Southern Living Week: King Ranch Breakfast Strata

Not only is today Christmas, but it is also my dad's birthday!  My sister and I take turns hosting breakfast to celebrate his birthday before the Christmas activities get into full swing.  After reading the "7 Meals A Making" article in last months Southern Living, I knew I had found my breakfast in the King Ranch Breakfast Strata.  

My dad enjoys Tex-Mex so this recipe seemed perfect!  The other pluses were that it was easy to put together and it was a make ahead dish so no fussing in the kitchen on Christmas morning :o). This recipe easily makes 10 servings so it works well for a crowd.  

Here is what I did, for the full recipe, use the link above:

Gathered all the ingredients,

Greased a 9x13 baking dish. Cubed the french bread and tossed it with the strips of tortilla. Then, I layered on pre-cooked chicken along with some pepper jack cheese I had shredded.

After getting those layers together,  I softened up the veggies and spices over medium heat and set them aside to cool while I put together the egg mixture and poured it over the ingredients in the casserole dish.

After the veggie mixture had cooled, I spooned it over the eggs.  Then the dish was covered and refrigerated until this morning.  45 minutes for baking it was taken out of the refridge and I poured a cup of milk in it and sprinkled the whole casserole with about a half cup of pepper jack cheese.  The strata baked for 70 minutes in a 325*F oven.  I let it sit for 5 minutes before serving.  

I will definitely serve this again.  It was really filling and had just the right amount of spice!

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to my dad!