Ham and Gruyere Hash Brown Waffles

I'm always looking for a new twist on breakfast. I ran across this recipe while looking at the September/October 2016 issue of Eating Well, and thought these sounded easy and amazing. I whipped them up this morning for breakfast in less than 20 minutes, and they were delicious! I used an herbed butter to top these waffles, but they probably didn't even need that. They were a little salty, a little smoky, and a lot delicious. They are also entirely gluten free, which is a bonus if you've got someone in your house who can't eat gluten (do pay attention to the shredded potatoes you're using if they are pre-packaged to ensure they don't have any gluten added). My mind is racing with all sorts of fun variations you can do with this basic recipe. This one has gone into the permanent files.

Ham and Gruyere Hash Brown Waffles
Ingredients:
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives or 1 teaspoon dried
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
20 ounces frozen shredded hash browns (about 7 cups), thawed or a 20-ounce bag of fresh shredded potatoes
1 cup diced ham
1 cup shredded Gruyère cheese

1. Preheat a classic waffle iron to medium-high.

2. Whisk eggs, oil, garlic, chives and pepper in a large bowl.

3. Place hash browns in the center of a clean kitchen towel. Gather up the edges of the towel and twist and squeeze to wring out excess moisture from the hash browns. Stir the hash browns, ham and cheese into the egg mixture. *NOTE: If you using the fresh shredded potatoes, you can skip the squeezing step.*

4. Coat the waffle iron with cooking spray. Use a generous 1 cup of the mixture per waffle and cook until browned and crispy, about 5 minutes each.