I made too much. Way too much. I don’t want to eat them again in their present form, but what else is there? Potato pancakes need grated fresh taters. I’ve seen people spread mashed taters atop meat pies, but yuck.
I won’t be hurt or surprised if there are no replies to this question. 
Beat an egg or two into the potatoes, enough that they are just soft enough to be dropped onto a hot griddle and… fried into pancakes. Salt and pepper liberally. Enjoy.
Seriously–I didn’t know that this wasn’t the standard recipe for potato pancakes until I was in graduate school. I definitely prefer it to the grated version. More butter. More cream. You know.
I was going to suggest shepherd’s/cottage pie, but I’m assuming that’s what you’re describing in the last sentence, so shrug. (And, IMHO, of course, they are very much the opposite of “yuck.”)
I’m going to share my mother’s cheeseburger pie recipe. I don’t know if you’ll like it or not, but it’s dead easy, uses mashed potatoes, and is a family favorite.
Brown some ground beef and onions, maybe green peppers, in the skillet and add enough of your favorite barbecue sauce to render it into barbecues – you know, the loosemeat sandwich that you’d eat on a hamburger bun. Put it in a casserole dish with some grated cheddar, and top with leftover potatoes. Put more cheese on top. Pop it in the oven at 350F or so, and bake until the cheese is melty and the potatoes hot. Serve and enjoy.
Sattua, thanks – I’ll try that.
pulykamell, I’m sleepy and should have taken the time to clarify. I love shepherd’s pie – the yuck part was because I’m lazy. Making a whole new dish in order to use leftovers in part of it is more than I’m capable of this week.
Stir grated cheese into them, chill them, mold them into largish egg-shapes, coat in beaten egg and bread crumbs, and bake at 325F for twenty minutes. Or, if your arteries can handle it, deep-fry them. Cheesy clouds. This recipe only really works if the mashed potatoes are fairly dense.
Sculpt it into a scale model of Devil’s Tower?
My mom’s recipe for potato pancakes was to shape mashed potatoes into pancake shapes and fry them in butter.
yummmmmmmmm!
Throw them in the freezer … it’s pretend snow for the kids. Throw them in the attic … insulation. Got a nearby MOMA? You got yourself a piece of art. Hunting in the Antartic? Pile 'em up and make a penguin decoy. If you’ve always had the hots for the Hamburglar, they’ll make a nice perfume. Stuff them in a pillowcase, and you have a firm and supportive pillow to sleep with. Form them into the shape of a nearby mountain, and call Richard Dreyfus.
You are only limited by your imagination.
I can understand that. I’ve heard of using mashed potatoes to make soup. Try googling “mashed potato soup” and find a recipe that looks good. I’ve never done it before, but I can see it working out okay. Throw in some leeks and you could do some sort of twist on potato and leek soup.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never found Shepherd’s pie to take that long to make. It’s one of my quickie dinners for if I don’t feel like cooking!
We would always fry them up with butter and just eat them like that as a side in lieu of hashbrowns for breakfast or doing other potatoes for supper.
Add some grated Cheddar cheese, sour cream, and possibly chopped cooked bacon. Put in casserole dish, bake in oven until nice and hot. This makes a wonderful side dish, though it’s hard on the old arteries. If I liked sort of raw onions, I might put some chopped onions in this dish too.
We used to put ketchup on mashed potato pancakes, just as we’d put ketchup on french fries, but these days I think that I’d skip the ketchup. I’ve never been able to make potato pancakes, but possibly I just haven’t had enough practice.
You can pipe mashed potatoes onto a cookie sheet, bake until lightly browned, and call them “Duchess Potatoes”. These are quite good.
I like beef stroganoff over mashed potatoes (warmed up, of course), rather than noodles. Many dishes in gravy can be served over mashed potatoes. Would this be too close to regular mashed taters for your taste?
Leftover masheds have an unwarrantedly bad reputation.
I use a pounding-style masher the first goround, but when re-heating masheds, I use a mixer. See, my theory, what makes first-gen masheds fluffy is the steam. When they cool, that compacts, and you get mortar. I reheat on the stove, *ne *microwave pas, and slash through them with a pass or two on the electric beater, thus restoring the micropockets of steam.
I defy you to distinguish.
Mix in some spinach and cream cheese and bake.
I third, or fourth, or whatever, the motion to use them as potato pancakes. Fry those puppies up. They’re good!
I also use shepherd’s pie as a quickie meal, although my basic recipe varies a bit. I use browned ground beef, then stir in some green beans (usually frozen, but canned works), and a can of tomato soup. Dump in pan, top with potatoes, then top with cheese. Bake till cheese is melty. Good old-fashioned comfort food.
If you seriously don’t want to do much with them at all, heat them up in a pan and stir in some sour cream and bacon bits. Perks them right up.
By the way, is there something wrong with you people? There have never been leftover mashed potatoes in my house. Especially after a family dinner. Seriously, never.
Don’t just fry them, make potato scones!
Deelicious!
Yummies! I had no idea! 
My dad used to make mashed potato salad. Same as regular potato salad, only with mashed potatoes.
Chop up yer onions and start them in the pan (butter or marg are superior to oil for this task). Add in those taters and form them into pancake-shaped items. Sprinkle with a little seasoned salt if you want more zip or stick to S&P and maybe some paprika. Make sure they’re not sticking but let them sit on one side until they begin to turn golden and then flip.
You can also add chopped mushrooms and/or peppers to the mix in the pan and fry it all up together. When done, grate some cheddar over. Or not. You can make some eggs, too, and have the whole mess together. When you add more stuff, it is known as ‘hash’ and it’s mighty fine. In fact, it’s a reason to make extra mashed taters.
Some people add in chopped corned beef (hence ‘corned beef hash’) or other meat but I mostly eat meatless so I like it just fine without.
This is exactly what my mother did with leftover mashed potatoes. It’s incredibly good.