I told you that I’d let you know if I swallowed or spat my “Very Veggie Strata” that I cooked up over the weekend.   Or, if you make a strata. . . should you say “baked up?”  Semantics I guess depending on your sophistication in the kitchen.

Anyway, I’m getting off track (as usual).  So, yes—I’d have to say the strata was absolutely spittable.  But, I ate it anyway because I don’t think I’ve ever eaten anything so absolutely dense and eggy that provided so many bitefulls of vegetables.  They actually overpowered the cream cheese, heavy cream, lots of melty cheese and bread chunks that shared space in the Pyrex baker—which, I would have thought might be impossible.

I did make a couple of changes to the recipe.  First, I decided to use mozzarella cheese because of course—I forgot the Swiss cheese at the grocery store.  It must been a Freudian cheese slip because I actually hate Swiss.  So, that worked out fine because I buy mozzarella cheese in 50 lb bags and had it on hand.  (It tasted it good, too.)

My second alteration was to use the flat 9 x 13 Pyrex baking vessel (i.e. casserole dish).  The recipe called for a springform pan, which every time I have used mine—the oven has started on fire.  I’m not good with recipes that have the potential to puff up over the top of the baking dish when cooking—even a cookie sheet underneath does not save me.   Like the rest of my life, I have a tendency to “overfill” things.

So, as I predicted. . .I was still eating the strata for dinner tonight.  Although, I scrambled up some hamburger spiced with a swat of cheap Iodized salt and black pepper—then threw it on top of the microwaved strata.  It was one of those days when you just need a little meat.  I chased it down with 5 servings (i.e. a giant glass of 100% orange juice) and called it a day.   It wasn’t pretty, but I made my fruit and veggie goal—and, some days. . .winning isn’t pretty, but you take the win anyway.   And, in my case—it all comes out the same at the end of the day.  Probably you, too.

And, with that. . .good night!

PS.  There are no less than four “words” that are not words in this blog entry.  Can you find then all?  It’s like a “word search,” but not.

PSS. That is an actual picture of my strata.  Cool, don’t you think?