $10 off $50 internet printable before it expires tomorrow, plus the Dr. Pepper deal is pretty awesome.

1.00 Dole Salad

-.75/1 IPQ - print here

FREE

1.00 Minute Maid Frozen Limeade Cups (5)

-.75/1 MQ 7/25 RP (5)

5 FREE

1.19 Bounty Basic Paper Towels (3)

-.25/1 MQ 8/29 PG (3)

-1.00/1 P&G EQ - load here

.43 overage for all 3

2.19 Fry's gallon milk (2)

1.00 Teddy Grahams cups (2) - I paid for these

3.19 Oreos (2) - I got these free - no size restriction on which one you pay for!

-Free Nabisco cookies wyb one package of Nabisco cookies (no size restriction) plus a gallon of milk

This coupon is only available for printing today and for the first 75,000 Facebook fans!

6.38 for all 6 items... but I was buying the milk anyway, so this was a great deal for me!

1.19 Martha White Muffin Mix (2)

-.35/1 IPQ (2) - print here

.19 each

2.99 Let's Grow Gerber Fruit Snacks

-Free home mailer MQ

FREE

1.00 American Beauty Pasta (5)

-.55/1 IPQ (2) - print here

-.50/1 peelie (3)

5 FREE

1.00 Ronzoni Pasta (3)

-.55/1 IPQ (3) - print here

3 FREE

2.25 Dr. Pepper 12 pk (4)

-1.00/1 Target IPQ (4) - print here

-1.00/2 peelie MQ found on 12 pk (2)

-.50/1 Fry's EQ - load here

2.50 for all 4 or .63 each

These are the things I needed and also helped me get to the $50 mark...

.88 Fry's bread

1.39 Fry's eggs

1.47 Fry's bleach

-.20 discount for using 4 reusable bags.

Subtotal after EQs, but before MQs = 50.08

Handed over $10 off $50 first, then all other coupons.

3.46 subtotal + .54 tax = 4.00 total paid with Fry's gift card

Hope you are all enjoying your Labor Day with family & friends!

A New Day

I am so overwhelmed by all of your sweet comments & emails. I feel so much love and support from all of my blog friends. A lot of you had fantastic suggestions and ideas and even some job leads for my husband and I. We still aren't sure what we are going to do with this new curveball life has thrown at us, but somehow time and sleep has helped improve my outlook about this whole situation.

Seeing this today has also reset my perspective on life...

We had our 19 week ultrasound today and found out we are having another girl - and most importantly, she is perfectly healthy. I don't know why we are having these trials in our life right now, but I do have beautiful, healthy children, a husband who would walk over hot coals for me, and love in my home. I have no idea what our situation will look like in 6 months, but I think I'm pretty lucky.

Some of you asked what our experience is so you can keep your eyes and ears open for job leads. I appreciate that offer so much, so let me give you some details...

I have lots of customer service experience (new home-building industry), CRM/database implementation & maintenance, and even some medical billing and transcription. Pretty much, any kind of office work is right up my alley.

My husband is a fixed wing pilot. His flight experience has been in freight, flying cargo to various destinations. He was also previously employed as a flight instructor. He has over 3000 hours of multi-engine time and is anxious to get back in the cockpit. He loves flying.

I will post my Arizona Blog Hop feature this evening, but I wanted to make sure to respond to all of your amazing notes of encouragement. I can feel your prayers lifting my spirits and helping me see the big picture. I haven't met most of you, but that makes it even more meaningful that you all would care so much about my family and I. I heart you all! :)

My Rainy Day Has Arrived...

Bad news ... I got laid off yesterday from my job.

If you've been a reader for any length of time, you know how devastating this news is to our family. My husband has been an out-of-work pilot for over a year and has been staying home with our 2 year old daughter. So, my job was our only source of income and health insurance.

And now that I am 5 months pregnant (and showing) it will be very difficult for me to find new employment and more importantly, new health insurance for this new baby coming in January.

To say I am a little stressed is an understatement. I probably won't be posting a ton this week as I search for a new job. If I make any shopping trips, I'll post those but I am not going to write up "My Favorite Deals" list this week.

UPDATE- DON'T WORRY! I WILL DO "MY FAVORITE DEALS" NEXT WEEK, I'M JUST TAKING THIS WEEK OFF TO GET MY BEARINGS. SOME OF YOU LEFT SOME COMMENTS EXPRESSING SADNESS THAT I WOULDN'T BE DOING THEM ANYMORE AT ALL, SO I WANTED TO CLARIFY. I NEED THOSE FAVORITE DEALS NOW MORE THAN EVER!

Sorry to be a downer, but this is why I coupon and stockpile! So, when the rainy day comes I can at least continue to feed my family!