Strange News

Happy Pres Day!!!

Lose a tooth or a finger? Maybe you can grow a new one.

Of course they give the WOMAN the ticket. That seems incredibly unfair. But then again, people really shouldn't be doing this.

I just KNEW chocolate was good for me. I need to go get a candy bar now.

Here's a recipe just to add something different to the page. It's somewhat time consuming, but VERY good:

Italian Strata
Ingredients:
1 loaf Italian or French bread
1 1/2 lbs Italian sausage (ground bulk, or remove casings from links)
2 shallots - minced*
2-3 cloves garlic - minced*
1 1/2 cups mushrooms (I use baby portabellas) - slice or minced*
1 1/2 cups fresh baby spinach - roughly chopped*
1/3 cup dry marsala
2 cups of your favorite Italian cheese - I usually use 1 cup of parmesan and 1 cup of romano - you can also use mozzarella
6 eggs
1 2/3 cup half & half
salt & pepper to taste
*these are rough estimates, you can add as much as you like, or switch to other vegetables - onion, peppers, etc.

Directions
Thoroughly butter a 9x9 baking dish
Slice bread about 1" thick and cut into enough cubes to cover bottom of dish twice (about 8-10 slices should be enough). The bread needs to be dry, so either leave it out overnight or set oven to 225, distribute cubes evenly on a cookie sheet, and bake for about 20 minutes.
Brown sausage in a large skillet. Remove from pan and set aside in a large bowl.
In the same skillet, saute all vegetables until soft - you may need to add a little olive oil here. Remove vegetables and mix with sausage.
Pour marsala into pan to deglaze and simmer for 5 - 10 minutes.
While the wine is simmering, whisk eggs and half & half together in a large bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove marsala from heat and allow to cool.
While wine is cooling, assemble the strata. In the 9x9 pan, put down one layer of bread, half the meat and vegetables and half the cheese. Follow with another layer of bread, the rest of the meat and vegetables and the rest of the cheese.
Whisk marsala into the egg mixture.
Pour egg mixture evenly over strata. Be careful and go slow or it will spill. You might have a small amount of the egg mixture left over, but try to get it all in.
Cover mixture loosely with plastic wrap and push down with your hands. Put something heavy on top such as book or package of sugar.
Refrigerate for 2 - 3 hours.
Let strata stand at room temperature for 20 minutes and set oven to 325.
Remove plastic wrap and add a thin layer of more cheese, if desired.
Bake uncovered for 50 minutes.

This is a very versatile recipe. You can use breakfast sausage and different cheeses (Monterey Jack, Cheddar, Swiss, etc), prepare the night before, and make for breakfast or brunch. You can also eliminate the meat for a vegetarian dish. Different types of dry white wines can be used as well. You can also try adding different spices - Italian mix, tarragon, whatever you like. Increasing the ingredients by about half would probably be enough to make in a 9x13 pan to serve more. I originally got the "breakfast" version of this from my mom, but switched up the ingredients for an "Italian" version. I made this for my parents last night and they loved it!!