Adapted from Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health

This is a go to winter recipe for make ahead breakfast and lunch. Just reheat and top with a soft-boiled egg you made in a large batch over the weekend. Adjust the heat level to your personal taste by dialing up (or back) the amount of jalapeno or by adding some cayenne pepper. If you're monitoring your sodium, try this recipe with ground chicken or turkey in place of the sausage and increase the spices. I like to add fennel seeds in this case. You can also vary the root vegetables - try yukon golds, parsnips and turnips too and you can opt to roast the root veggies instead of steaming them.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

2 medium beets
1 large sweet potato, medium dice
2 large carrots, medium dice
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ red onion, small dice
2 jalapenos, halved, seeds and membranes removed, sliced into ¼ inch strips or 1 dried chili, crushed
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. spicy or sweet Italian sausage, loose (not in casing), turkey or pork
1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon dried sage or 2 teaspoons fresh sage leaves, minced
6 eggs

Procedure:

In a pressure cooker, cook beets until tender, about 15-20 minutes.* Allow to cool. Peel and cut into medium dice.
Fill a medium pot with water to reach the bottom of a steamer basket. Insert steamer basket. Add sweet potatoes and carrots and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, cover, steam until vegetables are tender but maintain their shape, about 8 minutes. Remove lid, remove from stove and allow to cool slightly.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. When it shimmers, add the red onion and a pinch of salt. Sauté until soft, about 2 minutes.
Add jalapeños and garlic and sauté another minute. If you are using dried herbs, add them at this time and sauté for another 30 seconds. Move to the cooler side of the pan.
Add the sausage, break it up with a wooden spoon or a fork, and cook on medium high heat until cooked through.
Add in the beets, sweet potato, and carrots, and, if using, the fresh herbs. Add a pinch of salt and stir gently to combine while on medium high heat. Heat through.
Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Gently add in eggs. When water comes back to a boil, set timer for 6 minutes. Prepare an ice bath. After 6 minutes, quickly remove eggs from pot with a slotted spoon and drop into ice bath. Peel and serve on top of hash. See my blog for a step by step photographed tutorial on soft boiled eggs.

*If you do not have a pressure cooker, wash, peel and cut beets into small dice. Then steam in pot with steamer basket, separately from other root vegetables, about 7 minutes.