Strata

Quick and easy.  You read that right, yup quick and easy, no over-night time consuming setting in the fridge for this strata, just assemble and go!  Of course the bread is not as saturated and spongy as it would be if I let it soak all night, but I really like the texture of chewier bread in a strata, so I felt that this self-created strata was exactly what I had hoped for.  This strata was another one of my weekend cooking adventures to help make light of all the changing happenings in my life right now, and what followed the strata was pretty traumatic too! I made this breakfast for my lovely friend Erin and it was the morning after a fun night on the town and since her fiance was out of town I spent the night with her and her dog.  Little did we know her dog would get into my purse (post strata) and chew on my bottle of sleeping pills (because yes in fact I am an insomniac...not awesome).  So we proceeded to freak out not knowing if her dog had actually consumed any of the pills, and we had to make the dog throw up and all!  We wanted to call poison control, but did you know that to talk to someone they charge $65!!!! That is wrong and insane! Anyways long story short her dog is ok, but that was our post strata experience...good thing we had full bellies and brain food to stay on our toes and save her dog.  Definitely a scary situation that I hope doesn't happen to either of us again.  So here is the day saving strata.

Serves 4

The Ingredients
1 zucchini, shredded
1/4 cup cheddar, shredded 
1/4 cup mozzarella, shredded
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh italian parsley, finely chopped
4 eggs, beaten
3 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 medium size slices of sourdough bread, torn into little pieces
1/2 cup tomato, diced

The Process
 1.  Turn oven to 375 degrees and grease a medium size glass dish.

2.  In a large bowl thoroughly mix together zucchini, cheddar, mozzarella, onion, garlic, parsley, tomato, and bread.  Then put mixture into the glass dish.

3.  Next in medium bowl beat together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper.  Take this mixture and pour it over the dry mixture in the glass dish.

4.  Put strata in oven and cook for 1 hour, then broil for 5 minutes or until golden brown top.  Serve hot!

While this isn't the healthiest dish, it is good that it is a breakfast item because then you have all day to work off the yummy cheese and bread.