breakfast strata

College was an incredible experience. I LOVE being married and having a real job... and a house! But, I sincerely enjoyed college and wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

Anyways, I was part of THE most amazing sorority ever, Theta Alpha Pi... and my roommate/sorority sister 3/4 years out of college (Hayley) threw me an amazing bridal shower in April of our senior year. 

Hayley had every girl write out one of their favorite recipes and then she put them all into a cute photo album as a gift for me. To be honest, I forget I have these recipes a lot.

For example, when we went to the Outer Banks with Kara (another sister) and her husband this past summer, we had this amazing pasta casserole and I asked her for the recipe. She told me that I already had it in my bridal shower collection. That was embarrassing.

Anyway, last week, I was looking through all of my cookbooks and came across the collection of recipes. I found this recipe for breakfast strata from a dear friend, Hannah, who just got married herself! 

It was SO easy and SO yummy. And there are SO many variations I can't wait to try. This is what I used:

First thing I did was put half of the sausage in a skillet and started to saute that to get it nice and browned. 

Then, I sprayed an 8x8 pan with cooking spray and then laid four pieces of crust-less bread in the bottom of the pan. 

After the sausage cooks, add in the mustard. Sprinkle that over the bread. Shred some cheese (I used cheddar) and put that over the sausage. SMELLS AMAZING :)

Beat eggs, milk, half and half, and pepper together. Pour that mixture over the cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. Eat it immediately... it was delicious! I modified Hannah's recipe because it's just AJ and me. We ate most of it and then enjoyed the rest the next day.

Ingredients:

• 4 slices bread (no crusts!)
• 1/2 pound breakfast sausage, cooked and crumbled
• 1/2 tsp. mustard
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup half and half
• dash of pepper

Instructions:

• Place bread in a greased 8x8 pan.
• Saute sausage until brown. Drain if needed.
• Stir in mustard and then sprinkle sausage/mustard mixture over bread. Sprinkle cheese over sausage!
• Beat eggs, milk, half&half, and pepper in separate bowl and then pour over cheese. 
• Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. 
• Cut into squares and enjoy :)

Thanks Hannah! We loved it :)