Breakfast Strata

So, I've been a bad little blogger recently. With work really picking up steam, I just haven't had the time and energy at night to do much more than eat dinner and collapse in bed. When I have had the time, it's been devoted to wedding planning.



I figured I owed everyone something in return for my absence, so today I bring you a tasty recipe I tried for the first time last weekend - The Breakfast Strata. I came across this recipe in my travels online and thought it just sounded really good. What I like about it is that all your breakfast foods are combined in one dish! And there are so many versions you can try. The recipe I found originally was for more of a savory dish, but I came across a maple sausage from Jimmy Dean and decided to make it a little sweeter. I'll present both versions below; the only preparation difference is in the ingredients. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that the casserole needs to sit overnight in the fridge before you bake it so plan ahead!

Breakfast Strata

• 1 1lb. package/tube sausage (for sweet version, use maple flavor)
• 1 small onion, chopped (for sweet version, omit)
• 10 slices white bread, cubed
• 1 cup frozen hash browns (for sweet version, use 1 large apple, chopped)
• 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 8 eggs
• 3 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (for sweet version, use vanilla extract)
• 1 teaspoon ground mustard (for sweet version, use cinnamon)
• Salt & pepper to taste (for sweet version, use 1 tablespoon sugar)

In a large skillet, cook the sausage and onion until the sausage is no longer pink. Drain.


Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish. Layer half the bread cubes, potatoes, and cheese. Top with the sausage. Repeat the bread, potatoes, and cheese.


In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Add the milk, Worcestershire, mustard, and salt & pepper. Pour over the casserole.


Cover and chill overnight.

Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before baking and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Bake for 65 - 70 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.


Note: This recipe makes A LOT! You can easily halve all ingredients and bake in a 9 x 9 dish for a smaller amount.

We Met Bette!

So last night, I was slaving away in the Miami office when I got an excited call from Kyle. He came home from work to find a FedEx on our doorstep straight from Vegas. We knew it could only be one thing - the pictures of us with The Divine Miss M, Bette Midler!

Sure enough, there they were - four pictures (2 of each pose), each encased in their own black folio!

Miss M had insisted we take a picture with our VIP sticker ("For your Christmas cards!" she said) and without ("To look nice!"). And wouldn't you know it, no one blinked or had a funny expression or even looked away from the camera. They all are perfect!

Well, Kyle immediately got to work rearranging the high table we have behind our sofa. It used to have a tray of candles in the middle. On the left there were pictures of Kyle and his family and on the right there were pictures of me and my family. Now, it is an homage to our meeting with Bette. The candles have been moved to the right side. On the left is the picture we had taken at the show, then to the right is the picture of Kyle in his "Kyle Loves Bette" shirt, and to the right of that is the Bette frame we bought to display one of our pictures with her. Now we just have to figure out which one to cut up and display!

Before

I don't have an After yet, but I'll take one tonight and update this post!

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

So the race to the altar has begun in earnest. Sure, you could say it began the minute Kyle slipped the ring on my finger and you would be right. You could also say it began the first time I dressed up in a pillowcase dress and napkin veil as a little girl. Or even the first time I came across something wedding related and saved it to my computer in college.

But now, I have the man, I have the ring, and tonight Kyle and I started on a plan. While we sat down to dinner, we took the time to come up with a tentative guest list. Obviously it's not final yet, but I say tentative because as of this moment there are 243 people on that list and we are still waiting on lists from our parents. I would say there will be a pretty big overlap between our current list and those of our parents, so hopefully there won't be too many more additions. Once we have those additions, we're really going to have to do some slicing and dicing to get to a realistic number.

It's so hard because out of those 243, 80 alone are family. Then we have family friends, our friends, and co-workers/friends. In a perfect world, food would be dirt cheap and we could invite everybody our hearts desire, but the real world is so much harsher. I'm sure that no matter who we cut or why we cut them, people's feelings are going to get hurt and that hurts me. My only hope is that people understand where we're coming from...*sigh*

At least we know that some of the people we have to invite have a 99.9% likelihood of not coming due to distance, age, etc. It sounds tacky and rude, but thankfully it will make our job a little bit easier.

