Remake Leftovers into Cream of Leftovers Pancakes

Do you ever get stuck with a fridge full of small amounts of this and that leftover, but not enough to make a full meal? With two teenage boys in the house, when I cook, I need to cook quite a bit to fill them up, so I regularly remake leftovers into whole new meals. Some of their favorites include turning leftover chicken into Homemade Quesadillas with Soaked Flour Tortillas, using leftover chicken and mashed potatoes for Chicken and Gnocchi Soup, Olive Garden Style, and baking leftover meat sauce and cheese into Duncan’s Meat in a Loaf. I also bake Potato Bread using Leftover Mashed Potatoes.

This week I had rice, quinoa, mashed potatoes, broccoli and a bounty of small pullet eggs, so I decided to try  new experiment – Cream of Leftovers pancakes. I know this sounds weird, but my boys are used to me making “cream of leftovers” with varying degrees of success. The best results gets saved and turned into actual recipes. If they complain, they end up cooking. It's amazing how their attitudes have changed over the years. (They've also gotten to be pretty good basic cooks. 🙂 )  You could adapt this to any sort of starchy leftovers and veggies. Think “modified potato pancakes“. These are savory, not sweet. My youngest ate them with ketchup. My eldest and I ate them hot straight out of the pan.

The blue mashed potatoes and broccoli are responsible for the blue tint, which makes them look a little like Muppet food. One of my onions from the root cellar was starting to sprout, so there are green bits from that. I still have dried tomatoes in the pantry from last year's garden, so I crumbled some of those in. And there was a nubbin of cheese rolling around in the back of the bin, so that went in.

Cream of Leftovers Pancakes Recipes

Ingredients

• 1 cup each mashed potatoes, rice, and quinoa – or three cups cooked starch of your choice
• 1 dozen medium eggs (about 8 large, give or take)
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 2 cups cooked broccoli
• 1/2 cup dried tomatoes, cut or torn into small pieces
• 1/2 cup Gouda cheese, finely chopped, or cheese of your choice (optional)
• 1/2 cup flour of your choice, for thickening (I used tapioca to keep it gluten free)
• Sea salt, pepper and spices to taste
• Butter or refined coconut oil for cooking

Directions

Place starches in large food processor or blender. Puree until well mixed/finely blended. Add eggs, puree until mixed. Add onions, blend until as finely mixed as you would like. Add rest of ingredients (except butter), mix until just blended.

Heat a large stainless steel skillet or cast iron skillet or griddle and add enough fat to cover the bottom of the pan. Pour out batter into hot skillet. Cook until edges start to firm, then flip and finish cooking. This will take several minutes per side, depending on the size of your pancakes. Remove from pan and serve warm, plain or with the condiment of your choice. Pair them up with a fresh salad to round out your meal.

Get creative with leftovers! With a little inspiration, you can do one large batch of cooking on the weekend and revamp it into multiple meals all week long. Don't forget about turning bones into Homemade Bone Broth, which is a great way to add nutrition to many recipes. If you need some more inspiration, don't forget to to browse the Recipe Index.