VERY VEGGIE HASH BROWNS

I love the simplicity yet deliciousness of this recipe. It comes from "Mrs. Plant" who reversed her obesity and diabetes by changing to a plant-based diet and now supports others with her blog, Facebook page, and ebook. I use the 20 oz bag of frozen Trader Joe's hash browns as she suggested which contains only potatoes and dextrose (dextrose is a sugar extracted from corn and is much like glucose). I presume the dextrose is used as a stabilizer because there was not enough to affect the nutrition facts and they do not taste sweet at all. When having it for dinner, I make a double batch so I can take leftovers for lunch; they still taste great the next day but lose their crunch. When my children visit, they always want these for breakfast so I definitely make a double batch.

Here is the link to Mrs. Plant’s blog but I think her hash brown recipe is no longer available on her page. Look at the bottom of this page for her “before and after pictures” related to adopting a whole food, plant-based diet. I will also include her picture of the waffle maker hash browns.

Here's an 18 minute TED talk by Dr. Neal Barnard who does a fantastic job explaining the problem of type 2 diabetes and how to reverse it: Tackling diabetes with a bold new dietary approach

Here's a 4 minute video by Dr. Michael Greger about how to prevent prediabetes from becoming diabetes based on the medical studies: How to Prevent Prediabetes from Turning into Diabetes

VERY VEGGIE HASH BROWNS

Ingredients

20 ounce bag hash browns, defrosted (I use Trader Joe’s and take them from freezer to fridge the night before)

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste (I use 1/2 teaspoon salt per bag)

Vegetables: You can use what you like. I typically add chopped bell pepper, chopped sweet onion, and baby spinach (stems removed).

Instructions

1. Chop the vegetables you want to add.

2. To a bowl add the chopped vegetables and spices. Mix well.

3. Add the hash browns and mix again. I toss using my hands.

4. Spread out the mixture on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Use one baking sheet per bag of hash browns.

5. Bake in preheated oven 425 degrees for about 30-35 minutes. I did not flip mine while baking so they were perfectly crunchy on the bottom after 30 minutes and less brown on top (in my close up picture the left side was the bottom and the right side the top so you can compare). If you want them even crunchier flip them over the last 10 minutes of baking. (See Mrs. Plants page about cooking the hash browns in a waffle maker.)