I'll keep you updated on what the final headcount ends up being - both before and after our cut(s).

We've also had thoughts about other aspects of the whole shebang, but I'll leave those for another post...After all, I can't use up all my topics in one go!

So Sad to Leave...

So today was our last day in Vegas. *sigh* It's so funny - we were so sad to leave, but at the same time we pretty much did everything we wanted to do so there wouldn't have been anything for us to do today...

Being that we didn't have anything to do and we didn't have to catch our airport shuttle until 1pm, Kyle and I took the opportunity to sleep in a little which was nice. Once we were up and about, we got showered and then started trying to figure out how to get everything back into our suitcases without breaking any of our purchases. We eventually managed it, so we called down to the front desk to check out and headed down to store our bags til we had to leave.

By that time, we were starving, so once again we indulged in McDonald's breakfast...So yummy, but soo bad for you! After awhile Janet joined us and we wandered around the shops to kill some time; I found a really nice black shawl in the "everything $10" store.

Once we were bored with that, we went downstairs to find Mary and Becky. Kyle ended up playing a dollar on one of the older slot machines that still had the pull lever. He made that buck last a good 30 minutes!

About when he finally lost the $1, it was time to collect our luggage and go meet the shuttle to head to the airport. :-( It was a pretty uneventful drive and we were there in no time. We got all checked in and headed down to our gate to start our wait.

Kyle and I wandered over to the news/gift store and to Ethel's Chocolates, where we purchased chocolate lollipops (chocolate on a stick, not a lollipop with chocolate flavor). After that, we were pretty hungry, so to Sbarro we went.

Meanwhile, clausti #1 and clausti #2 managed to con the Southwest staff out of two pre-boarding passes; Becky's was legitimate, but Mary just went along for the ride, LOL!

Once we were done with lunch it was time to board the plane. Now, I'm going to take this time to vent about Southwest. I truly don't get what the big deal is...Our flight wasn't really any cheaper than we could have gotten with American or Delta and the seating situation was ridiculous. Southwest uses zones (A - C on our plane); zones A and B each have seats 1 - 60 and C has 1 -30. The zone and number determine the order you get to board. On the way out to Vegas we were all in zone B, so we were able to sit together. However, on the way home today we were in zone C, in the mid-20's. That means we were the last people on the plane; by the time we got there, the only seats available were random middle seats between strangers. So we all had to sit between people we didn't know for the 5 hour flight home. And to top that off, they only had 1 beverage/snack service for the whole flight home, whereas on the way there we had 2. I will never fly Southwest again! If I'm going to pay the same amount I would to fly any other airline, I want to fly the one where I can pick my seat and have it guaranteed to be mine!

Our flight took off about 4pm PST and we landed about 11:30 EST. We then had to get our luggage and get to the car before we could leave. By the time we dropped off Janet and picked up some food, we got home at 1am and then we still had to unpack all our stuff and unwind a little. I didn't get to bed until after 2am!

It was an amazing trip and I absolutely can't wait to go back again!

City of Dreams Come True!

Wednesday was yet another busy day day for us. Mary and Becky went to Eleven Spa, which is owned by parents at the school where they work, to get massages and manicures. Kyle, Janet, and I decided that we didn't want to spend over $100 on a massage so instead we took a $25 cab ride down to Fremont Street in Old Vegas since none of us had ever been.

For those of you who haven't been either, Fremont Street is one street in downtown Vegas that's been blocked off from car traffic. There are old casinos, like the Golden Nugget and the Pioneer, on either side of the street and kiosks selling jewelry, clothes, etc. in the middle. They've covered the whole stretch with a gigantic LED canopy, which features what's supposed to be a fantastic light show at night. Being that we were there at 11am, there wasn't a heck of a lot going on, but I'm sure at night it's a great time with the lights and the bars open and a ton more people.

