It’s a breakfast casserole, y’all. We’re talkin’ cheesy, eggy, moist bread all-soaked-in-milk breakfast goodness. I’ve made a few stratas in my day and find the recipes to be kind of hit or miss. What has changed everything though is soaking the bread in the milk mixture rather than just pouring it over the top of the assembled casserole, which I’ve seen a few recipes call for. I also liked this rendition a lot because it called for blending the goat cheese with the egg and milk.

Sourdough bread soaking in egg, milk, goat cheese, thyme, and garlic

Arrange half of bread mixture in baking dish

This is an artichoke heart, goat cheese, mushroom, and roasted red bell pepper strata. It smelled a bit like pizza while cooking. The recipe I used calls for artichoke hearts, goat cheese, and ham, but I made several substitutions for the love of a vegetarian friend. I also did not use the egg-substitute called for in the recipe—I just used real eggs.

Layer with other ingredients: artichoke hearts…

Mushrooms and parmesan cheese…

Roasted red bell pepper…

Top with remaining bread mixture and more cheese

My pal erin hosted brunch this morning, and in addition to the strata we had waffles and roasted asparagus. It was a feast. Her home is incredible, a real urban farm. Her kiddos played with the baby chicks in the coop and we visited with the chickens, the dog, and the lone turkey out back, and she sent me home with fresh eggs—straight from the farm to me.