Easy Pepperoni Tortellini Bake

Last night I found a container of tortellini that I had cooked in spaghetti sauce that I knew was going to go to waste if I didn't do something with it.  I looked further in my fridge and saw that I had some ground beef from the night before that never got used and of course I had cheese so I decided to do a spaghetti bake but in my case Baked Tortellini. Here are the stars of my dish:

 

We have leftover tortellini in spaghetti sauce, leftover ground beef, cheese and my secret ingredient... PEPPERONI! First I put the ground beef and tortellini in the microwave for about 30 seconds to warm up any of the extra fat that had settled on the bottom of the container.

Then I mixed the two in the casserole dish and cut up the pepperonis into 4s so that it would be easier to eat and layered that on top.

 

Next I added a layer of cheese, I would have shredded it to cover more area but someone has disappeared my cheese shredder because he got frustrated with it... not naming names :)

 

I popped this bad boy into the preheated 350 degree oven and let it cook for 30 min (uncovered)

 

 

And my daughter got into it before I could get a good picture. My hunky man got home and asked me what was in it and I refused to tell him until he told me he liked it.. He thought I snuck some veggies in there like I normally do but I was too lazy for that last night. I would have normally added some cooked carrots and cauliflower and blended it up before adding it to the sauce but I didn't feel like doing all that work so I just went the quick and easy route.

 

Easy Pepperoni Tortellini Bake

Ingredients:

Left over tortellini in spaghetti sauce (or any sauce or any noodle)

left over ground beef (or any leftover meat or none)

10 pepperonis that are cut into 4s

Cheese (lots!)

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat up leftovers in microwave for about 30 Seconds then combine the ground beef with the tortellini in the casserole dish. Top with cut up pepperonis then top with cheese. Put in oven (uncovered) for 30 min. Let it rest for about 5 min before digging into it.. ENJOY! 





 

Flourless Potato Pancakes

Tonight is leftover night. Enough said. As I am rummaging through the refrigerator I found several things but one that was getting close to getting trashed and I am too frugal for that to happen. I found garlic mash potatoes from almost a week ago hanging out asking to be saved. I knew instantly that I wanted to make mashed potato pancakes.  I started looking for recipes on PINTEREST but found them all to have flour which discouraged me because I didn't have any and on leftover night, no new ingredients are bought. So I improvised:

 I had about 3 cups of garlic mashed potatoes, eggs, and instead of flour I found GOLDFISH!!  I started mixing the mashed potatoes three palms full of uncrushed goldfish and then I crushed them in the bowl.

I then thought it would be a good idea to add extra sharp cheddar cheese to go with the gold fish flavor

After mixing all of that, I added one egg and shaped the potato dough into a large ball and let it sit for a few minutes to let it all meld together. (the only reason I really let it sit is because my daughter woke up from her nap and needed help getting out of her crib)

 

I got my ice-cream scoop out because I just love having an excuse to use it and started making little balls out of the dough



 

 I flattened them a little like a pancake and then added them to the pan. After about a minute or two on medium heat, I flipped them over to reveal the beautiful golden brown that I love.

While I was cooking them, I knew I would need a sauce and thought ranch dressing would go amazing with these but I decided to make it taste like ranch without making ranch.

Since these potatoes already had lots of fresh garlic in them, there was no need in the sauce to add that so I got sour cream, onion powder, LOTS of dill and black pepper.

 

 My leftovers yielded about 9 pancakes (only 8 in picture because the cat and I tried one out first)

I added a dollop of my sauce and crumbled one goldfish on top. The toppings you choose for this are endless though! I thought about going tex-mex and adding refried beans, sour cream and salsa. I even thought about using leftover mac and cheese on top but in my house leftover mac and cheese is a joke because I never makes it to the fridge (I feel like I live with two mice after my daughter and man devour anything cheese related.) I thought that I would really need more sauce than this but it ended up being the perfect amount and it tasted just like ranch dressing once it was mixed with the garlic filled potato pancake.

 

Flourless Potato Pancake

Ingredients:

leftover mash potatoes (about 3-4 cups)

3-4 handfuls of uncrushed goldfish then crush up

1 egg

1/8 cup of shredded cheese

 

Directions:



Mix potatoes and crushed goldfish with cheese. Add egg and mix some more. Heat up skillet on Medium and add a splash of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil). Scoop a small handful of mixture at a time and form to a ball then press to make a pancake. Add a few at a time to pan (depending on size) and let it sit until the other side is golden brown (about 1-2 min) then flip. After the second side is golden brown, remove from heat and add whatever toppings make you happy, the possibilities are endless!

Sauce:
Ingredients:
1/4 cup of sour cream
1/8 teaspoon of onion powder
1/4 teaspoon of dill weed
Sprinkle of black pepper

Directions
MIX!! (in a bowl)