Waffle Breakfast Strata

While a traditional breakfast strata usually calls for bread, this gluten-free version incorporates frozen waffles for a savory breakfast that is both easy to make and delicious to eat.

With the birth of a new baby inevitably comes a lot of visitors! Everyone wants to meet the new bundle of joy which is absolutely wonderful but I’d be lying if I said hosting non-stop visitors hasn’t been a little overwhelming at times. One thing that has helped alleviate a little bit of the stress that comes along with so many visitors is planning out some of our meals before our friends arrive.

Now that there’s a baby in the picture, I don’t have the desire to go out to eat all the time nor do I have the ability to be as spontaneous with some of our meal-related decisions. Dining out is a lovely treat once in a while, but going out for breakfast, lunch and dinner all in one day is basically asking for a disaster when you have a baby to consider.

Though we’ll definitely take our guests out to eat while they’re in town, breakfast is one meal we often enjoy at the house since it’s easy to prepare and lounging around in pajamas on a Saturday morning seems to sit well with everyone.

Eggs and pancakes are great go-to weekend breakfasts but when we have visitors, it’s nice to be able to serve something that feels a little more special. Like a strata!

I am teaming up with Van’s this year to share a handful of deliciously healthy recipes with you guys and this easy breakfast dish is not only good for you but it’s also gluten-free, easy to prepare and full of flavor.

Most stratas call for bread, but I decided to change things up a bit with this breakfast dish and used gluten-free whole grain brown rice frozen waffles in place of regular bread to make this dish appealing to one of our weekend visitors who eats a gluten-free diet.

I incorporated chopped onion, green pepper and plenty of breakfast sausage to give the strata a savory flavor that we all loved in our house.

This dish can easily be prepped the night before you want to bake it (the longer it sits the more custard-like the strata will be), but the strata only takes 15 minutes to prepare before it bakes so it’s an easy one to make first think in the morning. Just sit back and enjoy a hot mug of coffee with your family and friends while you wait for it to bake! The beautiful thing about this strata is that you can play around with the ingredients a bit, depending on your personal preferences. If you do not like sausage, try adding chopped Canadian bacon!

I’ve also added mushrooms, feta cheese and spinach to this dish with great success. I’m hoping to play around with the base of this recipe a little more in the future because I have a feeling it could be transformed into a tasty sweet breakfast dish, too, with the help of a little cinnamon, pecans and some maple syrup. Get creative, have fun with this one and enjoy!