Tiffani Thiessen's Breakfast Casserole Gives Sandwich Crusts New Life
Parents of picky eaters know the pain of wasting the crusts of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Thankfully, Tiffani Thiessen, the "Saved by the Bell" star turned food content creator, is no stranger to turning leftover food into delicious meals. In a TikTok video she shared her solution to this crusty dilemma: French toast casserole. Thiessen stores the unused crusts in a Ziploc bag to break out when it's time to make a fun, sweet breakfast. She doesn't show where she keeps the bread, but we recommend not storing it in the refrigerator. Freezing it is fine, especially if you're not making PB&Js that often.
She then takes those crusts and pours them into a casserole dish that's been greased with butter. She adds in what appears to be an egg mixture. We recommend eggs with milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt, just like in our baked French toast casserole recipe. Let it soak overnight in the fridge (or at least a couple of hours), then in the morning all you have to do is cook and serve. We bake ours at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Top it with some powdered sugar, maple syrup, and some berries, and your picky eater won't even realize they're eating the crust!
Other uses for leftover bread crusts
If French toast isn't your thing, there are still plenty of reasons to save those bread crusts for later. A commenter on Tiffani Thiessen's TikTok recommended using it for a Thanksgiving stuffing. Let the pieces go stale, then chop them up. Dry out the bits of bread in the oven at 300 degrees for 10 minutes, stir them, and bake for an additional five minutes. Then just follow our recipe for a classic Thanksgiving stuffing.
Another great use for bread crusts is homemade croutons. Lightly toss them in olive oil, sprinkle on some salt and perhaps another seasoning of your choice, then bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. They're perfect for any salad or soup.
Bread crusts are also a great ingredient in any meatloaf recipe. Simply dry them out as if you were making them for stuffing, and toss them in with ground beef, onions, tomatoes, and spices. The final step of baking the dish in a loaf pan will bring those bread crusts back full circle!