This Maple Blueberry French Toast Bake is a crowd-pleasing variation of French Toast from our cookbook, What’s for Lunch?. Instead of dipping individual slices of bread into an egg mixture and frying them, we bake up a pan full of bread cubes with a delicious maple custard mixture and blueberries. If you don’t have blueberries, substitute cranberries or diced apples, or whisk 1 cup mashed squash or pumpkin in with the egg mixture!
Pour the olive oil into a large heavy pot on medium heat. Add the ground beef, onions, carrots, mushrooms and garlic and sauté until the vegetables are soft and golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, honey or sugar, basil, oregano, optional thyme and parsley, salt, baking soda and water.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes until sauce is thickened. Keep warm over low heat. Add water to thin if necessary.
In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the salt. Add the spaghetti, stirring to make sure the pasta doesn’t stick together. Boil until tender, then drain.
Combine the pasta with the sauce or serve the pasta and sauce separately. Top each serving with a spoonful of Parmesan cheese.
