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Sunday, June 22, 2025

Welcome To Maria’s Menu Picks! Meal Ideas, Recipes, and Sharing Your Favorite Recipes

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Fancy Breakfast Bake credit Recipe Saver

Good morning! Maria’s Menu Picks is a new, featured “column” on Lake Wales Daily, bringing you recipes, meal, ideas, and more. sometimes coming up with new meal ideas is a challenge. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, appetizers, dinner, or desserts, we hope to inspire you here to bring quality meal ideas back to the table.

And there’s more! I encourage you to submit your favorite recipes so that our community may share in the deliciousness you find at your own table. Recipes should include a full list of ingredients with quantities, a list of directions, and a photo for consideration. Email your submissions to [email protected]. I look forward to seeing what you’re cooking up in your own kitchen!


Family Breakfast Bake

The Fancy Breakfast Bake is a high-class casserole for all you early birds! It transforms one of French cuisine’s most elegant sandwiches, the croque monsieur, into a sliceable sunny sensation! Each sandwich is loaded with succulent ham and smoky Gruyère cheese, and then dipped into a savory egg custard to mimic the classic handheld. Then it’s all baked until golden, with juicy tomatoes on top for a burst of freshness!

Ingredients

8 slices deli ham

4 slices Gruyère cheese

8 slices white bread

6 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard

salt, to taste

black pepper, to taste

1/2 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

mozzarella cheese, optional, to taste, shredded

5 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved, for topping

fresh parsley leaves, optional, to taste, for topping

Directions

Step 1 -Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Step 2 -Evenly layer the ham slices and the Gruyère slices on 4 slices of the bread. Using the remaining 4 slices of the bread, close the ham sandwiches.

Step 3 -Cut each of the ham sandwiches in half diagonally. 

Step 4 -In a large bowl, add the eggs, the milk, the Dijon mustard, the salt, and the black pepper and whisk to combine. 

Step 5 -Add the chopped onions and the garlic to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. 

Step 6 -Dip each of the sandwich halves into the egg mixture, ensuring to coat all sides completely. 

Step 7 -In an 8-inch square baking dish, arrange the sandwich halves in two rows, with the flat, cut-side down and the corners facing up. The rows will overlap slightly.

Step 8 -Pour the remaining egg mixture over the sandwich halves. 

Step 9 -Sprinkle the mozzarella over top of the sandwich halves. 

Step 10 -Let the baking dish stand for 10 minutes. 

Step 11 -Bake until the top is golden and crisp, about 40-50 minutes. 

Step 12 -Sprinkle the bake with the tomato halves and the parsley and serve.

author avatar
Maria Iannucci

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