Country Breakfast Skillet Meal in a Jar by Chef Tess

Country Breakfast Skillet Meal in a Jar by Chef Tess Posted: 30 Jun 2012 06:35 AM PDT Chef Tess is at our Rancho Cucamonga, CA store today doing some classes.  Since not all of our readers could be there we thought it'd be fun if she did a guest post here for all to enjoy! Take it at Chef Tess...  This meal in  a jar is too brilliant! You might pass out.  It's gluten free, just add water, and shelf stable 7-10 years.  It contains real sausage, potatoes, eggs, cheese, and vegetables. The thing I adore most of all about it is the fact that I don't have to plan on having any oil in the house to cook the hash browns. Yes. You read that correctly. No need to plan on extra oil in your food storage or cooking supplies anywhere. It is all self-contained in the jar and ready to cook a meal. Are you excited to see the method?!  If you're new to the 52 method meals in a jar you will need to see my Original Post on the safety of home vacuum-packing for long-term storage and convenience meals. Yes. that means you'll need to go here. I've had many follow-up posts on the  on the 52 Jar Method. Yes, the book is underway and the beginning bulk of recipes and outline for this food storage plan should be out in the cookbook I'm writing for Honeyville. It will be published later this year. In the meantime, because it is a Honeyville book, I am able to share the recipes here on the blog as long as I have some new and original ones in the book. I shared this with our Breakfast Meal-in-a-Jar classes and it was so well received by all who tasted it that I'm certain that it is indeed a winner. I keep the egg mixture separate from the potato mixture, since eggs take about 3 minutes to cook and hash browns need to be hydrated and cook with the sausage for 15 minutes.   The first "must-have" for this meal to be amazing is the Ova Easy  Egg Crystals. They cook up to taste just like a fresh scrambled egg. I've ranted about them in the past but just know that we are very picky about eggs around here, as only a chef could be...and they are outstanding.  One #10 can is right around 29$. At first that freaked me out until I realized  that there were 72 eggs in a can. So that's about 6 a dozen. 6 dozen! Shelf stable and not going to kill my family from salmonella. Yup. I'm a fan With the eggs we'll be using the beautiful technology of... Freeze  Dried Cheese.  Yes. It tastes like cheese, cooks like cheese and works like  cheese. It IS cheese. The only ingredient in the can is cheese. I'm also using the real  Sausage . It is shelf stable 10 years or more and remarkable. In this recipe it is NOT okay to use the TVP sausage. It will not work for keeping your hash browns from sticking to the pan the way the real stuff does. I'm not going to lie...this stuff is delicious.  Please be very careful to use an oxygen absorber for these jars. With the use of the eggs and the freeze dried sausage they are not optional. They are for your safety.  Now...to the Oxygen  Absorber. What do they do? Wikipedia  says: "An oxygen  absorber is a small  packet of material used to prolong the shelf  life of food. They  are used in food packaging to prevent food color change, to stop oils in foods  from becoming rancid, and also retard the growth of  oxygen-using aerobic microorganisms such as fungi... Oxygen supports the growth of microorganisms and causes  changes in color and rancid odors in packaged foods. Plastic packaging is less  able to exclude oxygen from packaged foods than are the older glass and metal  containers. Oxygen absorbers absorb oxygen and effectively reduce the aerobic  environment to 0% oxygen. Therefore aerobic bacteria and  fungi are unable to grow in this environment. This will extend the shelf life of  a food product for years. The advantages of oxygen satchels  versus vacuum packaging are that the food products are not crushed or squeezed,  as some products are of high value and are fragile, and its simplicity of  use." Yes I use them. There is an alternate method using a jar  attachment and a Food Saver vacuum machine...but today, this is what you get to  see. I get my oxygen absorbers from my favorite website for supplies,  Here. Are you ready for breakfast yet?!  Chef Tess' Country Sausage, Hash Brown and  Pepper-Cheese Scrambled Egg Breakfast Skillet Wide mouth quart jar: 2 c Honeyville diced dehydrated potatoes 1 c Honeyville Freeze Dried Sausage (no substitutions) 1tsp Chef Tess All Purpose Seasoning Small sealable baggie on top of potatoes and sausage in the jar: 1/3 c OvaEasy egg crystals (no substitutions) 1/3 c Honeyville freeze dried cheddar cheese 13 c Honeyville freeze dried bell peppers 2T Honeyville freeze dried mushrooms ½ tsp Chef Tess Romantic Italian Seasoning Top with an oxygen absorber (see the package of the oxygen absorber packets for specific safety on how long those are good out in the air). Seal lid on tightly, screwing on very securely. Make sure the oxygen absorber is not over the lip of the jar or you will not achieve a good seal. Jar lid will "pop" when the jar is sealed, after about 20 minutes. This is how you will know there is not any oxygen in your jar. Directions to prepare Meal: In a large 12 inch non-stick skillet, combine the potatoes and sausage with 4 cups boiling water. Cover and allow hydrating 10-15 minutes until potatoes are tender.Drain any extra water, once the potatoes are tender. The fat from the sausage will keep the potatoes from sticking to the pan. Cook 10-15 minutes over medium heat, stirring once or twice but allowing the potatoes to brown well.  The secret is not stirring too often.  In separate quart-size bowl, combine the contents of the egg baggie with 2/3 cup cool water, whisking well. Allow to hydrate 5 minutes. In a small separate non-stick skillet on low heat, slowly cook the egg mixture, stirring often. Serve eggs over the potato mixture. There you go! A Country Breakfast fit for a king. Enjoy! Always My Very Best, Your Friend Chef Tess