Fast, Tasty, Plant-Based Breakfast

There is much yet to be done to prepare the house and the food for tonight’s party, so here is a quick recipe for you that yields a lovely breakfast to start your day of things-getting-done.

1. Cut up at least one potato per person and a quarter of an onion per person, and use your favorite spices and a dash of olive oil to brown them in a pan.
2. This will take a while, so use the time between pan-scraping to mix half an avocado, a teaspoon (or a tablespoon…) of sour cream, and a tablespoon of your favorite salsa in a small bowl. It should be a creamy sauce, not a chunky guacamole – think crema. Best to use a super-ripe avocado! Add salt and garlic powder to taste.
3. When the potatoes are cooked through and crisped on the outside, serve in bowls with some of the avocado crema on top. Yes, there’s some dairy in there, but for the most part, you’ve got a hearty plant-based breakfast that tastes like someone’s brunch menu.

What’s your favorite food for going out and getting things done? This one vanished quickly for us and, once I post this blog entry, we’re off!

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Sausage, Pepper, and Onion Hash Browns

On Sunday, Husband and I were coming home and ravenous for lunch; I knew I wanted something pretty wholesome but I also had two leftover cheddar bratwurst that I wanted to use. I decided it was time for some home-made hash browns.

I prefer the Waffle House variety of hash browns when making them at home – sure, the little nuggets of deep-fried goodness you can get at most fast-food breakfasts are wonderful, but those are quite hard to replicate without special equipment. As it is, I just grated two big potatoes and an onion and set the shavings on paper towels to wick away some moisture. Ideal world, you’d do this a couple hours early, I think, but I wasn’t patient (hence the clumpiness of the pictured hash browns).

In a big frying pan, I placed a tablespoon of butter and the onion and potato shavings. While it heated up and the potatoes started to brown, I alternated between stirring and chopping: I chopped up the bratwurst and then also diced a big green pepper, which I cooked separately to avoid adding even more moisture to the delicate frying hash browns. 

When the onions and potatoes were starting to get some color on them, I moved them to half the pan and added the cheddarwurst. I knew the cheese would eke out of them, but I didn’t mind because crispy fried cheese bits would be flavorful. I seasoned the whole mess while they got browned separately, and then mixed it all together. I cracked pepper and added a twinge of parmesan to the green peppers, which gave them a bit of a crust.

In the end, I just threw everything together and Husband and I wolfed it down on the back porch. I realized, as I ate, that it would make a very nice, very simple freezer meal: if there was time to let all the chopped ingredients evaporate for a few hours, then just bag them up, you would have instant, waffle-house-style hashbrowns, which weren’t even exceptionally oily! Obviously, since this is basically just a stirfry with potatoes in it, you have infinite options for subbing out things you don’t like, which I always enjoy.