Ben Franklin was quoted as saying, “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”

William Camden coined the phrase: “The early bird gets the worm.”

For those who don’t already know, those are two sayings meant to make you think that getting up early in the morning is good for you. I don’t know if that sentiment is true for everyone, though: Look how getting up early worked out for the worm.

According to Ben Franklin, for the last 15 years or so, I have been neither healthy, wealthy nor wise. Turns out he was right on all three counts, but that is life for most chefs. It’s hard to get up early when you don’t get off work until close to midnight. Add in the trips to the bar and the late-night munchies, and I was lucky to get to sleep by 3 or 4 some nights.

So needless to say, when you don’t get up early in the morning, you don’t eat a lot of breakfast. Which is hard when breakfast foods are some of my favorite things. That’s why I decided that breakfast is more of a state of mind than a time of day.

I don’t subscribe to the notion that something is a breakfast food, or lunch, or dinner. If there is something I get a hankering for, it doesn’t matter what time of the day it is, I am going to eat it. So even though I hardly ever eat food before noon, I make breakfast foods all the time.

Every breakfast meal has to start with the bacon or sausage, or both. Then the eggs are key, as well. My grandfather, Dick Grove, makes the best scrambled eggs, and I try to mimic his as much as I can. (The trick is lots of butter.) Give me some crispy home fries or hash browns, and I am set.

But now that I have more time to branch out with my breakfast selections, I have started to get a little more adventurous. Just the day before I typed this article, I decided to combine my tableside service experience with my love of French toast. The results were so good, I decided to share the recipe with you all today.

My all-time favorite tableside dish to prepare is bananas Foster. The sweet caramel, soft bananas, cinnamon, rum and a hint of orange create a perfect topping for a bowl of creamy vanilla ice cream. For our dish today, I will show you how to take bananas Foster and turn it into the most amazing stuffed French toast. Every meal should end with something sweet, so I like to think of this dish as breakfast dessert.

So, this weekend, ignore Ben Franklin and sleep in. Then try this recipe out at home for lunch or dinner, and you can really start to live the chef life. Cheers!

Bananas Foster Stuffed French Toast

Serves: 4

Start to finish: 40 minutes

1 stick of butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

4 ripe bananas, cut into 1/4-inch slices

1/2 cup rum

1/4 cup banana liqueur

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

8 pieces Texas toast

3 large eggs

1/2 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 stick salted butter

1/2 cup whipped cream

Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the stick of butter and the brown sugar to the pan to create a caramel. Stir to combine as the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.

Once the caramel is started, add the bananas and carefully stir to combine.

Combine the rum and banana liqueur. Carefully pour the alcohol into the pan and allow it to come to a simmer. Carefully use a long stick lighter to ignite the alcohol. (Be sure to have a lid on hand to smother the flame if needed.)

Once the flames have died down, lower the heat and add the heavy cream, cinnamon and orange zest. Stir to combine the remaining ingredients, and take the pan off the heat.

Transfer half of the banana mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer and chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Keep the remaining banana mixture warm on the stove to top the finished French toast.

While the bananas are cooling, whisk to combine the eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Place the milk and egg batter in a shallow container large enough for the bread to fit in.

Using the paddle attachment on the mixer, combine the bananas foster and the cream cheese. Spread the banana and cream cheese mixture on 4 of the slices of Texas toast. Top the banana cream cheese mixture with another slice of the bread, and gently press down to adhere the pieces together.

Heat a griddle or large sauté pan over medium heat and melt the butter in the pan. Carefully dip the stuffed bread into the egg batter and coat evenly on both sides, making sure to allow any excess egg to drip off.

Set the dipped bread on the pan and cook until the egg is golden brown, flip to the other side and repeat.

Once all the French toast sandwiches have been cooked, cut them in half on a bias and drizzle with the remaining bananas foster mixture. Garnish with some whipped cream and sprinkle with a touch of cinnamon. Enjoy!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Chef Christopher R. Grove currently works with dining services at Penn College. At the end of each month, Chef Grove contributes a recipe to “Culinary Creations.”