Easy Potato Sausage & Spinach Hash

Easy Potato Sausage & Spinach Hash

Eliminating eggs, oats, dairy and gluten from my diet made breakfast quite the challenge for me.

I spent the winter drinking fruit smoothies (made from frozen fruit.) I playfully made fun of myself as I shivered through breakfast which generally left my hubby chuckling at me.

For Christmas, the love of my life bought me an amazing (to me) cookbook: The Healthy Gluten-Free Life: 200 Delicious Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Egg-Free Recipes by Tammy Credicott.  It was the first cookbook I had seen eliminating 4 of the many foods I had to cut from my diet. (There is also a website I should check out again one of these days called The Healthy GF Life.)

This recipe is not from that book, but it is one of several potato hash recipes I have made that were inspired by 2 breakfast recipes within the book.

I usually made this dish with fresh potatoes (baked in a 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes, cooled, peeled and cubed.)  However, a few months ago while my mom was in the hospital (about 45 minutes away), I found myself lacking time and energy.  (I did find it interesting the hospital did not have gluten-free, dairy-free options available in the cafeteria aside from the salad bar - and I cannot eat lettuce, but that is another story...)  So, I decided to try frozen hash browns - even though they contained dextrose. (If you are like me, and wonder WHY sugar is added to frozen hash browns, apparently it assists with the browning process.) To be honest, I prefer to bake potatoes in advance to skip the dextrose and other ingredients in the frozen variety - but occasionally, it is nice to save some time.

This was quick to make, and I could easily make a big batch so there were leftovers for the next day.  Bonus!

My picky eater dislikes potatoes, for the most part, so he is not a fan of this dish.  Some days, I save a bit of the sausage and spinach and make him an egg scramble instead. Other days, he gets a small serving of the potato hash, but is able to reheat a frozen home-made waffle to enjoy with it.

The recipe below may easily be cut in half. This is great served with a fruit smoothie!

Easy Potato Sausage & Spinach Hash

Ingredients:

1 bag hash browns (shredded or diced)

1 lb. gluten-free breakfast sausage (I use chicken or turkey GF breakfast sausage)

3-4 cups fresh spinach, washed and chopped

2-3 Tablespoons cooking oil (I use light olive oil, avocado oil or safflower oil)

Rubbed Sage (optional)

Directions:

1. Add oil to large pot and heat over medium-high heat.

2. Add potatoes and cook according to package directions (or until browned to your liking if using diced baked potatoes, turning after 5-7 minutes)

3. Meanwhile, cook breakfast sausage in another pan, stirring to crumble the meat, until fully cooked and browned to your liking.

4. Add cooked sausage and chopped spinach to browned potatoes.

5. Reduce heat to medium

6. Stir to mix and cook until spinach has wilted.

7. Remove from heat.

8. Sprinkle with a touch of rubbed sage for additional flavor, if desired, and serve.

VARIATIONS:  

1. Saute diced onions until transparent, but not browned, before adding potatoes. 

2. Substitute hash browns with diced baked potatoes (peeled or unpeeled.) Heat over medium to medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes (until brown on the bottom), turn with a spatula and cook another 3-7 minutes (until browned to your liking.)

3. Substitute sausage with diced ham or turkey-ham (preferably uncured.) 

4. Add shredded cheese (I use Daiya cheese shreds in either cheddar or pepper jack, as they are free of dairy, gluten and soy.)