Project: Leftover Baguette

I hate wasting food and after having several loaves of  so-so tasting baguettes leftover from my baguette recipe review I decided that there were really only two things to make...gf garlic bread and gf french toast bake.  Yum!

We love meatballs and spaghetti in our house so I decided to make some spaghetti sauce and attempt a pinterest recipe for eggplant meatballs to eat with our gf garlic bread.   I have to say this meal was so much fun to make.  The meatballs were great and it was fantastic to use up all of the eggplant I have been growing in my garden.

eggplant growing in my garden

The meatballs are not gluten free, but to make them gf I subbed gf panko for the flour and a tablespoon of brown rice flour to the mix. They were still sticky, but they worked.  In the future I might add some cornstarch to them as well.  They look kind of strange in this picture, but I can say that they were yummy and my kids gobbled them up.  It also goes with out saying that the garlic bread was a hit. I spread some olive oil, minced garlic, and Parmesan on the loaves and put them in the oven on broil for a few minutes until they browned.   Super easy and quick to make.  Plus not so great gf french bread turned into pretty good garlic bread.  

gf garlic bread and eggplant meatballs 

As  the meatballs and  garlic bread were cooking I sliced the remaining loaf of baguette for my favorite french toast bake recipe by Ellie Krieger.  I have made this recipe for many brunches in the past and it was always a big hit. First of all I love anything by Ellie Krieger (she is so talented) and secondly I love to wake up to the scent of french toast in the morning.  So I assembled the french toast bake and put it in the fridge to soak overnight.  

french toast bake

I awoke early the next day to get the french toast bake in the oven before the kiddos woke up.  My kids wake up famished every morning so I knew that they definitely were not going to wait for the french toast to bake roughly 45 mins.  The bake time also gave me good motivation to put on some workout gear and head to my basement for a walk on the treadmill while the french toast did it's thing. 

The french toast bake was as tasty as I remembered and was enjoyed by all.  And I can honestly say that I couldn't detect that gf bread was used in place of the usual french bread in this recipe. Note that I left out the almonds and added some raspberries to the mix.  Delicious. If only french toast was calorie free.  I will have to work on that.  

slice of gf french toast bake