Bread pudding/French toast casserole

Remember when I said I hate to bake, so I do desserts that are more about assembly, than actual baking? Here's a good one. And the best part is that it doubles as what I call French Toast Casserole for brunch (in fact, I first made this as a brunch dish, and only recently started serving it as dessert).

1 loaf of bread -- Challah is great; Italian bread too, or something similar, but nothing that's too crusty. A GREAT bread to use is one of Tasetfully Simple's beer breads --either white or whole wheat.
4 eggs (you could substitute egg beaters if you're watching your cholesterol -- you'll barely notice the difference)
2/3 cup milk (whole is best, but any kind will do)
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp real vanilla extract
1/2 cup blueberries (or any berry you like, cut up into blueberry size pieces)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. butter (optional)
1 bag frozen berries (mixed, or any one kind of berry is fine)
2 tbsp. honey

Cut up the loaf of bread into bit sized cubes.

Mix the eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla extract and add the bread cubes. Toss thoroughly, until the bread absorbs all the liquid.

Put this into a greased baking dish, and toss the berries on top, spreading them around. If fresh berried aren't in season, frozen ones will do fine, but defrost them first and let them drain a little so the pudding doesn't get watery.

Cover with a thin layer of brown sugar. If you want, dot butter over the top for some extra richness, but this is purely optional -- trust me, it's delicious and rich enough without it!

Cover with foil and put in the oven at 350 degrees, and bake for 35-40 minutes, until it's hot all the way through. Take off the foil for the last 10 minutes so the top gets a little crunchy, but the middle doesn't dry out.

While it's baking, put the berries into a sauce pan with the honey. (Don't waste your money on fresh berries -- you really won't notice a difference for the sauce). Simmer this on low until the berries totally break down. Stir frequently, and you can use a potato masher to help spead the process. Put the mixture into a fine, mesh strainer, and push out as much syrup as you can with a spatula or spoon.

Pour a few spoons-ful of this over each serving of the pudding.

Enjoy!!!!!