Sausage & Cheddar Breakfast Strata

By Fran Miller
@TchrLdy71

Who wants to spend a holiday morning cooking? You won't have to with this recipe you can put together the night before. Preheat the oven & set the strata out when you make the coffee or tea. Pop it into the oven before you call the kids down. It should be ready to eat right about on time.

Many Christmas memories of my parents coming over to watch our kids open presents & then eating breakfast. ~sigh~ Good times.

Sandy once called it a quiche back in the 80's, which, of course, it's not. But we still sometimes call it that around here. Tomato, tomahto, just call it YUMMY! =^..^=

Rating:

★★★★★ 3 votes

Comments:

12 Comments

Serves:

8-12, depending on serving size

Prep:

15 Min

Cook:

30 Min

Method:

Bake

Ingredients

6 slice: of bread, cubed
1 lb: roll of ground sausage (or a package of bob evans or jimmy dean sausage crumbles)
2 c: milk
8: large eggs
1 tsp: salt
1 tsp: pepper
1 tsp: dry mustard
4 oz: (or more) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

How to Make Sausage & Cheddar Breakfast Strata

Step-by-Step

1Lightly mist a 13 x 9" pan or baking dish with cooking spray. Tear up the bread into bite-size pieces.
2Fry sausage until it's browned & crumbled. Remove from skillet & drain on paper towels. Set aside. (If you're using Bob Evans or Jimmy Dean Sausage Crumbles, just open the package.)
3In a bowl, whisk together milk & eggs.
4Add the salt, pepper, and dry mustard.
5Pour egg mixture over bread cubes.
6Using the end of the whisk, press the bread pieces down into the egg mixture.
7Top with sausage crumbles...
8...then cheese.
9Cover with wrap & place in refrigerator overnight, or at least 4 hours.
10In the morning, remove strata from the refrigerator & UNCOVER. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Allow strata dish to lose most of its chill (about 20 minutes) before placing in oven. If you're using a metal pan, toss it right in when the oven is preheated.
11Bake UNCOVERED at 350 degrees F. for 30-35 minutes, checking early the first time you make it. A knife put in the middle should come out clean & the cheese should be melted & bubbly. Remove from oven & let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
12NOTE: The strata should come out of the oven rather puffy, but will lose that puffiness as it starts to cool. This is just the nature of stratas so you did it all right. It's going to be delicious! =^..^=