Ham, Mushroom, and Gruyère Strata

Modified from Cooking Light
YIELD: 8 servings

Ingredients
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped (330g)
• 16oz presliced button mushrooms, broken into halves
• Thick-cut slice of deli ham, chopped (6.5oz)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 15oz sourdough/French bread chopped or torn
• Cooking spray
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Gruyère or other Swiss cheese
• 2 cups fat-free milk
• 6 eggs
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp whole grain mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1-2 oz of shredded Parmesean cheese
• Garnish with chopped green onion

Preparation
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onions; sauté 3 minutes or until translucent. Remove to bowl. Add mushrooms to pan, and sauté 7 minutes or until mushrooms release moisture. Allow moisture to cook off some. Cool slightly, add to onions. Add ham and parsley.

Lightly beat eggs with milk, mustard, salt and pepper. Add grated cheese and stir. Add to cooled mushroom mixture. Stir gently.

Add bread cubes and stir to coat. Pour into a 9x13 sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle the top with 1-2 oz of Parmesean cheese

Cover with foil, refrigerate for 8 hours. (I did 1 hour!)

Preheat oven to 350º. Remove strata from refrigerator, and let stand at room temperature 15 minutes. Bake strata, covered, at 350º for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes or until set and golden brown. Sprinkle with chives, if desired.

8servings, each is 375 calories. Good with steamed spinach and cherry tomatoes. Also good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! I reallllllly liked this. The flavor of the ham, cheese, mushroom was so good. The mustard added a savory flavor that didn't taste like mustard. Same for the parsley -- added flavor without screaming parsley. I used brown sugar ham fromt he deli and the slight sweetness was good too. Loved it!  --JT