Blueberry bagel french toast with sausage, grapes and hashbrowns. Photo by Frances Dinger.

Eating and cooking are two of my favorite things but both can be kind of an inconvenience while at college because of time and budgetary constraints. However, it doesn’t have to take hours to prepare a good meal and it really doesn’t have to cost all that much.

Through this series of posts, I will be bringing you good recipes that take under an hour to prepare and, in most cases, cost under $20. You can be cheap, strapped for cash and time and still make good food.

The first recipe for the series is a recent invention of mine: BLUEBERRY BAGEL BAKED FRENCH TOAST! It’s incredibly easy and incredibly delicious.

Ingredients:
3 blueberry bagels, sliced
3 eggs
3 tbs milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 tbs butter
Enough brown sugar to sprinkle on the bottom of a glass 9×12 inch pan

Directions:
1.) Preheat the oven to 375 F. Whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon.

2.)Before submerging the bagel halves in the egg mixture, melt the butter and spread on the bottom of the glass baking pan. Sprinkle the buttered pan with brown sugar, this will create a really delicious crunchy glaze on the french toast that makes syrup almost unnecessary.

3.) Dip the bagel halves in the egg mixture, coating both sides. Let the uncut side of the bagel half sit in the egg a little bit longer, as it doesn’t absorb moisture as quickly as the cut side. Place the bagels cut side down into the buttered and sugared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Whether or not the excess sugar at the bottom of the pan is caramelized is a pretty good indicator of whether the toast is done or not.

This recipe serves 3-6, depending on personal appetites and the number of sides offered. A slightly spicy breakfast sausage and fresh fruit goes well with this awesome toast.