Overnight Strata

I thoroughly enjoy cooking. It calms me, brings me joy and allows me to experiment with new foods. This holiday season, I have been blessed to spend some time cooking with my mom. My parents do not live locally and when I go to visit them, it is usually a few times a year and around a special occasion. I have the pleasure of visiting this weekend and one of the recipes we have created is an Overnight Strata with Mushroom & Asparagus. The idea, of course, being that tomorrow morning on Christmas, we will not have to spend any time at all on breakfast because it will already be made and ready to go. Below is the recipe and the link to the original version.

First, take 5 English muffins, split them in half and toast them. Layer them (inside face up) in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan and sprinkle them with about 1 cup Colby Jack cheese. I was placed on this task while my mom prepped the many vegetables...

Meanwhile, clean 1-2 cups of cremini mushrooms and slice them. Saute the mushrooms with 2 Tablespoons butter. We chose to also slice up the small onion and cook it with the mushrooms until the mushrooms are browned and onion is translucent. While I did this, my mom chopped the asparagus and red pepper.

Layer the vegetables (you can mix them all together or develop separate layers like we did) on top of the English Muffins and shredded cheese.

While my mom finished chopping the vegetables, I mixed 8 eggs, 2 cups milk, 1 teaspoon each of salt and dry mustard, and a few dashes of ground black pepper. Whisk the mixture until thoroughly blended.

Pour egg mixture over the rest of the ingredients in pan. Cover and let sit overnight.

On Christmas morning, preheat oven to 375 degrees F and remove casserole from the refrigerator; let casserole stand for 30 minutes. Spread 1 cup shredded Colby Jack cheese over casserole and bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes. Remove when knife inserted near edge comes out clean. Let stand for a few minutes and cut into squares. Voila! Breakfast is served!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/213651/overnight-asparagus-mushroom-strata/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringContentType=search%20results&clickId=cardslot%202