A Basic Egg Strata

Good morning! As I write this, the rain is pouring down again. I keep thinking that I moved to Southern California for sunshine, but December has provided me anything but! At least we haven't gotten snow, unlike the rest of the country.

Today's recipe is great for a morning like today or a quick dinner for your family, like we did last night. It's a very, very basic egg strata that you can gussy up as you see fit (and I may just post some variations on this later, so watch for them!)

Ingredients:
Bread. Type doesn't matter. Amount should be enough to cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan and maybe layer it some.
1 lb Meat. The first time I made this, I used sausage, the second time (the one with pics) I used bacon.
Eggs. The amount of eggs really depends on the amount of everything else. At least 8, but a dozen can easily be used.
2 cups Cheese. Whatever type floats your boat. I used cheddar, but we really like cheddar.


Now, the recipe:

1. TURN THE OVEN TO 350. Yup, I really mean it when I say pre-heat. I am never, ever kidding.

2. Spray the pan with cooking spray or grease the pan with butter.

3. Add the bread to the bottom. Last night, I used 8 pieces of white bread. When I made it last week, I made it with about 16 pieces of wheat bread. Personally, I'm going to stick with more bread rather than less, but that's personal preference.

4. Add the meat. I used bacon last night, but sausage the last time. One big thing to note: you don't need to precook any of your meat. It will cook when it bakes, so that saves a lot of time.

5. Whisk the eggs together. Last night I used 8. The time before I used a full dozen. Again, I'm going back to a dozen, but that's personal preference. I added a little bit of salt and pepper to my eggs, but feel free to add other spices you like to it. Once you've whisked the eggs together, pour the eggs into the baking dish and mix the all the ingredients slightly. The mix will help coat the bread and meat with the eggs.

6. Add the cheese to the top, covering the whole thing. 2 cups should do fine, but if you like more cheese, add it! This is really basic and easy to change if you want.

7. Bake the whole thing for 35 minutes. If you want to make something to go with it, I suggest fried potatoes, but this doesn't really need a side dish if you don't want one.

That's the finished product. The last time I made it (with more ingredients) the dish was much fuller and so were we. It still tastes quite good, though, so enjoy it like we did.