Peach Cinnamon Sugar French Toast Bake

My mom doesn't come to visit me often, but when she does she normally treats me by buying my groceries for the week.  Well, she came to visit last weekend and on Sunday morning she suggested we go to the grocery store.  I was caught totally off guard without a grocery list or a plan.  So I decided to wing it and create meatloaf for dinner (recipe will be coming soon).  After coming home from the grocery store I realized that I hadn't bought anything specific to make for breakfast.  CRAP!!!  Considering I eat breakfast every morning, all I could think about was how I was going to need to make another trip to the store.  My mom came to the rescue by suggesting french toast.  Well, since I refuse to get up any earlier to make breakfast every morning, 5:30am comes early enough, I decided to see if I could find a recipe for a french toast bake.  Finding one by Paula Deen (I don't care what people say, her food is darn good, just eat it in moderation) and one by Eli Kreiger, I decided to combine the two to make a delicious and partially healthy breakfast.  Needless to say, I made mine really thick and if I had it to do over again, I would most definitely make it in a 9x13inch pan instead of a 9x9.  I've listed the directions for the 9x13 and although it says soak overnight, I soaked mine for a few hours and it turned out really well.  You could probably also use blueberries, apples or any other fruit you like.  An Apple Cinnamon French Toast bake sounds delicious! 

1 loaf French bread

8 large eggs (you could probably do 4 eggs and use egg substitute but I didn't try that)

1 cup  half-and-half

2 cups milk (I used 1% milk, but you could use whatever you like I assume)

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Dash salt

Peach topping
1 can drained peach slices or fresh peaches (I cut them into bite-sized pieces)
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Let the topping sit and meld together while the french toast mixture absorbs

Slice french bread into slices, about 1-inch each. Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 x 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt and beat with a whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate until most of the egg mixture is absorbed, either overnight or for several hours.
Once all the egg mixture is absorbed spoon the sliced peaches and the liquid from the peaches over the french toast bake.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until puffy and golden brown