Breakfast Potato Hash with Chickpeas + Rosemary

This post is sponsored by Safeway + Albertsons.

There has been a lot going on over here lately, and with this whole being pregnant thing, I'm a tad bit slower than I used to be. Thankfully, I'm shooting Gena's cookbook right now, which is keeping my fridge well stocked with healthy + super tasty vegan eats. But on the weekends when my fridge is running low on leftovers, I'm always looking for quick + easy recipes that will keep this hangry lady full for at least a few hours.

The recipe I'm sharing today definitely fits the bill on being simple to make, comforting, and full of flavor and texture. It's also a great pantry meal. I have pretty much all of these ingredients on hand at all times. It works for any meal of the day and can be eaten as a main dish or side. It's my ideal weekend breakfast with a side of toast and/or maybe a few scrambled eggs (sunny side up after this baby pops out).

This recipe idea all came to be after a recent trip to Chicago for a blog event with Safeway + Albertsons grocery stores, to learn more about their O Organics® line of products. We had an action-packed day learning about their mission to make organics attainable for all. It started with breakfast (overnight oats!) that was very well photographed by all 30+ bloggers, as you'll see below. It's always so much fun to get together with other bloggers who enjoy taking photos of their meals and setting up photos on chairs or elsewhere to "get the shot."

After breakfast, we watched a fabulous cooking demo by Annessa Chumbley, RD. She showed us a few simple, healthy recipes (oatmeal pancakes!) and chatted about her favorite wellness tips. Next up, we were in the kitchen working in small groups with tons of O Organics products at our fingertips. We had about 45 minutes to create anything we wanted with what was available. I worked with Jeanine + Jane and we racked our brains on what to make in a short amount of time. We didn't use our phones to look up recipes for inspiration, but decided to just use our brains. A rarity! We quickly came up with an idea for a simple potato hash. It was a fun experience to have a gigantic commercial kitchen with lots of equipment and tons of ingredients right at our fingertips. We gathered as a group to feast on our recipes and continue on with the day that ended with a 15 minute restorative yoga session. Before I knew it we were saying goodbyes and I was back on my way to the airport.

As soon as I got back from the trip, I felt a much needed burst of creativity in the kitchen. I started working on a few new recipes (seems like it's been ages), including a recreation of the hash recipe from the trip. I incorporated rosemary, one of my very favorite herbs, for a deeply savory flavored dish. The potatoes make this recipe really stick to your bones and the chickpeas help do the same with their kick of protein. Luckily, throughout my pregnancy, I haven't had any food aversions and have been able to keep up a pretty healthy diet. But I'm still always looking for ways to add in more vegetables and spinach seemed like an easy and obvious choice here. 

Feel free to switch up the fresh herbs for what you have on hand. Thyme and oregano would work beautifully, and I bet sage would be tasty in this as well. It's a one-pan meal that comes together quickly and will keep in your fridge for a good 4-5 days. If you can reheat on a sheet pan in the oven, it makes the leftovers even better.

Print Recipe!

Breakfast Potato Hash

gluten-free, vegan // yields 4-6 servings

• 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 3/4 pound potatoes (yukon, purple, red, and/or fingerling), chopped into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3/4 pound sweet potatoes/yams, chopped into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1, 15oz can O Organics chickpeas
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 2-3 teaspoons finely chopped O Organics fresh rosemary
• 5oz baby spinach
• salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a 12-14 inch skillet over medium heat with 1 tablespoon oil. Once hot, add the onion and cook for 6-8 minutes until softened and translucent. Stir frequently.

Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add the potatoes, then toss well to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan with foil (crimp the foil over the pan edges, but doesn't need to be a tight fit) and cook for about 15 minutes. Stir every 5 minutes and cover with foil after each stir. (Potatoes should be almost fully tender.) Remove the foil and stir in the chickpeas. Add more oil if needed. Let cook for another 5 minutes or until potatoes are fully tender.

Make a well in the center of the potatoes, add 1-2 teaspoons of oil, and add the garlic. Stir the garlic for about 1 minute until starting to brown. Add the rosemary and stir both into the potatoes. Let cook another 2-3 minutes. Taste and adjust salt + pepper to your liking.

Remove from heat and stir in the baby spinach. Serve once the spinach has wilted a bit. Top as desired (red pepper flakes, ketchup, etc.). 

Hope you enjoy this one all fall + winter long!

Ashley

Today's post is sponsored by Safeway + Albertsons, and I received compensation + product for writing this piece and for the event trip in Chicago. Opinions are always my own. If I didn't love it, you wouldn't hear about it. Thanks for your continued support! If you live outside Colorado, O Organics products can be found at these different stores across the country. I had the opportunity to work with a vast selection of O Organics products, but please check your local Albertsons family store to see what's available in your area.

Apple Spice Crumb Muffins

This post is sponsored by Bob's Red Mill.

