Using Leftover Mashed Potatoes
We don’t need to wait until another Mother’s Day rolls around to show our moms how much we appreciate them and the great burden they have had to bear all these years. Only as we become moms ourselves do we understand what they’ve been through–no I’m not talking about the pains of childbirth or the nightly feedings but something else we have to face day in and day out - What to do with those small amounts of leftover mashed potatoes?
The guilt when you wash them down the drain is awful but if you tuck them back in a corner of the fridge and pull them out black and moldy 2 weeks later, it’s even worse. What’s a woman to do?
Well here are a couple of recipes and tips that might help you with this centuries old dilemma and relieve some of the guilt:
- Freeze leftover mashed potatoes in small portions in freezer containers or freezer bags. Use in place of flour to thicken soups and stews.
- Throw them in your favorite roll or bread recipe for a nice texture. Add about 1/2 cup for every 6 cups flour.
- Freeze small amounts for babies or toddlers’ lunches.
- Spread heated leftover roast and mashed potatoes topped with leftover gravy on a piece of toast or bread,
- Use for the top of Shepard’s Pie; single servings or a whole pie
Potato Pancakes
(adjust to what you have on hand)
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes
2 Tbsp. flour
1 egg
margarine
Mix first 3 ingredients. Make into patties and fry in margarine until golden brown on each side. Serve warm with butter or margarine. These are delicious served with applesauce.
Note: When I make my potato pancakes I don’t use the egg and they turn out delicious so you don’t need to use the egg if you’d rather not.
Variations:
I like my potato pancakes fried in margarine but they also taste good fried in bacon drippings.
Add a little garlic and Parmesan cheese to them to give them a different taste.
Make potato pancakes with a little grated Cheddar cheese and add a dab of sour cream to them.
From Dining on a Dime
Potato Fudge
3 Tbsp. shortening
3 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. cocoa
1/3 cup mashed potatoes
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. (16 oz.) powdered sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
In a microwave safe bowl, melt shortening and butter in the microwave. Stir in cocoa until smooth. Add potatoes, salt and vanilla. Mix well. Blend in powdered sugar. Mix and add nuts. Dough will be very lumpy. Knead until smooth. Press into a buttered 8×8 inch pan. Cool in the refrigerator before cutting. Makes 64 pieces (yeah right!).
For more quick and easy recipes like this, check out our Dining On A Dime Cookbook!
Photo By: Vegan Feast Catering
How about good old potato candy? Just take a couple of big spoonfuls of potatoes & add confectioners sugar to make a dough. Roll it out, spread peanut butter over it, roll it up like a jellyroll, cut it into small pieces and chill. Pretty yummy! Great West Virginia tradition!
Oh, you have that, too? Been in our family for years, only our recipe calls for one boiled potato (peeled while still warm).
Deb, I used to make those, and my kids called them Peanut Butter Ears. Just be careful you have enough powdered sugar on hand since a very small amount of mashed potato will liquify the powdered sugar, and you need to add a lot to make a dough.
You can make Peanut Butter Eggs for Easter with melted chocolate added to the recipe. Just shape into eggs with your hands and dip in chocolate.
Another way to use leftover mashed potatoes is potato croquets. Make mashed potatoes into ball roll in breadcrumbs and deep fry if you want add cheese in the middle!
when I make potato cakes its a meal in itself, I add leftover diced chicken/turkey/ham (whatever we have in fridge), some diced onion, and corn. we never have any leftovers after that! in fact I usually need to purposely make extra mashed potatoes just for these.
You’re like me Karen. I always make extra mashed potatoes because I love potato pancakes so much.
Kloesse, gnochi or potato dumplings. Quick and easy and makes a great addition to soup or serve with (leftover) gravy or spaghetti sauce.
Perfect timing! I just put @ 1 cup of leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge tonight in hopes that someone would eat them. Now I can do something with them that will ensure they get eaten. <3
I’ve always used up my extra mashed potatoes the easy way! Potato Cheese Soup; almost no work and you get an extra meal that everyone loves. Make plenty of extra mashed potatoes so you’ll have half of them as leftovers. Next day or so put them in a pan and add milk (or water or cream or evaporated milk, etc) and grated cheese (cheddar, colby or american) also a bit of pepper or whatever seasonings you like. Then heat it until cheese is melted. Don’t boil it, just get it really hot. Add the amount of liquid so the soup is the consistency you like. And don’t worry about leftover soup, the family will eat it up quick and you won’t even get a second bowl! You can make this an hour or so ahead of dinner and when just under boiling put it in a crock pot on “low” to keep it hot until dinner. You can also dress it up by adding chopped cooked ham or broccoli, or whatever you like. I even use this to feed to guests, they love it!
As I single, I portion everything into single sized leftovers and freeze them. Last week I sliced 1/2 pan of maraconi and cheese into 7 individual bags for when I have a rich food attack. In this way I can have yummy food and stay on my diet by eating it sporadically instead of chowing down on an entire pan of it.
I do the same with soup. Every weekend I make a different flavored gallon ot it, and freeze 2/3rd of it. By the time I’m tired of eating the current flavor, soup, it’s all gone. Then I take the verison I made 3 weeks ago out of the freeze for a new taste.
My Grandmother ALWAYS saved bacon grease to use for frying. Yeah her cholesterol was high but she lived to be 100 years old and died only 6 years ago. She grew up on a farm and they used everything and wasted nothing. She used left overs and used bacon grease! I can only hope I live to see 100!
Me too. My grandmother lived to be almost 100 and my parents are 85 (and healthier then I am) and they lived on bacon grease. My dad use to eat lard or bacon grease sandwiches when he was young. It really makes you wonder whether they have things right in what is good and bad for you.