Hope your Thanksgiving was happy and indulgent!

Ours was nice and fortunately not all that different from prior years because we’ve kept it small!

I did enjoy all the cooking and baking but since I’m working on delegating I let my mom do the pretzel jello (she nailed it) and the mashed potatoes.

I guess it doesn’t sound all that charitable to say I “let” someone peel 10 pounds of potatoes.

Yes, 10 pounds for 7 adults and 2 babies because the GS loves leftover mashed potatoes and, in fact, they were a major food group for him in his post-college days. On Friday Greta was entertained by them for an hour which, if you’ve met an 11-month-old, is a damn miracle. The activity was my idea, but it was the GS’ idea to coin them “mashed po-play-doh.” Trademark & patent pending.

While she was doing this, I was also playing with them. Making gnocchi!

I decided to do turkey soup this year and realized I didn’t have any noodles. I toyed with the idea of making homemade pasta, but then it hit me that I should try to make something with some of the bounty of leftover potatoes.

Mashed Potato Gnocchi

slightly adapted from Life as a Strawberry

2 cups leftover mashed potatoes

1 egg white

1 cup flour

This is shockingly easy. About 1/4 cup at a time, start folding the flour into the potatoes. I added about 1/2 cup, then the egg white, then another 1/2 cup. You might need more or less flour and egg (feel free to use a whole egg, I just had egg whites leftover from making ice cream) depending on the consistency of the potatoes you’re starting with. You’re looking for a “dough” that is light and soft but not sticky.

Divide the dough into 8 portions and roll out into a snake on a floured surface.

Cut into 1-inch pieces. I know some people roll them over a gnocchi board or use a fork to add texture but I thought Greta was going to lose interest in the activity at any moment so I kept it simple.

Refrigerate on a floured surface. I actually ended up freezing half (on a floured baking sheet for 2-3 hours, then moved into a ziplock bag) and kept the other half in the fridge.

Turkey soup is business as usual. I added onion, celery, garlic, and chopped sweet potato. Once you’re ready to eat the soup, drop the gnocchi in there. They just need to gently cook for a few minutes.

These are like tiny heavenly pillows of mashed potato in your soup. They somehow don’t lose their shape and they make the turkey soup feel like authentically leftovers.

Here’s a terrible photo of the finished soup:

So if you still have some kicking around, I recommend this! Or mashed potato waffles, which we’ll be doing tomorrow with the rest. Because yes, there are still more.

Thanks again for peeling, mom.