I don’t know about yall but we eat a lot of potatoes in our house.  A LOT.  Nearly every other meals has potatoes in some form or another. 

During my Food Network phase, I watched Paula Deen’s show religiously and picked up a few recipes that we liked.  I thought I’d share one of my favorite ways to use up leftover mashed potatoes.

Night one:  Rustic Mashed Potatoes

Here’s the cast of characters in our mashed potato “recipe” if you can call it that.

Potatoes (I always do just a little more than my regular 4-5 medium potatoes to make sure I’ll have extras for the next recipe)
Milk
Sour Cream
Butter or margarine (I was out of butter and keep Country Crock on hand for Hunter)
Mayonnaise
Garlic Pepper (Garlic salt or House Seasoning also works)
Onion powder
minced garlic
shredded cheese

Obviously, this is a very healthy recipe.  Also, you might notice that you see garlic powder in the picture and not garlic salt.  I make my own garlic pepper mix (cheaper) and just reuse the container…there’s garlic pepper in there.

My directions are really easy. 

Scrub your potatoes and make sure they’re clean.  Then dice them up as small as you’d like. 

I also don’t peel my potatoes but you can if you want to.  We just like the skins on there.  Cover potatoes in water with a dash of salt and set them to boil.

Boil until fork tender, remove from heat and drain water off of the potatoes.

I mix my mashed potatoes in the pan I cook them in.  Less dishes.  Using my basic hand held potato masher,

I mash them to the point where they’re slightly chunky still.  We prefer our mashed potatoes chunky but you can mash til your heart’s content.

Next is the good part.  I add a little bit of milk, probably no more than 2-3 tablespoons to start.  Then I add a large spoonful of sour cream and mayonnaise and two large spoonfuls of butter and stir it all together (you can see it all in the above picture).  Sometimes you’ll need more of the ingredients to get the texture you want.  I always add more mayonnaise first, then sour cream, then butter and lastly milk.  That way I don’t end up with nasty, runny potatoes. 

I will go on record here and say that THIS is the best mayonnaise in the world and I am sorry if you don’t live in the south and can’t get it.

Sad, sad, sad, I am for you non-southerners.

I also go ahead and add some of my garlic pepper, onion powder and the minced garlic.  The minced garlic isn’t necessary but it adds a wonderful flavor to the potatoes.  It is found in the produce section; it is shelf stable until you open it.  Time saver folks.  Time saver.

Onion powder is a brilliant little discovery.  Wonderful onion taste without all the dicing.  It’s great stuff and definitely a kitchen staple for us now.

My best advice is to taste as you go.  I’m constantly tasting until it hits my taste buds just right.

The last thing I add is shredded cheese, usually just a handful or two.  This is also another add-on and will not make or break your mashed potatoes. 

Here’s a picture of our finished product:

That’s it for night one.  Enjoy those yummy, rustic mashed potatoes!

Night two (or three if you need to skip a night):

Paula Deen’s Potato Casserole (as modified by Carrie!)

Cast of characters:
Leftover mashed potatoes (usually 3-4 servings)
3-4 medium potatoes sliced into 1/4 inch slices and boiled until just fork tender
1 onion, thinly sliced
1-2 small green peppers, thinly sliced
3/4 stick of butter, more to top potatoes with
sour cream
shredded cheese
House Seasoning

You’ll also need a casserole dish.  I like to use a deep one.

Directions:
First you want to get your 3-4 potatoes washed, sliced and boiled. I leave the skins on the potatoes.

While your potatoes are boiling, add 3/4  of a stick of butter to a skillet and sauté your onions and green peppers until tender.  I add House Seasoning here or Garlic Pepper.

 
(Paula says an entire stick but I think that’s too much so I cut it.  You could probably do even less as this recipe is very rich).

When the potatoes are done  boiling, drain them and set them to cook for a minute or two.

Next is assembly. (Pre-heat your oven to 375 at his point).

In your (spray with cooking spray!) casserole dish, place your leftover mashed potatoes in the bottom.

Next spread a thick layer of sour cream.  I also add some shredded cheese here. 

Top with your sautéed peppers and onions (add the butter you sautéed in too).  Add House Seasoning to taste.

Then layer your sliced potatoes on top of the sour cream.  Add a few pats of butter on top of your sliced potatoes and House Seasoning.  Here’s a view of what my casserole looks like at this point:

Put casserole in your preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  You’re mostly just heating it all together to get the flavor so just watch it. About 5 minutes before its done, pull the casserole out and top with more shredded cheese.  Pop it back in the oven for a couple of minutes and here’s the yumminess you will pull out.

I think that some cooked and diced bacon would taste great with this recipe! 

Eat and enjoy this awesome way to use up some leftovers!

What’s your favorite use-up-the-leftovers-recipe?  I know Alea will have some!

Carrie