February is here! Huzzah!

I hate January. But it's over for the year, and boy, howdy, did it feel like it took forever. But now we are on to the shortest month of the year, happily it's also a winter month, because if any season of the year should be short-changed on days, it should be winter, and as a bonus it involves chocolate. What more can any growing girl want?

Anyway, on to my French Toast challenge. You may notice that I have been silent on the Taste of Home French toast. This is because my mother taught me that if I have nothing nice to say, I should say nothing at all.

And I'll be honest, at first I blamed the sharpness of the cream cheese for my intense dislike. The custard was so bland that all you got was a mouthfull of sharp, cheesy goo. Icky. But then this week, I used the Shop 'n Save Blueberry Surprise French Toast casserole recipe. It, too, has cream cheese, and I was hesitant. But I wasn't feeling the walnuts of Mr. Breakfast or the plain, sugary nature of the Skier's French Toast recipe, so I got some blueberries, bought way more cream cheese and went for it.

It crisped up nicely, although it looked nothing like the picture on the recipe website. But I figure that's because I haven't got a food stylist, and just got on with it. I tried it first without maple syrup on top, and it's alright. I mean, there's some syrup inside, so there's a hint of that flavor to begin with. But then I just went insane:

Sorry for the blur. My camera is, I believe, slowly but surely going down. It's almost 20 years old, so should anyone be surprised?

Anyway, that there is my first serving, which should tell you something, as I barely made it halfway through the Taste of Home version before chucking it and getting myself a bowl of cereal.

Anyway, the blueberries sort of cut the tang of the cream cheese (although, in the interest in honesty, I used Philadelphia's Neufschatel instead of actual full-fat cream cheese -- cream cheese was on sale 2 for $3, so they were out of the regular), and the whole blended with the sausage and maple syrup beautifully. And as a bonus, you get to say you got some vitamins. Not many, but blueberries. Don't certain overly-simplified nutrionists say that makes it health food?

I can see how this could be altered to include lots of other fruits and inclusions. You could carmelize some bananas in dark brown sugar and use that instead of both blueberries and cream cheese -- or just add it to. You could find a different berry that flipped your skirt up faster than blueberries and sub that. Go crazy.

This one is a serious contender for my Go-To Recipe.