This delicious strata is the perfect throw-in-the-oven meal for a weekend breakfast or brunch this holiday season! It also makes for a week of easy, cafe-tasting breakfasts already made and waiting for you to heat up and enjoy.
Gearing up for The Holidays
Well, we have officially entered my favorite time of year with its abundance of festive decor, music, holiday cooking, and plenty of gatherings with family and friends. One of my “favorite firsts” of the holiday season is getting out and about to browse, shop and soak in the sights on the weekend after Thanksgiving. I don’t think my husband and I could have started off the Christmas season any better this year – we planned for both a local adventure and a yummy strata to come back and enjoy on Small Business Saturday. Yum!
The only day during the holiday season I could do without is the craziness of Black Friday (of which I have made a point to avoid like the plague). I personally prefer just staying at home and putting my creative energies to use with Thanksgiving leftovers and pulling out my Christmas decor – the chaos of Black Friday stresses me out a bit. That being said, it makes sense that I’m more of a Small-Business-Saturday-kind-of-girl! I love a good bargain but I’d rather save my efforts and finances for Saturday instead of Friday, the first day I wander out into Christmas season. And man, do I love it! There is such great importance in the promotion of supporting our small businesses, from farmers markets to locally owned stores. They are a cornerstone in our society and I love that there’s now a designated day that celebrates them. It feels uniquely personal, authentic and special when connecting with the vendors, not just this day, but each time I shop local. Choosing to invest back into the community by purchasing the treasures, creations and harvests of our locals has an instrinsic and foundational value that is so understated from day to day in most places. I love that this day brings awareness to what a gift our small businesses are to our communities all year round. And to add to the day, the Christmas tinsel and lights are up around town, making it a charming little slice-of-heaven (much like the tasty strata you’ll soon be making!)
For Small Business Saturday this year, my inlaws were kind enough to watch our daughter for a few hours so my husband and I could hit up our local venues in our very own little Old Town Temecula, here in So-Cal. We browsed the homemade decor, sampled foods, purchased some delicious food spreads, shared a tasty saffron chicken kabob wrap from my favorite local farmers market food vendor (Sultan Grill), and then hit up some small shops nearby. Confession: I did make one corporate purchase before we headed into our first small business store – a cute little snowman cake-pop from the Starbucks next door. He managed to make his way into a picture or two and he was mighty tasty. Don’t judge…he was delectably seasonal and cute, sweet and I’m pregnant. ‘Nough said.
Small Business Saturday was a truly memorable, fun and festive date with the hubs for many reasons, one of which being we found a first little wardrobe purchase for our son since getting the news (man, that’s crazy to say!)
We also worked up a bit of an appetite throughout our escapade, despite sharing the kabob wrap. I’m blaming it on pregnancy for me and sympathy cravings for him… Needless to say, we then headed back to make my strata – a house favorite as of late! We’ve been making this dish and keeping it on hand in the fridge for a fast and easy breakfast for the morning as a great “heat up and eat up.” We pretty much will eat this any time of day, but its great for a before-work energy booster, plus I love it for both my two-year-old and my tired pregnant self in the mornings. We are currently in a stage where she’s waking up and refusing to sleep come 2-3 am, so this prego mama is tired and thankful for an already made breakfast for the both of us come la mañana. It’s a creamy, cheesy dish, full of flavor and simple ingredients. And its healthy being full of calcium, protein and vitamins with the dairy, eggs and veggies. You can be sure I’ll be whipping one of these up for entertaining when the opportunity presents itself this season, plus it’s a festive touch that it just happens to showcase red and green with the tomatoes, pesto and basil – perfect for that Christmas season brunch!
Food-prep time-saving tips:
-Saute your onions ahead of time, and place them in a container, ready to go for morning.
-Tear your english muffins and place them in an air-tight bag or container ahead of time.
-Pre-mix the egg/cheese mixture and place in fridge.
-“Pre”-pare your jarred red bell pepper by soaking up the juices and dice ahead of time and place in an airtight container. Soak up any additional juice prior to adding to dish.
*Preparing some ingredients the night before saves time! This recipe has turned out the best so far by waiting until morning to add the milk/egg mixture to the bread. I’ve found it to be more moist and cheesy when added immediately before cooking, making that my preferred method.
