I needed a quick and easy dish for dinner last night as I knew we had to be out of the house one hour after getting home from school.  I searched my refrigerator and knew I needed to finish off the last of the ham, vegetables and mashed potatoes leftover from Easter Dinner.

What do I do with them?  Ham & Cheese Mashed Potato Pancakes!  Sounded good to me.  I made this up as I went along.

I mixed up the mashed potatoes, ham & cheese mixture  earlier in the day and left it covered in the refrigerator until we got home.  I was able to heat the oil and fry them while making a spinach salad.  We had dinner on the table within 20 minutes and were out the door in 60 minutes.

Verdict:

They definitely don’t look pretty but they were VERY tasty.  We each had two pancakes and a green spinach salad and it was a great light dinner.  You felt full but not heavy when we were done.

This used up those last pieces of mashed potatoes and ham I had in the refrigerator and made me incredibly happy.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of mashed potatoes (a great use of leftovers, even instant will work)
• 1 1/2 cup ham, small dice
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• 3 eggs
• 1 sleeve round butter crackers, finely crushed, divided
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• canola oil, to fry patties

Directions:

1. To the mashed potatoes add the ham, cheeses, one egg, 1/4 cup of the cracker crumbs, garlic powder and onion powder.  Stir until well combined.
2. You can refrigerate the mixture at this point and just before you are ready to cook remove the mixture from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature.
3. Beat the remaining eggs and place in a shallow bowl.
4. Place the remaining cracker crumbs on a plate.
5. Form the mashed potato mixture into half cup patties.
6. Dip the patties into the egg and then coat with the cracker crumbs.  Place on a cookie sheet to the side until all are coated.
7. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  When oil is shimmery add patties carefully to the oil.
8. Fry each side for about 3-4 minutes until golden brown.
9. Remove from heat and serve with salad or other side.