Ham Sun-dried Tomato Strata

My favorite meal besides dessert is brunch!!  When choosing recipes or tweaking them, I do much research before actually committing to one.  Sometimes, I even change my mind ten minutes before I begin.  My recipe winner this time was Martha Stewart's Strata with Sausage and Sun-dried Tomato.  My version since I'm into healthier options was Ham Sun-dried Tomato Strata.  By ham, in my world I am referring to heart healthy Canadian bacon.

Ham Sun-dried Tomato Strata
Prep Time: 40 min        Cook Time: 1 hr 20 min
Ingredients: 
6 oz Canadian bacon, diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
2 Tbsp butter
6 large eggs
1 cup milk
6 slices of bread, cubed (I used a 15 grain bread with the crust.)
6 oz shredded skim mozarella
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

Directions:
In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter.  Throw in the diced onions to carmelize them by stirring them for about five minutes.  Add the Canadian bacon and sun-dried tomatoes to the onions.  Remove from heat after two minutes.  Be sure it's cool before you add it to the baking dish.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk, salt, and freshly ground pepper.  Butter an 8x8 square baking dish.  Place about half of the cubed bread into the baking dish.  Next add half of the ham-onion-tomato mixture.  Add a layer of mozarella cheese.  Layer the rest of the ingredients in that order 1) bread  2) ham-onion-tomato  3) cheese.  *Similar to lasagna layering

Pour egg mixture over the layers.  Refrigerate for at least an hour (but it's better to do it overnight).

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F.  Bake about 50 minutes.

This is what the cross section looks like.

The first bite was truly heavenly!!  The one ingredient that made it so fragrant was the caramelized onions; however, the whole combo made the strata simply amazing.  I've baked other brunch casseroles and stratas but this one was by far my favorite to date.  Definitely going to keep this in mind whenever I make brunch.

Enjoy!!!  ;)