My family is coming over Christmas morning to my house, and I'm trying to plan out food for the day. We've never really had a big Christmas dinner on Christmas day; it's always been more sort of open house noshing type food. So I'm going to make Overnight Caramel French Toast from Cooking Light Magazine for brunch, along with some sausage and a fruit salad, and then put out a buffet for lunch/dinner. Although chili is the "tradition", I think I'm going to prepare BBQ Beef Sandwiches instead. I made this french toast before and it is yummy - both for brunch or later, warmed up with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup light-colored corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
Cooking spray
10 (1-ounce) slices French bread (soft bread such as Pepperidge Farm)
2 1/2 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine first 3 ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until mixture is bubbly, stirring constantly. Pour mixture evenly into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Arrange bread slices in a single layer over syrup in dish.

Combine milk and next 4 ingredients (through eggs) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Pour egg mixture over bread slices. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over bread.
Bake at 350E for 50 minutes or until golden. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Yield: 10 servings (serving size: 1 piece)CALORIES 314 (21% from fat); FAT 7.2g (sat 3.2g,mono 2.8g,poly 0.6g); PROTEIN 6.2g; CHOLESTEROL 57mg; CALCIUM 128mg; SODIUM 360mg; FIBER 1.1g; IRON 1.6mg; CARBOHYDRATE 57.4g