The recipe calls for ham which is my preferred choice of meat in this dish. Bacon makes a good substitute, but I like that the ham isn't as greasy. Leftover ham from a big roasted ham would work well and so does store-bought deli ham. You can also leave out or substitute any of the veggies; basically use whatever you like in an omelet.
*Recipe adapted from Paula Deen
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Serves 4-6
3 cups frozen hashbrowns, thawed
2 tbsp butter or margarine, melted
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup diced ham (or 6 strips of bacon cooked and diced)
1 tomato, diced and deseeded
3 green onions, chopped
Handful of mushrooms, sliced
1/2 red pepper, diced
Salt & pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Thaw the hashbrowns and drain any excess moisture. Press paper towel to them to make sure they are good and dry. Melt the butter and mix with the hashbrowns, then pour them into a pie plate. Press them into the plate so that the hashbrowns start to come up the sides and form a crust. Place in hot oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until they start to get slightly browned.
While the hashbrown crust is baking whisk together the eggs, milk and salt and pepper to taste. Add the ham, veggies and cheese. When the hashbrown crust has finished baking, pour the egg mixture into the crust. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the egg puffs up and is no longer runny and jiggly in the middle.
Click here for printable version of Hashbrown Quiche
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THE RESULTS?
I've made this quite a few times and we always really enjoy it. This time I used bacon instead of ham and like I said it was just a bit too greasy. And I also forgot that this is a PAULA DEEN recipe and that I should have scaled back on the "buttah"....when I pulled my hashbrown crust out of the oven it was sopping with greasy butter. I tried to scoop out the excess, and as I shook my head and spooned out the fat I thought "you've made this recipe before...you KNOW Paula Deen bathes in cream cheese, mayo and butter!!"
My recipe reflects the changes you should definitely make because all that excess butter, cream and cheese are not necessary.