Bacon and Cheese Strata

This is a great breakfast because most of the (ridiculously easy) prep work is done the night before - all you do in the morning is pop it in the oven for an hour, and bam, breakfast luxury.

6 slices bacon

A few slices of day-or-two old bread

6 eggs

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1/4 tsp salt

pepper, salt, hot sauce

1 cup grated cheddar (though mixin' it up and using a cheese combination could be quite exciting...)

1/2 bell pepper, cut into rings

Put the bacon in a 8x11 1/2 baking dish, bake at 400 degrees for approx 15 minutes, or until cooked. Take out the bacon and set aside, leaving the grease in the pan. Arrange the bread slices, slightly overlapping, in the baking dish. Crumble the bacon and scatter it over the top. 

In bowl, combine the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, half of the cheese and a dash of hot sauce. Sidenote - I actually didn't have milk when I last made this, so I used about 1/2 cup of cream and 1 cup water. It worked out just fine. Anyhow, whisk it all together and pour it over the bread and bacon. Sprinkle the remaining half of the cheese over the top and stick it in the refrigerator for a few hours or over night. 

In the morning, pull it out and let it get to room temperature. Place the bell pepper rings on the top in an ornamental fashion. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Let cool, then cut into big sloppy squares and serve.

When I made it, it looked like this: