Who Doesn't Love Breakfast for Dinner?

Ever since I went to this diner down the street for fantastic croissants and saw the other breakfast-goers eat hash browns, I've been craving the potato concoction. Having left over potatoes that needed to be eaten, last night seemed like the perfect opportunity. And who doesn't like breakfast for dinner? So, we had Skillet-Browned Potatoes and a Spanish Omelet--a fairly quick and simple meal for any weeknight.

Skillet-Browned Potatoes

We had a leftover bag of mixed potatoes with little red, white, and purple potatoes. I'm sure any type of potato would work; they just may take a little longer to become soft. A great thing about these potatoes is that you can just leave them in the pan to brown while you focus on fixing the omelet (or any other part of the meal).

1 lbs. potatoes
onion, any variety, diced
2 tsp. olive oil
salt
pepper
butter

1. Place the potatoes in a microwaveable bowl with about an inch of water. Microwave for 5-7 minutes or until a fork goes through them easily.
2. Heat a skillet with olive oil on medium-high heat. Place the potatoes in the skillet. Mash potatoes with a fork once or twice, just so that they have opened up and flattened. Add onions to the skillet. Brown the potatoes and onions for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add seasonings and enough butter to moisten the potatoes. Serve plain, with ketchup, or melt cheese on top just before serving for delicious gooey-ness.

Spanish Omelet (The New Broccoli Enchanted Forest by Mollie Katzen)

This is just the recipe for the filling. It serves 2-3 people each with 2 egg omelets. It helps to make the filling before starting on the omelet to ensure that the eggs don't get cold and gross. Also, we used fresh basil instead of dried for added freshness and green olives from a jar with pimentos rather than those that come off a pit. Both changes worked well.

1 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 cup minced onion
1 medium clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
1 small bell pepper, in very thin strips
1 medium-sized ripe tomato, diced
4 to 6 green olives, sliced off the pit
freshly ground black pepper
cayenne

1. Heat the oil in a medium-sized skillet. Add onion, garlic, salt, and herbs, and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onion begins to soften.
2. Stire in the bell pepper, and cook over medium heat another 5 to 8 minutes, until the pepper is tender. Add tomato and olives; season to taste with black pepper and cayenne.