We took about an hour and strolled from one end of the street to the other, past all the old casinos.

We even went inside the Golden Nugget, which is probably the most famous casino on Fremont Street, just to say we had been there!

Our "favorite" casino, however, was Mermaids - the smallest and dirtiest casino I've ever set foot inside! Our feet were literally sticking to the floor.

We went in there because on this year's season premiere of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List, Kathy brought Bette Midler here to experience their deep fried Oreos and Twinkies.

We, of course, wanted to have our own deep fried good time, as Kathy Griffin called her experience with Bette, so we went back to the food counter and ordered deep fried Oreos and a deep fried Twinkie. They fry them fresh as you order them, so they came out piping hot and covered with powdered sugar and chocolate sprinkles! Let me tell you, those bad boys were delicious!

We even managed to snag the table that Kathy and Bette ate at when they visited and chatted with the gentleman that served them!

After wandering around Fremont Street for awhile, we spent another $25 on a cab ride back to Caesar's Palace to scout out some restaurants for dinner that night and to browse the shops and kiosks. We narrowed it down to Trevi, an Italian restaurant next to a replica of the Trevi Fountain and Wolfgang Puck's Spago.


We left Caesar's and headed on down to the Miracle Mile shops at Planet Hollywood to break up the walk back to our hotel since it was another scorching day. After cooling off for awhile, we trekked down to MGM Grand to see the lions again. Thankfully they were there and they were actually somewhat active!

Once we saw the lions, we head back to our hotel to begin getting ready for our night out. All five of us were going out to dinner and then Kyle, Janet, and I were going to see Bette Midler's The Showgirl Must Go On and Mary and Becky were going to Cirque du Soleil's O.

Kyle, being a guy, took about 5 minutes to get ready. Meanwhile, I was slaving away in the bathroom doing my hair and makeup. I finally came out in my dress and shoes, my hair and makeup did and Kyle was sitting on the bed waiting for me. I asked him, "How do I look?"

He said, "I don't know...I think you're missing something."

I was like okay...I have some other jewelry I can put on.

As I'm thinking this, he pulled out a box and said, "Maybe you're missing this." and opened the box to reveal an engagement ring! He then proceed to drop down on one knee and asked me to marry him!

Of course I said yes immediately and then, being us, we had to take pictures!

We finally made it downstairs to meet up with the girls, who of course were in on what Kyle was planning as was practically everyone we know, and headed to dinner at Trevi. During the cab ride and throughout dinner Kyle and I made our phone calls to let everyone know we were engaged!


After an amazing dinner, Mary and Becky headed over to the Bellagio to see O and the rest of us headed to The Colosseum and saw Bette's show. It was amazing, as always. Even when Bette messed up one of her Soph jokes, she made it even more hilarious, proclaiming, "If I have to tell this f***ing joke again, I'm going to kill myself!" She then retold the joke and got the punchline right causing the audience to laugh twice as hard as they would have if she got it right the first time!

After yet another awesome show, we headed back to the hotel on cloud nine to catch some rest before our last day in town.


All in all, today was the most wonderful day of the trip! Thanks, babe; I love you!

Vegas Part Deux!

Tuesday was another busy day on the Strip! Once we were up, about, and fed we took a cab down to the Bellagio so that Mary and Becky could pick up their tickets to Wednesday night's performance of O, an aquatic Cirque du Soleil show. We also wanted to see the fabulous Chihuly glass adorning the lobby ceiling and the famous Conservatory.

The Bellagio Conservatory is an area right off the lobby that has a glass ceiling, a sun room of sorts. The great thing about it is the displays change with the seasons. The current display was summer-themed, complete with a Ferris wheel and greenhouse filled with parakeets and lorakeets. The most amazing thing is that just about everything is made of plants and flowers! They also had archways created by jets of water, which were not encased in plastic as we found out when Becky stuck her finger in one and splashed Mary and Janet! The Conservatory is well worth a trip to the Bellagio and you're guaranteed to see something different every time you go!

