Picante Potato Pie

We should have had this yesterday for Pi Day, but we didn't think about it in time. Maybe we'll remember next year! Anyway, this is something my sister regularly serves at her traditional Thanksgiving Brunch, and we quite enjoy it. It can definitely be served year-round!

Picante Potato Pie

• 5 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups frozen hash browns
• 1 cup Jack cheese
• 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese
• 2/3 cup salsa
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled

Combine everything but the bacon and pour into a greased, 9" pie pan. Chill overnight. Remove from refrigerator 30 before baking, then bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with bacon and bake an addition 5-10 minutes. Serve with more salsa, if desired. 

After actually trying this, I think my sister adds the cooked bacon to the mixture before baking; when I added it at the end, it just fell off when serving. I imagine substituting ham for the bacon would work quite well if you wanted to try that. And I did substitute a Colby-Jack cheese mix for the Jack and Cheddar cheeses, because that's what I had handy.

Wayne asked what substituting refried beans for the potatoes would taste like. I've never heard of that combination, have you?

Updated October 2022:

We didn't try a refried beans version, but I did make this with fresh grated potatoes (blanched and drained first), along with putting the bacon into the mixture, and it turned out wonderfully.

Adding mushrooms and baking in a casserole dish didn't turn out quite so well, mainly because it took quite a bit longer to cook. Stick with the pie pan! (However, the resulting dish, even as leftovers, was still scrumptious.)