Strata, Fruit & Fabric

Thanks to all my family for giving money to me for my birthday I got to order 33 pounds of fabric that Mr. UPS delivered to me manana. (does that mean yesterday cause that's when it came???). Do you know that joker did not even ring the bell to let me know he left a huge amount of fabric propped against my door? It was wrapped in clear wrap. Here is a sneak peak of what I'll be up to this week.

Here is a Strata recipe from Gale Gand I'll be trying this week. It's a fun way to use up that last bit of ham.

Strata:

5 cups of cubed french bread (with crust)

10 large eggs

1 quart whole milk

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp salt

add in's you want: ham, cheddar, bacon, onion, spinach, tomatoe, mushroom

- butter a 9x13 pan

-put bread cubes in dish and sprinkle with the cheese

-in a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, mustard and salt. pour the egg mixture over the bread cubes. sprinkle the filling ingredients of your choice over the egg mixture and fold them in gently. cover and chill for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.

-heat the oven to 350 degrees

-uncover the baking dish and bake for 60 minutes, until the mixture has puffed up slightly and is golden brown on top, and the strata doesn't shimmy with uncooked custard when you shake the pan. that's right you heard me right, you'll be doing the old shimmy test to test the doneness. that right there is reason enough to try this dish.

-tent he dish with foil if the top is browning too quickly. let cool for 5 minutes before serving. serve by the spoonful, using a large serving spoon.

we'll be having strata with fruit for dinner. the nice thing is this dish can be prepared in advance since it has to chill. it's sort of like a quiche except more fun since you get to shimmy and tent it.