Spiralized Hash Brown, Egg, and Bacon Bake

Crispy potatoes and bacon topped with baked eggs and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese. A hearty breakfast, brunch, or breakfast for dinner casserole!

I really wanted to get this post up a week ago, but time was just not working in my favor. Seeing 600+ children a week with coughs and runny noses had me fighting off a cold. I had activities scheduled for every evening, and even had work events on the weekend. I tried to sit down and blog on Wednesday evening and nearly fell asleep at the computer! I really don’t want to give up writing this blog, so I’m going to try to stick with a short and sweet post this week. I’m sorry I missed out on getting this up last week!

Strangely enough, the last recipe I posted was also for a breakfast. You’d think that with getting up at 6am most days, then being at work by 7am, I would not be making many complex breakfasts. Somehow, that seems to be where most of my food creativity has been lately! Once it’s the weekend I just want a breakfast that isn’t as boring as the same old weekday stuff.

This “hash brown”, egg, and bacon skillet is definitely more of a weekend breakfast/brunch item. Maybe even breakfast for dinner type of food. It’s hearty and filling!

This recipe started with me really enjoying using my spiralizer. I use it all the time for dinners, but less often for other meals. Sure, I could just use (and have used) a grater to make hash browns, but spiralized potatoes seem more exciting! I like this breakfast with a combination of white and sweet potatoes to keep the flavor interesting and include more nutrients than usual white potato hash browns.

Add some diced bacon, eggs, and a handful of cheese to the cooked potatoes and you have an all-in-one meal. Just pop in the oven on broil for a few minutes to cook the eggs! Believe it or not this breakfast/brunch doesn’t take forever to make. It’s not quite quick enough for a rushed morning, but can easily be cooked from start to finish in under 30 minutes! Totally worth it for special weekend morning!

This serves 2 – 4, but is easily variable. Choose larger potatoes or crack a few extra eggs on top to increase the number of servings.

 

Ingredients

• 1 small white potato
• 1 small sweet potato
• 4 slices of bacon (regular or turkey bacon both work)
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 c mozzarella cheese
• cooking spray

Directions

1. Spiralize both potatoes using the medium sized blade. Alternatively, you can use a julienne peeler or mandoline to cut the potatoes into thin strips.
2. Generously spray an oven-safe skillet with cooking spray. Add the spiralized potatoes to the skillet, mix a bit to even out the two varieties if need, and then turn the burner on to medium heat. Let the potatoes cook for about 10 minutes on the first side. Use a spatula to peek at the bottom of the potatoes every once and a while to see if they are browned.
3. While the potatoes are cooking, dice the bacon and sprinkle it over the cooking potatoes.
4. After about 10 minutes, or once the bottom of the potatoes are browned flip them. The potatoes will have cooked together pretty well, but may still separate. Just do your best, and flip in a few smaller sections in you need to.
5. Let the potatoes cook on the second side for another 10 minutes or so, until the bottom is just starting to brown. When you notice the bottom is getting crisp and light brown crack the eggs on top. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top of the eggs.
6. Put the whole skillet in the oven, on broil, for about 5 minutes, for soft yolks, or a few minutes longer if you want fully cooked yolks. I test egg-doneness by shaking the skillet a bit. You’ll be able to see how firm the eggs are by how much they move.
7. Remove from the oven and cut into wedges to serve.

 

Loaded Mashed Potato Cakes

Give your leftover Thanksgiving mashed potatoes a new twist with these potato cakes. They taste so good you may just be wishing you had ended up with more leftover mashed potatoes!

Does anyone else out there hate leftovers? I love making and eating good food, but there’s something about eating a reheated version the next day for lunch that I don’t enjoy. Some things are just best fresh and are never as good leftover. For me, part of my hatred of leftovers is eating the same thing two or more days in a row. It seems so boring.

When there are leftovers, and lots of them, I try to jazz them up. It turns out that you can turn almost anything into a quesadilla. Or top a pizza with it.

Today’s leftover recipe is just in time for Thanksgiving leftovers. I’ve noticed that, at least in our family, there are always Thanksgiving leftovers. And not just an extra plate or so, there is like a weeks worth of Thanksgiving food. As much as I love mashed potatoes I have no interest in eating them, with the same turkey and the same stuffing, for a week straight. Especially after the gravy has run out.

Enter these potato cakes. Rather than being flavored by butter and gravy these little potato patties have green onions, cheese, and maybe even some bacon bits added in. Cook ’em up for a few minutes in a frying pan and you have quick snack, side, or even lunch. And don’t forget the ranch dressing for dipping!

Loaded Mashed Potato Cakes

Ingredients

• 2 c mashed potatoes
• 1 egg
• 1/4 all purpose GF flour (a rice flour or nut flour would work here, too)
• 1/2 c green onions
• 1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4 c cooked, chopped bacon, or bacon bits

Directions

1. In a medium bowl stir all of the ingredients together.
2. Form patties out of the mixture, about the size of the palm of your hand. You will end up with about 10 patties.
3. Heat a skillet over medium heat. When the skillet it hot, spray with cooking spray and then place 4 or 5 patties in the pan(however many will fit in your pan still leaving you room to flip them).
4. Cook about 3 minutes, or until the underside is golden brown. To check done-ness, just pick up one of the patties with a spatula and peek underneath. Cook for another few minutes on the second side. Remove this first batch of potato cakes from the pan and cook in batches until all have been cooked.
5. Serve hot or cold with ranch dressing for dipping.

Family Favorite Mashed Potatoes

This is no ordinary mashed potatoes recipe! With just a few additional ingredients the usual mashed potatoes become even creamier and tastier!

I absolutely LOVE mashed potatoes. Not much tastes better to me than some creamy potatoes and warm, smooth gravy. For my health’s sake, though, I usually make mashed cauliflower in the place of mashed potatoes. It seems like a weird substitution, but it really ends up filling in almost perfectly for potatoes! Sometimes, though, especially on holidays, I don’t mind letting myself have real mashed potatoes.

This is the recipe for mashed potatoes my family has been having on Thanksgiving for years. It is far from healthy but so, so delicious. The extra creaminess comes from cream cheese and sour cream. If you, like me, generally refuse to cook with anything that has the word “cream” in it, then don’t worry, I have a healthier option. Just sub in an equal amount of plain Greek yogurt for the cream cheese and/or sour cream. So, there’s really no excuse not to give this recipe a try!

Ingredients (serves 4 -6, but easily doubles!)

• 2 lb. russet potatoes
• 2 oz cream cheese (may replace with plain greek yogurt)
• 1/3 c sour cream (may replace with plain greek yogurt)
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp paprika (optional, for garnish)
• 1/2 Tbs butter, divided into small chunks (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Peel and dice the potatoes. Put the diced potatoes in a large pan and fill with water until the potatoes are all covered. Boil for about 15 – 20 minutes, until the potatoes are very tender when poked with a fork.
3. Mash the potatoes using a potato masher or immersion blender. Stir in the cream cheese, sour cream, onion powder, and salt.
4. Put the potato mixture in a medium sized baking dish (I used a round dish, 2 qt dish). If desired, top with the small chunks of butter and sprinkle with paprika.
5. Bake for 10 – 15 minutes, until heated through (Note: The goal of this step is just to reheat the potatoes. If you are using this as part of a holiday meal and have other things in the oven at different temperatures, just stick the potatoes in at any temperature for a few minutes. Just keep an eye on them and make sure the top doesn’t burn).