Last night was breakfast for dinner, in our house it typically means eggs (scrambled for Nate and Jude, Over hard for Sophia and I), bacon (oh how I looooove bacon, real bacon, it really shouldn't be so bad for you, its just wrong to taste so good and be so bad), and pancakes or waffles.
I was ready to make cheesy scrambled eggs last and just make Sophia eat them because I really didn't want to make 2 types of eggs and then saw the barely touched package of Hawaiian Honey Wheat rolls on top of the fridge. Nate looooooooooooooooves Hawaiian sweet rolls, and of course I went out to buy them the day after Thanksgiving (to make our after Thanksgiving dinner) and of course the stores were cleaned out of them, had plenty of the Honey Wheat ones though, so I bought them, just so he had something. Yeah, those went over like a lead balloon.
So....Plans changed, no waffles, I decided to make an egg casserole. The following recipe was born, and I called it "Poor Man's Quiche." I was telling my Mom about it, and she said "sounds like a Strata", oh yeah..... OK, so its probably a strata, but without the overnight rest to soak the bread thoroughly since I used super soft dinner rolls and not french bread.
Jenn's Poor Man's Quiche (or Strata, whatever, I like my name better ;P)
8 Large Eggs
3/4C Fat Free Milk
1T Tarragon
1T Onion Powder
1T Garlic Powder
1t Pepper
1/2t Salt (I used fake salt, could probably eliminate all together)
2C Shredded Cheese (I used a combo of Monterey Jack and Cheddar)
16oz package of frozen chopped spinach thawed and well drained
1C Diced Sweet Bell Pepper (I used mini yellow and red peppers because I had those on hand, you could use any really)
7 Soft Dinner Rolls (hand torn)
1C grated Parmesan Cheese
Preheat oven to 350, and spray a 8x13 baking dish with canola oil spray.
In a large mixing bowl whisk together Eggs, Milk and Spices until well combined and foamy, stir in Cheese, Spinach (wrap in paper towels and squeeze the heck outta the thawed spinach to remove as much of the liquid as possible and then break up into the egg mixture) and Bell Pepper. Tear up the rolls and toss them into the mix and stir together till rolls are completely covered. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish and let sit for a bit while starting the bacon :) (I have tried the baking method and just can't get it crispy enough without burning it so have resigned to just pan frying for now until I get a new oven and try again), I waited until I had done 1/2 the package of bacon and then put the casserole into the oven, this made it almost perfect timing for bacon and casserole to be finished at the same time.
Bake for 25 minutes at 350 (until eggs are almost set) and then top with grated Parmesan Cheese, bake an additional 5 min, or until cheese is melted and eggs are set (test the middle, if it seems gooey still, let it go a bit more). Turn off oven and put prepared bacon in with the eggs so that everything gets warm and cozy until everyone is ready to eat.
For once, I didn't want to add Siracha to my eggs, it had great flavor without heat, which is a good thing since princess Sophia isn't a fan of spicy and Jude is just starting on the flavor adventures :) What is fabulous about Strata recipes, is that you can pretty much put whatever you think sounds good in your eggs (or whatever you have on hand). If you use a harder bread, you would have to let stand until the bread was softened well (overnight in the fridge), so that takes away from the last minute awesomeness of this dish, but it would still be easy, which is a big deal in a household with small children :)
Let me know how you changed yours up, its always fun to hear other peoples versions!
