Kiss the Cook: Leftover mashed potatoes reborn as tasty cakes

When cooking a large Thanksgiving meal, leftovers are likely to happen. My family tends to have big meals and there are always leftovers to enjoy later. Sometimes we do have a fair amount of mashed potatoes leftover. Typically, we just reheat them with gravy and turkey. After several meals of this, you tend to want something different.
This got me to thinking about ways to use leftovers. I know some people that will not eat leftovers. I’m not one of them. Mashed potatoes are easy to reinvent and use other ways. One great way to use leftover mashed potatoes is to make potato cakes. These are very easy and quick to make and with a few additions, you hardly realize they were leftovers from Thanksgiving. Try the recipe below the next time you have leftover mashed potatoes. It’s a winner.
Potato cakes
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Ready in: 10 min
Yields: 8 cakes

Ingredients:
4 slices thin bacon (I used smoked)
4 cups leftover mashed potatoes
1 tsp. onion powder
2 eggs
½ tsp. ground black pepper
½ tsp. salt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Cook the bacon over medium heat until brown and crispy. Place to the side and reserve bacon drippings in the skillet.
2. Combine the potatoes, onion powder, eggs, black pepper and salt in a large bowl and mix well.
3. Crumble the cooled bacon and add to the potato mix along with the cheddar cheese. Mix well.
4. Heat the bacon drippings to medium high heat. Using your hands, make 8 potato cakes and cook them in the skillet with the bacon drippings for about 4 minutes per side. You are looking to brown and crisp up each side of the potato cake.
5). Remove from heat and eat plain with salt and pepper added to taste or you can add some sour cream. Enjoy!