After leaving the Bellagio, we made our way to Caesar's Palace so the girls could see the casino and to visit the Bette Midler store again! We also staked out the front of The Colosseum to see if we saw Bette, but we didn't have any luck...

After that, it was time for lunch at Planet Hollywood in the Forum Shoppes. Of course we had to take pictures of some of the movie memorabilia!

From Planet Hollywood, we moved next door to the Mirage to see Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. This was about $15 or so and was pretty cool. The first part is the dolphin habitat which features two above ground pools, as well as an underwater viewing area. The dolphins aren't trained, but the trainers exercise them and interact with them, encouraging them in natural behaviours, resulting in extremely playful animals. Behind the dolphin pools, is the Secret Garden, which houses several animal environments featuring Alpacas, Leopards, Tigers, and Lions. Most of the animals were sleepy since it was the middle of the day and hot as hell out, but some were awake and a baby leopard was playing with a trainer. It was really awesome to be able to see all of the animals up close and personal.

The next stop on our list was Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum at the Venetian. This is probably one of the most entertaining attractions on the Strip, but it is slightly pricey at $25 per person. It is well worth it though! There are tons of figures, and you can pose with just about all of them, making for some pretty memorable pictures. Below are just a few of my favorites!

After Madame Tussaud's it was time for Kyle and I to head back to the hotel to begin getting ready for what would be an amazing night - we had Smug Mutha package tickets to Bette Midler's The Showgirl Must Go On. The package included front row center tickets, drink vouchers, signed show programs, and the chance to meet Bette backstage after the show and get our picture taken with her!

We got ready and scarfed down a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut and headed over to The Colosseum at Caesar's Palace.

When we got there, we had to pick up our tickets at the box office and the General Manager of The Colosseum personally escorted us through security and down to our front row seats as VIP's. It was pretty awesome, because a few times as we passed people he said, "Two VIP's." and miraculously our way would be clear. After we got settled in our seats, we cashed in our drink vouchers (well I did and Kyle kept his as a souvenir) and then we hit the gift counter where Kyle got a t shirt. We then made our way back to our seats to finish our wait for the show to start. We had our picture, which we later purchased, taken by one of the professional photographers, since you aren't allowed to bring a camera in.

The show started about 7:30pm and was amazing! Our seats were only about 5 feet from the stage, so we could see every detail of Bette and her dancers up close and personal. At one point, she comes and sits on steps that were so close that Kyle could have reached out and touched her without getting up! The show features everything from singing, to dancing, to jokes, to a singing mermaid. For anyone visiting Vegas, I highly recommend spending an evening to see it!

After the show was over, Kyle and I along with the two other women who had also purchased the Smug Mutha were escorted backstage to the official green room. Immediately upon entering, we spotted Kristen Chenoweth of The West Wing and Wicked. While we were waiting for Bette, we heard a familiar voice and turned around...Who did we see but Lily Tomlin, the comedienne! We also spotted Adam Shankman, the director of the movie Hairspray and a talent scout/judge for So You Think You Can Dance.

After waiting a little longer, we heard Bette come out saying, "Where are my VIP's?" Well, Kyle and I were first in line to get to meet her, so she went down the line of the four of us and we introduced ourselves to her. Then Kyle and I went to the picture area and had a few shots snapped. She then asked our names again, so we said our names and I added "Rhiannon, like the Fleetwood Mac song." Bette then started to sing my song! How awesome is that?!? By that point they were trying to get us out of there, but Kyle wanted to show her a picture of when he was 8 years old standing in front of a Bette poster at Disney, wearing a shirt that said Kyle Loves Bette. She ooh'd and aww'd over the picture and then we were on our way back out into Caesar's proper.

It was a whirlwind experience, but totally worth every penny we spent. Bette was so nice and friendly, and very caring about her fans. It was an absolute pleasure to meet her.

After that experience, we were both on cloud nine and headed back to the hotel to share everything with the girls, who were properly excited for us! All the excitement finally caught up to us and we headed back up to our room to get rest for our last full day in Vegas!