Onion, "Sausage", and Mushroom Strata

Adapted from this recipe in Ladies Home Journal

When a recent issue of Ladies Home Journal (apparently I'm 63...get over it) had an entire section on egg dishes, I took it as one of my more challenging attempts at "veganizing" recipes. 

I decided to try this one fine Tuesday evening, and this is what my roommate came home to:

Terrible lighting, total deliciousness

I'd pretty much Hoover-ed through at least half of it. Between the bread crumbs, the curry, and the soysauge, I just couldn't get enough. Wanting to save myself a stomachache, I told roomie to eat as much as she wanted. So she had some. And then some more. By the time she was on her third helping, she jokingly told me "I'm mad at you for making this. We are in a fight."

To which I say...sorry that I'm not sorry. 

I wish I'd made this for my birthday celebration, because it was much tastier and less hands-on than my tofu scramble. (And I'm fully aware that tofu scramble doesn't sound appetizing compared to strata. Stick with the strata.) 

If I were cooking Easter brunch, this is what I would be making. Try it and let me know what you think!

Ingredients

2 tbsp coconut or olive oil
2 small onions, thinly sliced root to tip
3 cups sliced mushrooms
1 package soy sausage, like Tofurky
1 tsp dried thyme
1 Tbsp tumeric
1 Tbsp curry powder
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
6 cups 1 inch bread cubes (I bought a French bread baguette from SuperTarget)
1 package extra-firm tofu
2 1/2 cups almond (or other non-dairy) milk 
1 tsp kosher salt (it's coarser than regular salt and totally makes a difference)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper


Directions
1. Heat oven to 350.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add onions; stir to coat. Cook until onions start to soften, about 2 minutes, then reduce heat to medium and cook until onions are golden and soft, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes; remove from skillet and wipe clean. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in skillet, add mushrooms and saute until golden, 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Press tofu between two paper towels to remove excess water. In medium sized bowl, crumble until tofu resembles coarse bread crumbs. Stir in tumeric and curry until throughly mixed. 
4. In a large bowl combine onions, mushrooms, soysauge, thyme, nutritional yeast, and bread cubes. Mix together the tofu, almond milk, salt, and pepper and pour over bread, stirring to coat. 
5. Grease a 2-1/2- to 3-quart baking dish and arrange bread mixture evenly in dish. 
6.  Bake strata until top is golden brown, about 50 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.


Yum!