French Toast

How to make a Monday more bearable? Why, starting with a delicious breakfast. Trust me, it's completely worth waking up an extra half hour early. I know Sunday is traditionally the morning of large, lazy brunches, but there's no better way to jump back into the week than fueled with a tasty mix of fruit and carbs. Since Lent begins this week, why not start the week with a breakfast appropriate last hurrah to sweets? May I present, chocolate french toast.

Chocolate French Toast (via Cooking Cache)
Ingredients

3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon of salt
12 slices day old bread, crusts removed
3 milk chocolate candy bars* (1.55 ounces each), halved
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
confectioner's sugar


Directions
1. In a bowl, beat eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Pour half into an ungreased 13x9x2 inch baking dish.
2. Arrange six slices of bread in a single layer over egg mixture. Place one piece of chocolate in the center of each piece of bread. Top with remaining bread; pour remaining egg mixture over all. Let stand for 5 minutes. 3. In a large nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Fry sandwiches until golden brown on both sides. Dust with confectioner's sugar. Cut sandwiches diagonally; serve warm. 

Image via Jenny Jones

Poptarts-on-a-Stick

Poptarts are a college culinary convenience. For those morning lectures when twenty extra minutes of sleep is much more appealing that a nutritious breakfast, they provided a much needed A.M. sugar influx.

Poptarts-on-a-Stick? Simply genius.

They're a perfect mix of kitsch and cute. With fresh cherries, they're much more delicious than your typical breakfast pastry, but the prepared pie crust makes them functionally easy to make.

The recipe's below the jump.