I'm craving fall like no other right now. The weather is slowly making a shift, but I'd like to speed things up a bit. Colorado weather can be so wacky this time of year. So while we're still having some pretty warm days here, I'm pretending it's fall with the foods I eat, including these Apple Spice Crumb Muffins that I've consumed approximately 9 of in 2 1/2 days (hmm, maybe more?).

Inside these muffins you'll find some of my very favorite ingredients and one ingredient that I've never really done much baking with before. I typically leave hulled hemp seed hearts for smoothies, oatmeal toppings, and the like, but I wanted to see how they would fair in a hearty breakfast muffin. Turns out, very well! They're so soft that you really don't even notice their presence in these muffins, except for a bit of added flavor. It's not like biting into a crunchy nut or sunflower seed. They pair tremendously well with the oat, buckwheat, and almond flour combination and earthy spices like cinnamon, clove, and molasses.

You all know I'm a huge fan of Bob's Red Mill products, whether they sponsor my work or not. I've been using their products for years + years and am always impressed by the quality and variety of what they offer (which seems to be expanding all of the time). I know most of you are on board with BRM as well, which is why I continue to work with them and feel it's such a good fit in this space.

Per the usual, I have a heavy list of notes at the end about substitutions and a couple tips, so be sure to check them out. While the ingredient list is somewhat long for these muffins, they're not tricky to make, and I promise you won't be disappointed once you get to the eating part. They're the perfect fall breakfast muffin, studded with little bites of apple and topped with one of my favorite crumb toppings ever. I included hemp seeds in the topping, as well as grated apple, oats, oat flour, coconut sugar, etc. It melts in your mouth.

Hopefully the photos sell you on these babies and hopefully you love them so much you eat 9 in 2 1/2 days just like me. Actually, I think I lost count. 

Print Recipe!

Adapted from my: Vanilla Muffins + Blueberry Crumb Muffins

Apple Spice Crumb Muffins

gluten-free, dairy free // yields: 12 standard muffins

for the muffins:

• 1 cup GF oat flour
• 3/4 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour 
• 1/2 cup hulled hemp seed hearts
• 1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons coconut sugar 
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground flax seed meal
• 2-3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 3 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 medium-sized, crisp apples 
• 1/3 cup melted coconut oil

for the topping:

• 1/3 cup oat flour
• 1/4 cup GF rolled oats
• 1/4 cup softened coconut oil
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar
• 3 tablespoons hulled hemp seed hearts
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 medium-sized, crisp apple 

Preheat your oven to 350° F. Line a 12-mold muffin pan with liners.

In a large bowl, stir all dry muffin ingredients together well. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Then whisk in the milk, applesauce, molasses, and vanilla extract. (Hold off on the oil + apple.)

In a medium bowl, place all topping ingredients except for the apple in a bowl. Mix together with your fingers or a fork until crumbly and thoroughly combined. 

Peel 2 apples. Dice 1 cup of the apple at 1/4-inch size. Set aside. Grate the remaining apple and drain lightly in the fine mesh strainer if extra juicy (give a light press until it's not drippy). Measure a lightly packed 1/2 cup. (If needed, peel and use the 3rd apple.) Mix the 1/2 cup grated apple with the topping mixture and set aside.

Whisk the coconut oil in with the wet muffin ingredients and immediately pour into the dry. Stir until just combined (when you no longer see dry flour). The mixture will be thick. Fold in the 1 cup of diced apple.

Scoop into the muffin liners almost to the top and gently spread. (I kind of tap the tops to spread the batter.) Crumble all of the topping mixture over each muffin. Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a toothpick comes out nearly clean (should be slightly sticky/tacky but not wet/gooey). Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully place on a cooling rack until fully cooled (about 1 hour). Texture firms and becomes fluffier once fully cool.

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Notes:

• If you are sensitive to coconut flavor, use refined coconut oil or sub another baking oil in the muffins and use butter or vegan butter in the topping.
• Almond meal can be subbed for almond flour.
• Honey can be subbed for the molasses but the overall muffin flavor will change.
• Sucanat, muscovado sugar, cane sugar, and brown sugar (lightly packed) can all be subbed for the coconut sugar.
• Feel free to add other spices if you like. (ie: ginger, all spice, etc.)
• If you leave the hemp seeds out of the muffins, you may want to decrease the liquids slightly. I haven't experimented with this.
• Braeburn apples worked perfectly, whereas Honey Crisp were actually too juicy and needed to be drained of excess liquid.

I'll be back again soon with a pregnancy update and then another recipe! It feels good to be back in this space a bit more lately. Stay tuned!

Happy Friday + happy weekend. 

Ashley

Today's post is sponsored by Bob's Red Mill, and I received compensation + product for writing this piece. Opinions are always my own. If I didn't love it, you wouldn't hear about it. Thanks for your continued support!