Mediterranean Breakfast Bread Pudding

Get ready for some beauty sleep!  Everyone needs the perfect overnight egg dish that lets you sleep in on a morning when you are entertaining and makes it look as if you have been up for hours slaving away in the kitchen. This one-dirty-dish, overnight bread pudding, is that dream recipe. The filling can be cooked ahead as much as 3 days and the bread pudding assembled the night before.  The ingredients can be tweaked to what you have on hand if the proportions are maintained. Come morning, the whole thing goes into the oven and  45 minutes later, while you enjoy a cup of coffee with your morning paper, you have a cheesy aromatic meal that will wake up every last sleepy head.

• Servings: 10
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Ingredients:

1 large onion, diced

16 oz Italian sausage, casings removed

1 red pepper, chopped

1/2 c sun dried tomatoes, not packed in oil, slivered

2 c baby kale or spinach

6 cups of white bread, torn into inch size pieces

2 1/2 c milk

8 large eggs

2 T Dijon mustard

1/2 t each sea salt and fresh ground pepper

1 1/2 c shredded cheese(gruyère or Italian blend)

1 c feta, crumbled

1 T rosemary leaves, finely chopped

3 T basil leaves, torn

Prehat oven to 350F.  Butter an 9 X 13 inch baking dish.

Method:  In a pan, brown the sausage meat, add the onion and peppers and sauté until the onion is soft.  Add the spinach or kale and sauté until wilted.  Remove from the heat.  Add the herbs and sun dried tomatoes.  Reserve.  This can be made up to 3 days in advance.

Whisk together the milk, eggs, Dijon, salt and pepper.  Place bread into prepared baking dish.  Add the vegetable and meat mixture and combine thoroughly with  the bread.  Add the grated cheese and mix through.  Top with feta.  Pour milk and egg mixture over the whole dish, making sure all the  bread is moistened.  Cover and chill for at least an hour or overnight.  Bring to room temperature for about a half hour before baking on the center rack for 45 minutes.

Aromatic, cheesy and loaded with sausage and veggies, what’s not to love?

Bring on the rave reviews.  You are the only one who will know how effortless this dish really was.plus with that extra sleep, you’ll be looking good too!