Perfect for a crowd, this simple strata combines a healthy egg and spinach breakfast with the savory and perfect-weekend-home qualities of sausage, good bread, and cheese.

It happens to everyone. You buy a beautiful, crunchy, loaf of artisanal bread. You probably pay good money for it too. You eat some of it, in all it’s glory, when it’s fresh and maybe even still warm. Then… it sits on the counter for a few days and becomes hard and crunchy. Hope is not lost, my friends. Turn that tasty bread into something even tastier.

This recipe is large enough for a 9×12 pan to feed a crowd, but you can easily cut it in half for a small family. One time, I even prepared everything at one time for two days of fresh-from-the-oven eggy goodness. The first pan followed the instructions exactly and let all the ingredients rest overnight for baking the next morning. Pan two just got the bread and first dose of cheese. I stored the spinach/sausage mixture and milk/egg mixture in separate Anchor storage containers until the following night when I prepped for day 2 of strata. It worked like a charm!

In case you forgot to put everything together the night before: don’t worry, it happens. Just assemble the strata as soon as you remember, and let it soak as long as possible before cooking. The top pieces of bread may be a bit more toasty rather than soft and eggy, but it will still be delicious.

I’ve only made it twice so far, but I can already tell this strata recipe is going to become a staple for me. It’s incredibly simple, uses ingredients I typically have in the house, and man it is SO TASTY.

The best part is how everything can be prepped the night before. That means all I have to do is roll out of bed and turn on the oven, then breakfast is served an hour later.

FYI if you’re staying at our house anytime in the next few months, there’s a 99% chance this will be on the menu.