Because choralgirl asked: Eggnog French Toast

Here's what we had Christmas morning

Eggnog French Toast

1/2 cup brown sugar (I cut this a lot)
1/4 cup butter, melted (ditto)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, divided
1 large tart cooking apple, like Granny Smith, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 loaf Italian or French bread, cut into 1 inch slices (note: I simply used cinnamon bread)
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk (note: I substituted good quality eggnog, a little over 1 cup, for the eggs and milk here)
1/2 TB vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Combine brown sugar, butter and 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a baking dish (Note: the original recipe served twelve and was baked in a 13x9 pan. Since I cut it in half to make six servings, I used my smaller oval corning ware baker. I suppose an 8x8 pan would do). Add apples and cranberries, toss well to coat. Spread apple mixture evenly over bottom of baking dish. Arrange slices of bread on top.
2. Mix eggs, milk, [or: eggnog] vanilla, and remaining 1 tsp cinnamon until well blended. Pour mixture over bread, soaking bread completely. Cover and refrigerate 4 to 24 hours.
3. Bake, covered with aluminum foil in a preheated oven 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake 5 minutes. Remove from oven, let stand 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Makes 6 servings. Prep time: 20 minutes. Cook time: 45 minutes

My New Year resolution

In the year 2006 I resolve to: Get no less than 4 speeding tickets.. Get your resolution here

Today's tip

A quick blast of cooking spray, like Pam, will prevent snow from sticking to your snow shovel.

Give me a clever tip that makes your life easier. Any subject.

2006 will be my thirty-second year of keeping a paper journal

I learned about the LJ community embodiment from dreamflower02 (note: if you want to join, join now: they are locking down membership on Jan 1), and this is the intro entry I posted there.

I started keeping a daily paper journal when I was fourteen; this year I will turn 46. I used to use a journal sold at Woolworths. When all the Woolworths in my area went out of business, I started using the At-A-Glance model SD-385:



I think the fact that I have kept a journal so long and so faithfully is a large part of the reason I went on to become a published novelist. Certainly I learned how to quickly delineate scenes, characters, dialogue. It has been integral to the cultivation of my inner mind.

An issue which I have had to consider is what to do with all my journals after I die. My husband will be allowed to read them if he survives me, and my girls after they reach the age of 21. Other than that, I don't know. I suppose it might be an issue if I have enough of a literary legacy that they are of interest to scholars, or perhaps they might be of interest to a historical society.

I have been very faithful. I will skip a day now and then, but I probably make an entry 95% of the time. Probably the longest period of time I have missed was two weeks.

I keep a Moleskine book in my purse and use those for jotting down notes, phone numbers, bits from books I'm reading in bookstores but don't want to buy.

And I keep this LiveJournal, and I print out entries having to do with my family life or my children and bind those. So I'm living a pretty well-documented life.