HOT & SPICY ALL-IN-ONE BREAKFAST

Hash brown potatoes, crispy bacon, jalapeno & habanero jack cheese, and fresh eggs dusted with ground Chipotle pepper - all baked together in a muffin tin. Just 6 ingredients (plus S&P to taste).

Just 6 ingredients (plus S&P to taste):

1. 2 teaspoons 365 EVOO (or oil of your choice)
2. 1/2 cup Simply Potatoes shredded hash brown potatoes (the refrigerated ones; not the frozen ones)
3. 3 strips bacon (I prefer *Maverick's smoked uncured thick cut bacon)
4. 1/2 cup Great Value shredded Jalapeno Habanero Jack Cheese
5. 2 large brown eggs (I prefer vegetarian eggs from cage-free chickens
6. About 1/8 teaspoon ground Chipotle pepper

*NOTE: Although that's a Publix brand low-sodium bacon pictured here, I did use my last 3 strips of Maverick's smoked uncured thick cut bacon in this dish. Either bacon is great!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

1. Spray 2 *Jumbo Muffin pan cups with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Preheat 1 teaspoon EVOO in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Place the 3 strips of bacon on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil (for easy clean-up).
4. Place the foil covered baking sheet in the oven and allow the bacon to cook for about 6 minutes while the oven is heating up (you don't want to completely cook the bacon at this time; it will soften up and release almost all its fat while the oven is heating).

By now the oil in the non-stick skillet should be hot enough to cook the hash browns while the bacon is still baking:

1. Place the 1/2 cup of shredded raw potatoes in the pan; spread them around as best you can and mash them down with a spatula (try to get an even one-layer spread if you can).
2. Let them fry for 4 or 5 minutes (or until you can see that the edges are browning; the flip them over, drizzle with the remaining teaspoon of EVOO, and continue to fry for another 4 or 5 minutes (when you turn the potatoes over the first time you may actually be able to lift them in one sheet since they have a tendency to stick together when pressed down with the spatula; this will make it easier to brown the 2nd side).
3. When the 2nd side of hash browns is browned lightly, remove them from the skillet and let them rest on a sheet of paper towels while you **retrieve the bacon from the oven.
4. Carefully remove the hot baking sheet from the oven and, using tongs, place the bacon strips on a sheet of paper towels to drain (either wipe the top of each strip with another piece of paper towel, or flip the bacon strips over to remove as much bacon grease as possible).

*See next step regarding size of Muffin Cups.

**NOTE: If it looks like the bacon has been in the oven for 6 minutes and you are still frying the hash browns, remove the bacon and drain as indicated above - you may have to work back and forth between these two ingredients in order to keep from over-cooking either item.

1. Place 1/2 of the browned potatoes in the bottom in each of the 2 muffin cups and press down.
2. Wrap 1 & 1/2 strips of bacon around the circumference of each of the cups (1 bacon strip will not reach all the way around; that's why I prepared 3 strips).
3. Place 1/2 of the shredded cheese into each cup and press it down.
4. Carefully break open the two eggs, one at a time, and "ease" one raw egg into each cup.
5. Dust each egg with some of the ground chipotle pepper and place the *muffin pan" into the 400 degree preheated oven.
6. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. Baking time will depend on how you like your eggs cooked; under cook and the yokes will be runny - over-cooked and the yokes will be hard. This is not a perfect science! Using an oven-mitt, I reached into the oven and gently shook the baking sheet back and forth after the eggs had baked for 10 minutes; they were really "jiggly," so I continued to bake and shake for another couple of minutes. Since they still seemed a little "loose" I baked them for another minute. 13 minutes was perfect for me!
7. Remove the muffin pan from the oven and allow the "muffins" to rest for about 5 minutes before attempting to plate them. (Lifting one out of the muffin cup was surprisingly easy; I eased a fork down under one side and was able to lift it out of the pan by sliding the fork underneath a muffin and steadying it with the tip of a knife placed against the opposite side).

• *NOTE: Muffin pans (cups) seem to come in several sizes. A "normal" muffin cup measures about 2-1/2" across the top, while a Jumbo muffin cup measures approximately 3-1/2" across. The first time I tried this recipe, I used the smaller pan and the raw eggs over-flowed before they became firm. The "Jumbo" muffin pan (cups) worked just fine!

Ahhhh, finally, BREAKFAST - potatoes, eggs, bacon & cheese ALL in one dish; served with a glass of heart-healthy tart cherry juice, toasted seeded rye bread, and a cup of freshly brewed French Roast coffee! It actually didn't take that long; about 6 minutes to prepare and cook the bacon and *shredded hash browns; perhaps another 3 or 4 minutes to get everything ready to fill and bake the "All-in-One" muffins, and 13 minutes to cook them. While they rested for 5 minutes after coming out of the oven I was able to make my toast and coffee (in total; maybe a little less than 30 minutes).

NOTE: I have been eating All-in-One breakfast muffins for breakfast and lunch for 2 days now while I attempted to perfect this recipe. I tried making these muffins using raw shredded potatoes the first time, and although they were edible, the potatoes were under-cooked and the eggs over-flowed into adjacent muffin cups. After pre-browning the shredded potatoes and using the larger muffin cups, everything worked quite well and I totally enjoyed my breakfast this morning. HOWEVER, if anyone has a better way of preparing the hash browns for this recipe I would love to hear from you!

Bon appétit

Nutrition for this recipe has been prepared to the best of my ability using the MyFitnessPal Recipe Analyzer; just click on the image to enlarge it.

NOTE: This recipe was inspired by a bacon-egg-muffin cup recipe posted online by crazedmom.com, and by a video from Photoblip that appeared on Facebook.