Tonight reminds me of a Colts game that Adam and I went to with a couple friends. It was Sunday Night Football and we were playing the Patriots. It was a a big game for both of these reasons, so we had to get there and tailgate.
I wouldn’t go as far to say that Adam and I are Tailgate Pro’s… But, we are pretty experienced in the world of football tailgates. And, I don’t want to brag, but we do it pretty well.
We have done big set ups with friends and family. We have faced the elements of extreme heat and heavy snow.
And, that night, just before Thanksgiving, there were huge, heavy, wet snowflakes that fell over our tailgate and it became such a fun memory.
It was also fun because we didn’t have to get up super early to tailgate.
With many noon games on our team’s schedule, super early means SUPER. EARLY.
And, after 5 AM wake up calls and setting things up everyone needs a little sustainance. While it’s far from the traditional tailgate foods like wings and cheesy dips (and still a little too early, in my book…), breakfast is just the thing everyone needs.
When tailgating well you can’t just grab a plain old granola bar, instead breakfast should be part of the spread.
One of my favorite things to do is put a seasonal twist on traditional dishes, so during football season that means anything fall like pumpkin, warm spices and apples.
This crockpot French toast is brought to life by fresh, seasonal apples, but is perfect for an early morning at a tailgate because you can throw it all together the night before, set it on low followed by keep warm and it will ready to go come morning.
Or, if you have a baby that wakes up in the middle of the night you can prepare it then, too. Speaking from experience…
It’s also great for other fall events such as oh… Black Friday!?
- 10 cups of cubed 1 inch pieces of French Bread or Challah Bread
- 8 eggs
- 2 cups half and half
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 8 tablespoons butter, softened
- 3 apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup roughly chopped pecans
- Heat oven to 300 degrees.
- On a large cookie sheet, spread out the bread cubes and bake for 20-30 minutes until dry.
- Spray crockpot with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, combine all the french toast ingredients. Fold in the bread cubes to coat. Let stand for 15 minutes, folding occasionally.
- In a skilled, melt two tablespoons of the butter. Add the apples and cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.
- In a small bowl, stir together the remaining butter and remaining Apple Pecan Filling ingredients until crumbly.
- Add half of the french toast mixture to the bottom of the crockpot.
- Top with half of the Apple Pecan filling.
- Repeat once creating layers.
- Cover and cook for three hours on low.
- Scoop and enjoy! It's fun to top with powdered sugar or syrup.
YUM! That game was so fun. I will never forget how fast the snow fell and how wet it was and covered us instantly. I am going to make this recipe soon!