If you aren’t making efforts to live a more sustainable life, then you’re surely living under a rock! There is so much food wastage in this country. How much exactly? Nearly 40% of US food supply is wasted. FORTY percent.

Still so much is unnecessarily wasted, while many go hungry and rely on food stamps just to eat. If I get into this with any more detail, my blog post on a new recipe will turn into a depressing research paper that’ll leave you feeling hopeless. So rather than do that, I want to provide you creative ways on helping reduce food wastage and practicing a more sustainable life.

Enter: Baked Pumpkin French Toast with Brown Sugar Caramel Drizzle. This dish is made with stale bread. Bread that you would normally throw away, can be reincarnated into this delectable French Toast. Basically, my stale bread has converted to Hinduism and taken on a new life. Duh!

This dish is PERFECT to make in advance or for meal prepping! Can be made on a Sunday and eaten throughout the week. I absolutely love the ease of it.

So, think twice before tossing out that stale bread. Because there are so many great ways you can use it. Now, indulge yourself in this delicious Baked Pumpkin French Toast! Enjoy!

Baked Pumpkin French Toast:

• 1 loaf stale French/Italian/sourdough loaf
• 1 cup plain oat mylk
• 1/4 cup plain oat/coconut mylk creamer or half&half
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 3 tbsp ground flaxseed + 9 tbsp water
• 1/4 cup raw cane sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of kosher salt
• couple tbsp mini chocolate chips (optional)
• couple tbsp lightly toasted chopped pecans (optional)

Brown Sugar Caramel Drizzle:

• 4 oz vegan butter at room temp
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• pinch of kosher salt
• 2-3 tbsp oat mylk creamer/half&half

1. Rejuvenate the bread. Take your bread and place in a large bowl/shallow dish. Pour over about 1/2 cup oat milk (or to coat). After about 10 minutes when it’s soft, break it apart into bigger chunks and continue soaking for another 10 minutes.

2. Prepare your “eggs.” Mix ground flaxseeds with 9 tbsp (or a little bit less than 1/2 cup of water) with a fork/whisk until incorporated. Set aside to become gelatinous, about 10 minutes.

3. Coat a ceramic baking bowl/glass casserole dish with vegan butter. Break up the bread into the buttered dish, into 1 inch pieces. Use a serrated knife to assist in cutting into chunks. Spread in an even layer in your dish. Set aside.

4. In the same bowl that you used to soak the bread, add in the pumpkin, flaxseed “eggs,” 1 cup oat milk, 1/4 cup oat milk creamer, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, vanilla, salt, and sugar. Whisk until smooth, until there are no large chunks of pumpkin or spices.

5. Pour over the bread chunks. Use a spoon to mix and make sure every bread chunk is immersed into the pumpkin mixture. Cover securely with foil and place in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours or preferably over night. This allows for the bread to thoroughly seep into the bread and become soft. If we baked it right away, then the bread would turn our hard and inedible.

6. Preheat your oven 350 degrees. Uncover your soaked french toast and place in the oven in the middle rack and back for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes until its golden brown on top, slightly dry-looking and not jiggly in the center.

7. While the french toast is baking, make the Brown Sugar Caramel drizzle. In a small pot, set it over low flame, add in the 4 oz of vegan butter and once it’s melted and slightly bubbling, add in 1 cup of light brown sugar. Use a fork/whisk to continuously mix and incorporate. Once it start bubbling, add in a small pinch of salt and continue mixing. At the next phase of bubbling, add in the oat milk creamer/half&half and mix. Once it’s all incorporated and shiny, cook for another minute and remove from the heat to slightly cool. Pour into a little gravy boat or squeezy bottle for easy drizzling.

8. Remove the Baked French Toast from the oven and place on a hot plate/mat. Immediately drizzle with brown sugar caramel, mini chocolate chips and pecans. Serve onto dessert/appetizer plates to deliciously consume!