Brunch Casserole

this is from rachel ray's magazine and oh my goodness is it ever great! i just made it this morning before a night shift and it was very satisfying. i used chives and tomatoes from my garden.


ingredients:
4-6 slices bread, crust discarded, cut into 1 inch pieces, about 4 cups. (i used a couple days old ciabatta bread and left the crust on which i think made the texture better)
8 oz ham (i used a few slices of bacon here instead)
2 1/2 c cheese
3 tbspn chives
6 eggs
1/2 c milk
salt/pepper
2 plum tomatoes, sliced


1. preheat oven to 350. grease 2 qt baking dish (i used a 2 1/2 qt corningware but it was too deep. you definitely need the 2 qt space, but i recommend using a long and shallow dish rather than a deep dish)

2. layer bread, ham/bacon, 2 c cheese, and 2 tbspn chives into dish

3. whisk together eggs, milk, salt and pepper. pour into dish on top of other ingredients. top with sliced tomatoes and sprinkle with chives and cheese (i ran out of cheese so i used some parmesian on the top and it was delicious)

4. bake 30 minutes ( my deeper dish took a lot longer)

this really was delicious! it tasted like we had gone out to a restaurant! you could substitute the ham/bacon layer with a layer of tomatoes if you wanted.