Margaret's Confetti Egg Strata

This breakfast casserole is my sister-in-law Margaret's recipe. Very adaptable and hard to keep from hungry people.

Confetti Egg Strata

1/2 loaf Italian bread, cut into 1 inch cubs
8 oz ham, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (1 1/2 cups)
1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup red or green pepper, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup green onions with tops, sliced
2 cups (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
10 eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups milk
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper

In a greased baking dish, layer half of bread, cheese and veggies. Repeat. Whisk milk and seasonings into eggs until well blended. Slowly pour evenly over layered ingredients. Cover with foil and refrigerate several hours overnight.

Bake uncovered at 350 for 55 to 60 minutes or until strata is set and top is golden brown.

As far as substitutions, you can do all kinds of things. I skip the mushrooms. Bacon or sausage both work great. I like a lot of green onions, so I load up on those. We eat a lot of sourdough bread and don't always make it through a loaf before it starts to go bad, so I freeze it. This last time I made it with all my leftover bread, including sourdough, boule, two croissants and some country Italian bread. You could make it Mexican with chorizo, salsa and Mexican cheese.

Tomatoes!

It has only taken all summer to finally get some good tomatoes, right? Fresh tomatoes has to be one of the best things ever invented. Last week we had BLTs and the #44 salad from Mark Bittman's 101 Simple Salads.

44. Make a crisp grilled cheese sandwich, with good bread and not too much good cheese. Let it cool, then cut into croutons. Put them on anything, but especially tomato and basil salad. This you will do forever.

Here's what I did. Made four grilled cheese sandwiches in the George Foreman (we have a panini attachment). Tossed basil leaves and tomatoes with balsamic vinaigrette, let it sit for 20 minutes or so. Sliced up the crispy grilled cheese and added to the salad. Yum. As Anthony said, its like bruschetta salad. My changes in the future: mozzarella cheese (I only had cheddar) and a lighter vinaigrette.

I'm planning on making Chicken Scampi this week, plus more BLTs. I can't refuse a BLT. Sometime soon I'd like to make this soup, but in the meantime, here are all of our food blog posts with tomatoes.

Bistro Sun-dried Tomato Pasta
BLT salad
Pork Chops and Rice
Mmmmm, Caprese!
Pastor Ryan's Mexican Lasagna
Spinach and Brie Chicken with Tomato Orzo
Favorite Pasta: Bucatini All'amatriciana
Roasted shrimp and orzo
Favorite Pasta - Salad Part 2
Lemon Fusilli pasta
Mother-in-law-to-be's Best Pasta!
Chicken-Orzo Salad with Goat Cheese
Salmon with Lemon, Spinach, and Tomatoes
Lica's Corn Salsa

Anyone have any other great tomato recipes? Photo from here.

A March Favorite - Dubliner Cheese

It seems that every March we pick up some Dubliner Cheese from Costco. It's great with grapes, apples, pears, etc. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it.

Favorite Comfort Food Recipe

We had a lot of snow days in the town where I grew up in Massachusetts. School would be cancelled if the snow made it difficult for the school buses to make their pickups, not an uncommon occurrence considering many of the town's roads were once narrow cow paths between farms when the town was settled in the 1700s.

Since my mom was a teacher, she was most often home with us on snow days. That meant one thing: food. She'd make cookies, muffins, breads, soups, you name it. So now I associate the idea of comfort from food with snow days and lots of home cooking. A delicious association.

I have a few favorite comfort food recipes like cheese and bacon potato soup, as well as a roast chicken dinner, but the thing I make that makes me feel all warm and cozy inside is homemade macaroni and cheese.

Macaroni & Cheese
1/2 lb boiled macaroni
1 C cheddar cheese

White sauce (or roux)
1 C hot milk
2T butter
2T flour
1/4 salt (I use 1/2)
1/8 t pepper (I use a lot more)
Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat, add flour (I do so in batches and use a whisk to mix in), milk and seasoning. Mix together over heat until roux is combined and thickened, usually a few minutes.

Mix pasta, cheese and roux together in a greased pan. Bake uncovered for 15 minutes in a 400 oven.

This recipe is one of those things you can experiment with and its always slightly different. I add a little dried mustard and chopped garlic or garlic powder to give it a little kick.

On cheese: I usually used medium or sharp cheddar and will sprinkle some Parmesan on top to get a crusty top. If you only have Colby jack, you want to add something with a bit more zing since Colby jack loses its flavor in this dish. I love to add a little brie or cream cheese to add to the creaminess. Yum.