Whole30: Sweet Potato Hash

For the past year, my husband and I have happily enjoyed "Saturday Breakfast." It's almost always consists of my Sweet Potato Hash along with some sort of meat. Most days it's bacon but on occasion it will be sausage. Our Saturday breakfast has evolved to be the same almost every day so even though it's not as special, it's still a tradition. I usually prefer my hash topped with 2 sunny side up eggs and hot sauce. My recipe is below. 

Aside from breakfast, I was in the kitchen most of the day. Making stock has been an enlightening process to me recently. I never realized how easy it really is to do and inexpensive. I've started freezing my carrot, celery, and onion scraps in Ziploc bags to toss in with the poultry and beef bones, making my homemade stock free of cost. I made some chicken stock several days ago in my Instant Pot pressure cooker that I needed to process, today was the day. Earlier this year I purchased a pressure caner to allow myself to can stock rather than freezing it. This was going great until I dropped the lid off the counter last month and broke the pressure gauge. Fortunately it was an easy piece to replace and it's back in working order. 

For Whole30 lunches I really enjoy making chicken salad or soups. Today I went the chicken salad route and put together 1.5 cups shredded chicken, pesto (made & froze in the summer), 1 tablespoon lemon juice, salt and pepper. I put this on slices of tomato and avocado for a refreshing yet filling lunch.

Chicken Pesto Salad

I started dinner last night actually, as I wanted to make Nom Nom Paleo's Kalua Pork. It is one of the easiest and flavorful slow cooker recipes I've ever made. This pork shoulder was a bit stubborn though and after 18 hours in the slow cooker, wasn't tender enough to pull apart. Since I was using my Instant Pot, which is an electric pressure cooker as well, I pressure cooked the meat for 20 minutes to get the desired texture. The meat was tender and easily pull-able at this point. My husband did the pulling while I fried up some plantain slices in leftover bacon fat for our side. It was so delicious and satisfying!

Kalua Pork

Here's my standard Sweet Potato Hash recipe. What's great about making a sweet potato hash is you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand to make your hash which also helps mix it up a bit. We often have zucchini, kale, or apples in our hash. 

Sweet Potato Hash
Serves 4

3 Medium sweet potatoes, diced in 1/2 inch pieces
2 TBLS bacon fat or fat of choice
1/2 Onion, diced
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Salt & pepper, to taste
1 Bell pepper, diced largely
2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
8 eggs, optional

Directions:
1. Dice sweet potatoes and place in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes.

2. Heat cast iron skillet to medium heat and add in fat. 
3. Add sweet potatoes and onions to skillet. Add garlic, oregano, and paprika, then toss. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

4. Add bell pepper and cook until just loosing crunch, about 4 minutes.

5. Add spinach and cook for additional 1-2 minutes or until spinach starts to wilt. 

6. Top with eggs and hot sauce, if desired. (I prefer my eggs to be over easy to medium so the egg yolk is runny and an added sauce.)