Yeah, I know. I really need to work on my titles. But that was the best I could come up with for today.

With that title as a hint, I bet you can’t guess what the recipe is! Can ya, can ya can ya!!? It’sssssssss

LIVER!!

Ok, so unless you’ve never read my blog before, you’re not falling for that one.

I made a strata. Gee, the title kind of ruined the anticipation of what I made didn’t it? Maybe I should start having really misleading titles and to see what I made, you have to click on a link or something.

Nah. Way too much work and we all know I try to avoid that if possible.

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know about my love/hate relationship with bread pudding and the like. I absolutely LOVE it when I find or create a good one like my Pineapple Upside Down Bread Pudding or the
French Onion Bread Pudding I posted. But by the same token, I HATE them when they are dry, not creamy, boring and dull like the old time ones that were a bunch of stale white bread and a handful of raisins mixed with milk. Can we say “ick”?

Stratas are, in my mind, simply another version of bread pudding thus if it is good, I’m in love. And the one I created tonight was good. I had had a recipe picked out in a cookbook for one I wanted to try but for the life of me, I couldn’t find the recipe. Out of my 500000 cookbooks, I have no idea whatsoever what cookbook it was in. But I was determined to make a strata so I improvised. And it worked. Quite well actually. It is creamy with lots of meat and cheese and would make a perfect dish for an easy meal or to serve on a buffet or Christmas morning breakfast. It has a bit of spice but not overly so if you are one of those strange spice averse people you can still eat it. 😛

This feeds a lot of people… or two teen boys and my husband.

Cheesy Cajun Bacon And Andouille Strata

• 5 hoagie buns, cubed (you could use Italian bread I’m sure but I had hoagie buns I needed to use thus this says hoagie buns 😛 )
• 12 eggs
• 2 1/4 cups milk
• 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 14 to 16 ounce package smoked Andouille style sausage, sliced (I used Johnsonville brand)
• 1 pound bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled
• 5 green onions, sliced thin
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt (I used “Janes Crazy Mixed Up Salt” cause I love that stuff)
• 1 teaspoon salt free Cajun seasoning (only use if it’s salt free or between the seasoning salt and the meats, the end result will be over salted)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2 quart (preferably glass) baking dish.
2. In a  frying pan, saute your sausage and green peppers until the sausage is lightly browned and the peppers are tender.
3.  Set the sausage aside to cool.
4. In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Add the milk and beat until blended.
5. Mix in the rest of the ingredients.
6. Let sit for about ten minutes to give the bread time to soak up the liquid.
7. Pour into the prepared baking dish and drizzle with the melted butter
8. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until set in the middle (check with a butter knife or skewer. It shouldn’t come out with any loose dripping mixture on it.) and nicely browned.
9. Let rest for about 5 minutes before cutting.