Prepare eggs anytime

Making breakfast for dinner is a great way to prepare simple, delicious evening meals without spending too much time in the kitchen.

Strata is a simple dish that we in Morocco also serve for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. 

The word strata refer to layers, and the layers in Tomato Strata Florentine are simply cubed bread, shredded spinach, and seasoned chopped tomatoes. An egg-milk custard poured over the top holds the brightly colored layers together and causes the bread to puff up while baking. 

For single diners or families that eat at different times, bake the ingredients in individual custard cups that can be refrigerated and reheated in the microwave. For a family lunch, use a baking pan. In either case, you can prepare the strata the night before you plan to serve it. 

Simply leave a note for the first one home to put it in the oven. This cost-effective combination is nutrient packed. Along with cheese and milk, eggs give roughly one-third of your daily protein requirements, while bread and tomatoes provide carbs.

Together, the ingredients provide an amazing array of essential vitamins and minerals for less than 200 calories and 8 grams of fat per serving.

Other breakfast dishes make good dinners too. Quick-cooking scrambled eggs are easy to dress up with pasta or rice and onions, peppers, mushrooms or other flavoring foods. Poached eggs combine well with breads, veggies and cheeses.

My Version of the Tomato Strata 

Other morning dishes make excellent evening meals. Scrambled eggs can be topped with pasta, rice, onions, peppers, mushrooms, or other seasonings. Poached eggs go great with bread, vegetables, and cheese.

4 servings

1. Regarding individual cups: Spray evenly over four (10-ounce) custard cups. 
2. Place 1/2 cup spinach in each cup. Sprinkle each with around 1/3 cup of the bread cubes. 
3. In a medium bowl, combine the tomato and seasoning, stirring until evenly coated. Place 1/4 cup tomato mixture over bread cubes in each cup. 
4. In a larger bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Pour a scant 1/2 cup egg mixture over the tomato mixture in each cup. Sprinkle each with 1 spoonful of cheese.
5. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for about 30 minutes, or until custards are puffy and begin to pull away from the sides of the cups and a knife inserted near the middle comes out clean. 
6. Layer the entire amount of all ingredients listed above in a sprayed 8 x 8 x 2-inch baking pan. Bake as described above.

Nutritional statistics for one serving of the 1/4 recipe with skim milk: 

175 calories, 8 gm total fat, 218 mg cholesterol, 238 mg sodium, 469 mg potassium, 14 gm total carbohydrate, 13 gm protein, and 10% or higher of the RDI for vitamins A, B12 and C, riboflavin, calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc. BESAHA!