Italian Breakfast Strata and Hodgson Mill Giveaway Winner

Planning for a Christmas morning breakfast, then this just might be the ticket!  It whips up it minutes and you make it the night before and just pop it in the oven in the morning.  Don't you just love things that you can prepare the night before, especially for Christmas morning when the kids just want to jump at the presents. 

With the aid of Random. Org, Commenter Number 15 is the winner of the $25 Gift Code for the online Hodgson Mill Stores.  Start your oven  Marlis (Creative Journeys)!  Marlis creates beautiful tablescapes on her blog and is a very gracious blogger.  I know you will bake up something delicious!  I just used Hodgson Mill whole-wheat flour for a cake and it was so yummy and moist. 

 

We always eat a huge breakfast on Christmas morning and the rule is that the children can only open their stockings before breakfast -- the kids have to wait to open their presents until after breakfast.   Yes, I am a mean mother :).

The Broken Bread

Ingredients for Italian Breakfast Strata

Adapted from the December 2011 issue of Family Circle

1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes (NOT soaked in oil)

1 cup water

1 pound of sweet Italian sausage with casings removed

1 each of green and red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced

8 green onions, diced

1 loaf Italian bread (14 ounces), cut into 1-inch cubes

8 large eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup packed basil leaves, chopped

2 cups shredded  mozzarella

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

When I was making this, I felt very Christmas-y with all the red and green going on.

1.  Bring 1 cup of water to boil.  Place sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl and add water.  Let stand 10 minutes to soften tomatoes.

2.  Meanwhile, place sausage into a large nonstick skillet.  Cook over medium to medium-high heat for six minutes.  Add peppers and onions and cook, sitting occasionally for about four minutes.  Remove from heat.  Drain sun-dried tomatoes and chop.  Stir into sausage mixture into skillet.

3.  Place bread cubes in a very large bowl.  In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, milk, and chopped basil (or dried basil).  Stir sausage mixture into bread along with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.  Pour egg mixture over bread mixture and stir to moisten all ingredients.  Coat a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Pour bread mixture into prepared dish.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 

4.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Uncover baking dish  and top with remaining Mozzarella Cheese and Parmesan Cheese.  Spray foil (the side that will touch the casserole) with baking spray.  Cover baking dish with foil.  Bake, covered, for 45 minutes.  Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Cool slightly before serving.

Notes:  Fresh basil and red peppers are very dear right now so I used 1 tablespoon of dried basil.  I know it would taste much better with fresh basil.  I  used two green peppers instead of a green and a red.  I knew I would be okay because I had the red of the sun-dried tomatoes already in the mix.