Ellington

While I know many folks are able to deftly hide last night's dinner in some sort of casserole, I never learned the skillful art of food camouflage. The Man knows. It's like my husband has some kind of internal detector that magically alerts him to the mere hint of food being "recycled" in any way.

I can't even freeze leftovers for later use. He inevitably finds the defrosting goods in the fridge, and the jig is up.

Leftover turkey is not a problem at our house: The Man doesn't like it, and I don't eat it. There's no problem with leftover dressing, either, as I could happily eat that every day without complaint. What we are always left with is an array of side dishes, usually mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole and some random green veggie.

A friend recently shared a method of using leftovers that has finally met The Man's approval: savory pancakes. In "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" (Wiley, 2007, $35), author Mark Bittman suggests a basic recipe, a one-to-one ratio of ingredients: mix together one cup mashed or pureed veggies with one cup flour, one teaspoon baking powder and one egg. Because I typically just eyeball when measuring, I usually add milk as needed to get the desired consistency. These are then cooked like plain old pancakes. This is a simple way to use those surplus sweet potatoes.

The Man not only eats these without complaint, he now requests them.

Mashed Potato Cakes

1-1/2 cup mashed potatoes
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated cheese
1/4 to 1/2 cup mashed or pureed veggies (optional)
Cooking spray or melted butter

Mix together potatoes, flour, egg and cheese. Add any other veggies you're using. I have had the best success with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach. Season with salt and pepper. The mixture's consistency will be based on the "stiffness" of your original mashed potatoes. The mixture will be really sticky, but if it's too runny to work with just add a little more flour.

Shape into patties on a foil-lined baking sheet. Spray patties with cooking spray or brush with melted butter. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, then flip. Bake for about five to 10 minutes more or until golden.

Makes about six to eight cakes. These freeze well, so you can later serve "leftover" leftovers.