I should have read this first but didn't. I will post then read what everyone said. If this is somehow a repeat, please excuse.
Our grandson had his first birthday on January 1st. We were at our daughters house for the party and celebration. 60 people were invited so the food had to be prepared. Our daughter had the menu planned, but I'd cooked there several times and had things in seal a meal bags in the freezer for later use. One thing I had in there was large batch of mashed potatoes. Another thing in there was red pasta sauce with it's meatballs. No pasta, just the sauce and meat balls frozen together. In helping her out with the meal, I decided to defrost the mashed potatoes and the pasta sauce and knew I could come up with a soup of some sort. I know it sounds like (very odd ingredients) >> the combinations I chose, but to me, I had the making of my Norwegian based albondagos (sp?) soup. Many of the people coming to the party are hispanic, so I thought that particular soup would be enjoyed by most. I cooked up onions and celery and carrot, all chopped very small, in olive oil and let them get soft. I added salt and pepper and garlic to the mix and cooked a bit more. All the while, the potatoes and pasta sauce and meatballs were defrosting/defrosted. To a c5 qt. crock pot, I added the red sauce and potatoes and the sauteed veggies plus, white wine and chicken broth, enough until the consistency was soup-ish. Stirred it all well to incorporate the sauce with the potatoes and break them up, then added the meatballs. This cooked in the crockpot all day until the party where I served next to it with the bowls, crushed tortilla chips and 4 cheese shredded Mexican cheese to top. What a wonderful soup (that all but about a cup), completely disappeared.
Just one reason to freeze those leftover mashed potatoes, you never know what you'll use them for.
I just read what everyone's post said. I love these ideas. They are very helpful and I must agree with the Shepards Pie. I love that. It's so easy and a main dish that is really filling and satisfying too.
There is a restaurant quality baked potatoe soup online that I've used many times, which calls for other than baked potatoes, mashed ones added in there too. I googled and found it.