Berry Strata

My favorite part about Christmas is the food! When I was younger, I would wait not-so-patiently in the front of the oven for the gooey cinnamon rolls to rise, so I could get breakfast over with. Cinnamon rolls on Christmas was our family breakfast tradition before tearing through our piles of presents. In recent years I've been spending Christmas morning with my boyfriend's family and we usually do different breakfast items each year (cinnamon rolls are still on the list though).

This year I found a Berry Strata recipe from Italian chef, Giada in the January issue of In Style magazine. The recipe looked simple enough and the end product looked delicious, so we decided to give it a try. Here is the recipe:

Berry Strata
(serves 6 with leftovers)

Ingredients
2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp honey
4 large eggs
1/2 c. whole-milk ricotta (or skim)
3 tbsp sugar
1 c. whole milk (or skim)
1/4 c. orange juice
4 slices bread, torn into 1" pieces
1 10 oz. bag frozen mixed berries, thawed and drained

Directions
1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Turn off heat, add honey and stir. Set aside.
2. Place eggs, ricotta and sugar in a large bowl. Using a fork, mix to combine and beat eggs. Add milk, orange juice, butter and honey mixture, and then add bread. Stir to combine. Gently fold in berries.
3. Pour mixture into a two-quart baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 12.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake strata until golden on top and baked through, about 40 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Spoon into dishes and serve.

End product - delicious!

I wanted to take photos of the process along the way, but didn't have my new camera at the time (it was waiting to be unwrapped. The BF did great!). The nice thing about this recipe is that you can substitute many items for lower fat versions, therefore making it healthier. It's also good for a winter brunch with friends - you can make the night before, refrigerate and pop it in the oven in the morning.