French Toast Casserole! My secrets exposed :)

This one's so good I almost don't want to share!  I found it at Freezer Chicks - thanks Amanda!

French Toast Casserole

1 loaf Italian bread
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 C sugar, divided
1/2 t vanilla (or almond) extract
1/2 C pecans, optional (I opted out)
4 eggs (I used 5 for extra protein)
2 C milk
1 t cinnamon (or more!)
2 T melted butter

Cut bread into 1 inch cubes. Place half of the bread cubes in a greased 9 x 13 baking pan. Melt cream cheese (carefully!) in the microwave. Stir several times. This takes about 2 minutes. Stir half the sugar and all of the extract into the cream cheese. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the bread cubes. It will not completely cover them. Sprinkle nuts over the cream cheese layer. (I will be giving the nuts on the side for you to sprinkle on top). Top with remaining bread cubes. Beat together the remaining sugar, eggs, milk, cinnamon, and melted butter. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the bread cubes. Refrigerate overnight to bake the next morning OR slide the pan into a two-gallon freezer bag and freeze.(I froze it in a disposable 13x9 pan that I then baked it in) Thaw completely to cook. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until browned. Let sit at room temp for 5 minutes before cutting. Top with syrup or fruit toppings.

 You can find it here @ http://freezerchicks.blogspot.com/2009/04/french-toast-casserole.html

For the topping I loosly followed this recipe I found on allrecipes.com. You can link to it directly here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Supreme-Strawberry-Topping/Detail.aspx. I just substituted the other fruit mixture for strawberries on some of the topping and did everything to taste.  And now you know all of my secrets!

Supreme Strawberry Topping

Ingredients

• 1 pint strawberries, cleaned and stemmed
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Cut about 1/3 of the strawberries in half. In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine strawberries, sugar and vanilla. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. In a blender, puree about 1/3 of sauce, then mix back into remainder. Store in refrigerator.