Weekend Brunch: Breakfast Sausage Patties and Sweet Potato Hash Browns

Happy Friday!
Last weekend was a fabulous one. Here in the great Pacific Northwest we were blessed with very spring like weather- a high of 59 on Saturday! To kick off the weekend, I had the pleasure of have two fine gentlemen for over for breakfast.

 Guest #1: my little (by age, not by height) brother, Adam.

Guest #2: His friend and roommate (again "little" by age, not by height), Sean.

The sunny spread:
Grass-fed beef breakfast patties, sweet potato hash browns,
egg (as you wish), apple slices and...coffee, of course!

This was the first time I had ever made my own breakfast sausage, I must say, they were pretty darn tasty. I think I may have to make breakfast for dinner very soon! As a matter of fact, I will invite my favorite up-and-coming chefs, Molly (6) and Abby (3), to help me out.  (Don't you worry, I will post photos.)

I followed this meal up with a fabulous (hilly) 50 mile bike ride!
These are just two of the glorious views I had returning to Seattle on the bike.

Here is to another great weekend...I just don't think we will have as nice of weather. Oh well!

Breakfast Sausage Patties

1 pound grass-fed ground beef, or ground meat of choice
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
3/4 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
pinch marjoram

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients together.
2. Form patties. 
3. Saute patties in a large skillet over medium-high heat for 5ish minutes per side, depending on the size of the patty.

*This made about 8 silver dollar-size patties. 

Sweet Potato Hash Browns
inspired by Everyday Paleo's Curried Hash

3 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil
2 sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cubed
2 zucchinis, sliced
1/4 parsley, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 red onion
1 egg beaten

salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

2. Place chopped sweet potatoes in the food processor. Proccess until grated. If you do not have a good processor, you can simple use a grater. Place potatoes in a large bowl.

3. Place the all the ingredients in the processor except for the egg. Process until combine and finely shredded. Again, if you do not have a food process, just grate the zucchini and chop the onion. Mix this mixture with the potatoes.

4. Mix in the beaten egg.

5. Spread the potato mixture in a thin layer. (You will probably need to do this in batches). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Flip after a few minutes when they are golden brown. Cook until golden brown on the other side.


Tips/Tricks:

• Be patient! I am not good at this. As you can tell in the picture these are not completely "golden brown."
• Make sure it is a thin layer...another thing I did not do. My layer was way too thick.
• Press grated potatoes with a paper towel to get excess moisture out - this will help them actually crisp up. This link has some great tips on how to make your hash browns not mushy - something I am always struggling with. I found this after the fact, I will be using the tips I got from this article next time.
• If you have leftovers, place 1/2 cup servings in ziploc bags and freeze them for later!! When you are ready to use them, preheat a skillet and throw the hash browns on it frozen. Super easy.

Variations:

• I often add curry powder to these hash browns. AWESOME!
• Add other spices. 
• You can omit the egg.