Sunday, October 3, 2010

Breakfast Strata


This has become our traditional Conference Sunday meal.  ( Twice a year the prophet and leaders of the LDS church broadcast their sermons worldwide and we stay home to hear and be inspired.)  We make this hearty strata and a blender full of scrumptious banana milk in the morning and pretty much just munch on it through dinner time.  We pair this with icy cold banana milk (recipe below.)

Sausage and Cheddar Cheese Strata
Bride & Groom Cookbook

1 1/2 lbs breakfast sausage (we like to use maple and sometimes I only bother buying 1lb and it still works fine)
4 eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups half & half
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
6 slices Texas Toast (removing crust is optional; sometimes I do, sometimes I don't)
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
* if using regular sausage, then throw in 2 tbs chives or green onions.  I don't add this when using maple sausage because I just don't think the flavors compliment each other.

Preheat oven to 350.
Butter a 9x13x2 casserole dish.
Heat a large skillet on medium heat and cook sausage until thoroughly browned.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to a paper towel lined plate to drain.
Whisk together the eggs, half & half, salt and pepper.  Layer the bread in the prepared dish two across, 3 down.  Spoon the sausage evenly over the top of the bread and then pour egg mixture over top.  Top with the cheese.
Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake another 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool 15 to 20 minutes.  I know impatience usually kicks in for us at this point and we really just want to eat it straight out of the oven, but I promise that waiting the extra 15 minutes is important.

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