Christmas Breakfast: How to feed the family without missing the fun

Christmas morning is always magical; twinkling lights, jingling music, wrapping paper covering the floor. There’s excitement over presents, groans over sock and underwear gifts and everybody is full of good will and cheer. . . and eventually hunger.

When the inevitable question “What’s for breakfast?” pops up, everyone’s gaze turns to MOM. Do they realize, as visions of a Christmas breakfast complete with banana pancakes, eggs and bacon dance in their heads, that Santa did NOT drop a full kitchen staff down the chimney last night?

No. They only know they’re hungry and you are super miracle Mom. Surely you can manifest a hearty Christmas breakfast on the fly, right?!

OR . . . perhaps you try something different this year?

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Christmas Breakfast Strata & Sugar Plum Toast

No, I’m not referring to the Nutcracker Ballet. These are the names of two miracles in a dish. The Christmas Strata is a savory casserole full of all the veggies and meat you desire whereas Sugar Plum Toast is sweet and decadent. . . utterly the most heavenly version of french toast on earth.

These easy-to-make dishes are prepped the night before, soaked in the fridge overnight and then baked for a little over an hour, first thing in the morning. Seriously, the biggest job you have on Christmas morning is listening for the oven timer – and making the coffee. Coffee is VERY important.

The best thing about this is you can create a deliciously filling breakfast for your family without missing a single moment of Christmas morning merriment. Let’s take a closer look.

The Christmas Breakfast Strata

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The Christmas Breakfast Strata is a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs kind of dish that gives you cheese, veggies and meat layered in milk and egg-soaked bread.

There are a plethora of ingredient options for the Christmas Strata. Of course, your main consideration is what ingredients your family will eat but also, think about how much prep work you want the night before. For example, cubing up some pre-cooked ham is easier (and less mess) than frying a pound of bacon.

Helpful Hint: if you are making a Christmas dinner, think about where you can double dip. Example: when making stuffing, saute extra sausage, onions and or mushrooms for the Strata.

Three Base Ingredients

Both the Christmas Strata and the Sugar Plum Toast begin with the exact same three ingredients which makes shopping for and prepping them quite simple.

The chart above gives you quantities for each base ingredient depending on the size of casserole dish you are using.

A few notes on your bread selection. . . It’s crucial to use a bread that can stand up to the overnight soaking. Slightly stale bread is actually perfect. Sourdough is my preferred choice because it has the lowest gluten of all (regular) breads. I have made the strata with focaccia too, which is delicious. The Sugar Plum Toast is amazing when made with challah or brioche. You can use gluten-free bread if necessary.

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Additional Strata Ingredients

The Cheese

Suggestions: Fontina, Gouda, Gruyere, Jack, Mozzarella or Provolone

The Veggies

Suggestions: Artichokes, Broccoli, Bell Peppers (red/yellow), Garlic, Kale, Mushrooms, Onions, Shallots, Spinach, Tomatoes (fresh or sundried), Zucchini

The Proteins

Suggestions: Bacon, Chorizo, Ham, Pancetta or Sausage (ground)

Size Matters

Don’t cut your veggies and meat to small. You want them large bite-size for two reasons. First, if they are too small they will over-cook in the strata. Second, larger bits are easier for someone to pick out if they don’t want to eat that ingredient. For a size example, I cut grape tomatoes in half and mushrooms in half or thirds.

The Herbs & Spices

Suggestions: Fresh Basil, Chervil, Chives, Parsley, Thyme, Tarragon, Salt, Mustard Seed, Pepper

A Special Tip for The Perfect Texture

Vegetables can have over 90% water in them and this moisture is released when the vegetables are cooked. This can result in a super soggy and bland strata. Ewwwww!

Luckily there’s an easy fix. After washing and cutting your veggies, do one of these two methods to draw out the vegetables’ moisture. (Note: this works great for veggie quiches too.)

Option One: Place cut veggies on a layer of paper towels. Salt them and let them sit for 15 minutes. Pat them dry.

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Option Two: Takes a little longer but is my preferred method because of the added flavor you get from roasting the veggies.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place your cut veggies in a bowl along with half of the herbs and spices you are using in the strata. Add a teaspoon of olive oil and carefully mix to coat the veggies.

Spread the veggies out in a single layer over the parchment. Roast them for about 6-7 minutes. Look for pooling moisture on the parchment paper and steam rising from the al dente veggies. Don’t over-cook! Place the veggies on a paper towel to dry and cool before adding them to the strata mixture.

Now let’s take a closer look at the second Christmas breakfast beauty ~ the decadent Sugar Plum Toast.

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Christmas Breakfast: The Sugar Plum Toast

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The Same Base Ingredients

You will use the same three base ingredients as above. Follow the quantities given in the chart based on the size of casserole dish you are using. Optional – replace have of the milk with Half & Half.

Helpful Hint: If using challah or brioche bread, toast it or dry the bread out in a warm oven for a few minutes.

Additional Sugar Plum Ingredients

The Cheese

I use a mixture of whole milk ricotta cheese and cream cheese whipped together with a little butter, sugar, vanilla and fresh lemon zest.

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The Fruit

You can use a variety of fruits for your “Sugar Plums” but the favorite seems to be blueberries. Fresh is best but frozen works in a pinch.

The Spices

Cinnamon and nutmeg work so well with this dish. Drizzling some cinnamon infused honey over each serving not only looks pretty, it tastes fabulous!

Putting the Sugar Plum Toast Ingredients Together

Using non-stick spray or butter, lightly grease a casserole dish. Beat together the eggs, milk, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, prepare the cheese filling according to the recipe below and follow the recipe’s layering instructions.

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Now Just CHILL. . . literally

After you’ve assembled the Christmas Breakfast Strata and the Sugar Plum Toast according to their recipe’s instructions (below), cover each casserole dish with plastic wrap and set them in the fridge overnight.

AND. . . go to bed!

Christmas Morning

When you wake up Christmas morning, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and pull your casserole dishes out of the fridge. Make your coffee, put on some Christmas music and turn on the Christmas tree lights. Pull the plastic wrap off the Strata and Sugar Plum Toast. Add a handful of additional blueberries to the Sugar Plum Toast.

Slide both dishes into the oven (uncovered) with a large cookie tray underneath to catch juices and plenty of room above for them to expand.

Now go enjoy the Christmas morning fun.

In a little over an hour, breakfast will be ready and you haven’t missed a single Christmas morning moment.

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I hope you lovelies have a beautiful holiday season, overflowing with all the good things memories are made of. Yes, great food is a big part of the holidays but remember not to be a slave to the kitchen.

Recipe’s like the Christmas Breakfast Strata and Sugar Plum Toast allow you to spend more time WITH your favorite people and not cooking FOR your favorite people. Heck, you may even actually appear in some of the Christmas morning photos. In fact, you definitely will . . . since you don’t have any make-up on and your hairs a mess. Yep. . . your significant other will finally remember to take your picture.

PEACE ~ LOVE ~ HAPPINESS

and CRAFTS

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