Leftover Makeover: Mashed Potato Pancakes

Generally speaking, mashed potatoes only make an appearance at our house on holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. Sometimes, they show up when we are having people over, but most of the time, I ask my mom to make them for gatherings. She just has a knack with the mashing and the flavoring that I haven't mastered.

My brother is in town for the week and we all hung out at Mom's house last night. And because she is The Best Mom In The History Of Moms, she made us mashed potatoes. One thing she always does is make enough so there are leftovers.

She was nice enough to send some home with us, so I decided to turn them into Mashed Potato Pancakes for lunch today.

This is seriously one of the easiest recipes to throw together, and the nice thing is, if you have company, they make a lovely addition to breakfast or brunch or dinner or lunch. The other nice thing is that you can make these with lots of different flavor additions - change the type of cheese, change the spices, and you can completely customize your pancakes. That's my favorite part of cooking: making it my own.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Mashed Potatoes
• 1 Egg, beaten
• 1/2 Cup Mozzarella, shredded
• 3 Tbsp. Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 Tbsp. Fresh Chives, chopped
• Salt and Pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

In a medium size bowl, combine all ingredients except olive oil. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat.

Drop potato mixture by the spoonful into the heated skillet. Smoosh down with your fingers to flatten into pancakes.

Cook pancakes until browned, for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

Yield: 6 2" pancakes

You can serve these by themselves, or with sour cream and chives, or with a fried egg on top. The possibilities are endless.