Surprise Mom with Mother's Day French Toast

What better idea for Mother's Day than to surprise her with breakfast in bed?

If you want to make a special lady's day extra-special, pamper her with the perfect breakfast. Getting everything ready the night before means you can keep things a surprise if you can do it while she's out of the house. The kids can help out the night before and the morning of the surprise. Let Mom sleep in (for once) while you get up a little early on the big day, finish everything up, and wake her up with the unexpected treat. Include her favorite flowers and a handmade card and you'll truly make her happy all day long. Here's one of our favorite Mother's Day recipes. Give it a try if you're looking for a tasty concoction that looks and tastes great, but doesn't require Top Chef-level skills. Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast French Toast (you can get this ready the night before):

• 1 loaf of French bread, cut into 24 1-inch-thick slices
• 8 oz. flavored cream cheese, softened (we like flavored cream cheese, such as strawberry, honey, vanilla and chocolate)
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Topping (also prepared the night before):

• 1 quart strawberries - cleaned, hulled, and sliced
• ½ cup sugar

French Toast, before cooking:

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

To prepare the French toast, lightly grease a 9x12 pan (or a pan large enough to fit 12 1-inch slices of bread). This is to keep the French toast from sticking. Spread the softened cream cheese on 12 bread slices and place them side-by-side in the dish. Top the bread slices that have the cream cheese on them with the remaining 12 bread slices to make 12 little cream cheese sandwiches in the pan. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs until they're well mixed. Add milk, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Beat everything until it's well blended. Pour the egg mixture over the bread slices. Let them stand for 5 minutes, then turn them. Cover the bread pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. You can also get your sauce ready the night before by combining the strawberries and sugar in a non-metal bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. The morning of Mother's Day, heat your oven to 400 degrees. Remove the plastic wrap from your French toast and drizzle everything with 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Top off your cooked French toast with the strawberry mixture and serve. This recipe serves 6-8 people (or one happy Mom and however many kids she wants to share with). Here are some ideas and tips if you'd like to modify this recipe:

• To make the recipe even easier, use pre-sliced French bread.
• If Mom has a wheat allergy, use gluten-free baguettes (we like Schar).
• To make your own flavored cream cheese, mix 8 oz. of plain cream cheese (softened) with 2 tablespoons of fruit preserves or jam until smooth.