Bacon and Egg Toast Cups with Two-Potato Hash Browns

 

Breakfast. 

or Lunch. 

or Dinner. 

Man, whatever it is.

We're purists when it comes to what we can eat for breakfast. We don't have food that's usually designated for lunch/dinner for breakfast. But for some reason, we let our typical breakfast choices bleed into lunch meals, or on our dinner plate. It's strange, really, but happens more than occasionally. 

I'm sure there's a special law in the universe deeming what you can/should eat for these meals. But we completely ignore it when lunch and dinner come around. Why? I think one of our rules is better:

Eat what you have in your house.

Seems pretty straight forward to me. Why make an entirely new meal, if I have ingredients that need to be used up in the fridge, on my counter, or in my cupboards? I think it's kind of fun, actually. I love watching Chopped on the Food Network, and I think it's really fun pretending I'm on the show when I'm in the kitchen. The ingredients I have to deal with are much more tame and usable than the wrenches they throw at the chefs on the show. But it's still a blast thinking of an unplanned way to use up the last couple of potatoes on my counter, the 3 strips of bacon left in the fridge, and my final sprigs of parsley for the week. I feel horrible throwing away food - especially when it spoiled because I haven't been wise enough to use it in a meal when it was fresh. Dollars right down the trash, my friends. Creativity has so much room to flourish in the kitchen. We can transform our leftovers, and whatever other ingredients we have on hand, into a beautiful new meal for our family. This was one of those meals.

We ended up having this dish as a late lunch, and it (along with some fresh apple slices) filled us right to the core until long after dinnertime. These bacon cups are genius. Inside the cup, and underneath the baked egg is a small circle of bread, and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese. I could see hiding maybe a little minced jalapeno in the cup next time, for sure. The egg cups were in the oven a little longer than I preferred, because I knew my son would be eating the eggs, and runny eggs aren't something he'd come even close to eating (even if Ryan and I like them that way). The potatoes were heaven - the sweet potato wasn't really supposed to go in the dish. But while I was dicing up the other potatoes, I wondered how in the heck I'd use up the sweet potato within the next couple days. Needless to say, it was tossed immediately into the mix. Turned out to be our favorite part. 

The original recipe mentioned using turkey bacon and wheat bread as a healthier alternative. 

Also, if you have a second, remember to vote below by clicking the box, and clicking the "thumbs up" :) I'm in the finals for 2013's Top Food Blogger - and so grateful to even be considered on the list. To answer the same recurring question: yes, you can vote more than once (once per day, I think). Thank you so much to those who have already voted!

Bacon and Egg Toast Cups 

Ingredients:
6 slices of uncooked bacon
6 slices of bread
1/2 C shredded mild or sharp cheddar cheese
6 eggs
salt and pepper

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Fry up bacon in a pan or bake in oven until almost done. You don't want your bacon to be fully cooked at this point, it will still have time in the oven to bake later on. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
2. Grease your muffin pan (this recipe only makes 6 cups, so I used my half-dozen muffin tin).
3. With the top of a drinking glass, or circle cookie cutter, cut one circle out of each of your slices of bread. Save the bread scraps for making bread crumbs, bread pudding or croutons, or discard them, whatever you want. Press bread rounds in the greased muffin wells, curl a piece of bacon around the outsides of each piece of bread (positioning the bacon between the bread and tin).
4. Sprinkle a small amount of cheese in each bacon cup, and then carefully crack one egg over each cup - you might not need to use all of your egg whites. Be careful not to break the yolks.
5. Bake eggs until they are cooked to your liking - about 15-20 minutes. Run a knife around the outside of each bacon cup and pop them out. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Recipe source: the girl who ate everything, from annie's eats
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Two-Potato Hash Browns

Ingredients:
4 medium-sized Russet potatoes, washed and cubed
1 large sweet potato, washed and cubed
EVOO
1 T butter
sprinkle of garlic powder
salt and pepper
fresh parsley, chopped

Method:
1. Add potato cubes to a large pot of boiling water. Boil potatoes until barely fork-tender (they take less time to cook through because they are very small pieces of potato), about 4-8 minutes. Drain, and set on a towel to dry (remove as much moisture as possible).
2. In a large pan, heat EVOO and butter, and toss in potatoes. Cook, stirring only occasionally and carefully (if you stir the potatoes harshly, they tend to mush up), allowing the sides to crisp and darken.
3. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Before serving, sprinkle with fresh parsley.

Source: BwB original.