Italian Four Cheese Pesto Strata Recipe
Prep time: 15 min /Cook time: 30 min (Makes 12 servings)
Ingredients:
-3 english muffins
-8 eggs
-1 c. milk
-1 c. light sour cream
-1 c. quattro formaggio (Trader Joe’s – love it!) or another Italian four cheese blend
-1 tsp whole grain dijon mustard
-1 tsp salt
-dash pepper
-1 tsp olive oil
-2/3 c. diced onion, sautéed
-1 roasted red bell pepper, jarred
-5 oz turkey sausage
*I have also made this with turkey meatballs, fully cooked, crumbled. My “mom-brain” had forgotten to purchase it as planned on occasion, but what I did have was a package of frozen Italian turkey meatballs. I improvised with the meatballs and it was still delicious, plus only 5 grams of fat per 3.5 oz/per 3 meatballs. I used 5 meatballs total. Take your pick on meat choice, but I’m providing this as an example where you can improvise and the world doesn’t end. So goes the life of a momma! Improvisation is the name of the game…
-2 tbsp pesto
-paprika
-2 thinly sliced tomatoes
-fresh basil
-1 tbsp parmesan cheese
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 8×13 pan with non-stick spray and tear the english muffins into 1″ pieces. Distribute them evenly across the bottom of the dish.
- Mix the eggs, milk, sour cream, dijon mustard, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the cheese, mix and set aside.
- Crumble 5 oz of pre-cooked turkey sausage and add to egg mixture (make sure its not hot when you add it to the eggs, or it will start to cook them).
- Dice an onion and set aside 2/3 cup to Time-saver: Use a vegetable chopper for those onions! I absolutely love mine from Williams and Sonoma. http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/williams-sonoma-mini-vegetable-chopper/?cm_src=AutoSchRel
- Tip: Save your eyeballs some grief by lighting a candle while chopping – it helps cut those onion fumes a bit!
- Heat a non-stick pan on medium to medium high heat with a dab of olive oil. Add the onions and cook through on medium heat. Add a dash of salt while cooking to bring out the sweetness in the onions. Once cooked, set aside to cool before adding to the egg mixture.
- Pull 1 roasted red pepper from the jar and place on a dry towel. Fold the other half of the towel over the top of the pepper and press gently to soak up the extra moisture as you don’t want to end up with a watery strata, then dice and add to the egg mixture. Time saver: I always keep a jar of roasted red peppers on hand. I’m obsessed with freshly roasted peppers, but I typically don’t roast them on a weekly basis, so the jarred ones work well as an easy ingredient).
- Mix the egg and cheese mixture one more time to make sure the added ingredients are mixed in and haven’t sunk to the bottom of the bowl. When you pour it, it will help create an even balance of ingredients in the pan.
- Spread evenly over the torn english muffins and sprinkle a bit of paprika as a finishing touch. Stick in the preheated oven for 30 min or until cooked through in the center. (Don’t worry, we didn’t forget the pesto and tomatoes – we add them later!)
- While the strata is cooking, thinly slice 2 tomatoes and place on a foil-lined pan spritzed evenly with a non-stick spray. Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt, pepper, and grated parmesan cheese to taste. Place the tomatoes in the oven for the last 5-10 minutes of cooking. *note: I cook the tomatoes separately for the same reason I blotted the extra liquid from the peppers – so the strata does not end up with extra liquid, making it watery. Adding the tomatoes onto the already cooked strata allows you to filter the extra liquid when you use a spatula to lift the tomatoes from the liquid that cooked out and onto the strata.
- In the last 5-10 minutes of cooking, after the tomatoes are in the oven, pull the strata out, distribute 2 tbsp of pesto over the strata in small amounts and return to the oven. I like to put the pesto on towards the end so it gets nice and “melty” from the heat without drying it out.
- After pulling the strata from the oven, let it sit for 5-8 minutes. With a spatula, scoop the tomatoes and place them on the strata. Using a spatula with slits helps lift the tomato from the pan while leaving the juices that may make the strata watery if re-heated.
- Sprinkle freshly chopped basil over each piece before serving. Buon Appetito!
Nutritional info: around 180 calories per slice (recipe makes 12 servings)
