When Going Get Tough, The Tough Make Strata

In the Christmas movie The Family Stone, Claire Daine's character asks Sarah Jessica-Parker's character, "Meredith, what's going on? You called me to come down here and now you're making strata?"

I mean, are holidays ever perfect? If they are, you are lying or spending them alone. It's the imperfections that make things memorable. So why not embrace that?

My sister and her masterpiece on Christmas morning

That's exactly what me and my sister did. Our family is loud. And opinionated. We sometimes drink too much.  And we argue. But we are who we are...a "Family Stone" of sorts, and I wouldn't trade my family for any other.  So, while watching the Family Stone (I, by the way am the pregnant older sister, and my sister is the one carrying the laundry bag) we laughed about how this could be our family, and then decided to make the famous "strata" dish that gets dumped all over Meredith in a memorable scene from the movie.

I don't know if it was the recipe itself, or if it was the love and laughter put into the dish, but the strata turned out great (my sister, by the way, was the one who made it). We now have a new Christmas Breakfast Tradition, and I think I will always remember this Christmas just because of it!

Note: Strata is made a day ahead of time and then baked the next day, so be sure to prepare ahead of time!

Family Stone Strata

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Ingredients

8 slices of white bread, cut with cookie cutters into festive shapes

8 oz of sliced mozzarella

2 sliced tomatoes

1/2 lb sliced mushrooms

1/4 cup of green and red pepper, sliced

1 medium onion, sliced into thin rings

5 eggs

3 cups of milk

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of oregano

1/2 tbsp garlic salt

Parmasan cheese

Sliced olives

Instructions

Cut the bread into shapes with a cookie cutter and set aside.

Place bread scraps in the bottom of a buttered 9 x 13 pan.  Layer half of the cheese over bread. Arrange tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers and onion over the cheese.  Cover with the rest of the cheese, and then top with cut bread pieces.

In another bowl, mix beaten eggs, milk, salt, oregano, and garlic salt together.  Pour over bread. Sprinkle with Parmasan cheese and olives. 

Refridgerate overnight or at least six hours.  

Bake 1 - 1-1/2 hours on 325 degrees, or until knife comes out clean.  Let stand five minutes before serving.