Strata time!

On Wednesday morning, I met with my orthopedic surgeon and scheduled my knee-replacement surgery.  Because I have not managed to lose any of the remaining weight, he would not agree to replace both knees at the same time.  He also said that he didn’t think the right knee necessarily needed replacement at this time.  I sure hope he’s right.  I will admit that I have been making every excuse in the world to not cook for myself lately.  I suppose the fact that people tend to feed you when there is a death in the family makes it easy for me to make excuses.  Whatever the reason, I really wanted something home-cooked this morning.  Since I don’t have to be anywhere until 11am this morning (when I will go for my personal training session), I decided to make breakfast.  I had a bunch of asparagus in the refrigerator and a few leftover biscuits.  While I normally make crustless quiches for breakfast, I decided to put those biscuits to use and make a strata instead.  This probably would have been better if I had decided to do this last night, however, stratas will work if you have a bit of time to let them sit before baking.  I am glad that I had asparagus because the warmer temperatures yesterday made me long for spring/summer.  I have signed up for my new CSA, but that program will not start until June.  I do, however, get to start getting farm-fresh eggs starting in May. 

Asparagus Biscuit Strata

• 3 buttermilk biscuits
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 1 cup Swiss cheese
• 5 extra-large eggs
• 1 ½ cups 1% milk
•  ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
• Italian seasoning, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350F.  Break up biscuits into a prepared casserole dish.  Cut asparagus into 1-inch pieces; steam in the microwave for 4 minutes.  Mix with biscuits in casserole.  Sprinkle cheese over fillings.  Beat eggs with milk, parmesan cheese, and seasonings.  Pour over fillings and allow to stand for at least 15 minutes (may make in advance and refrigerate overnight).  If made the day before, take casserole out of refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.  Bake for 35 minutes or until a knife, inserted in the center, comes out clean.