Potato-Corn Cakes

This recipe is brought to you by Idaho Spuds potato flakes. Yup. Don't you wrinkle your nose up! These may not make the best mashed potatoes but they do make an awesome binder for all kinds of cakes. And boy, do we love our cakes: Rice cakes, Tuna cakes, Potato cakes, Chocolate cakes...wait...wrong kind of cake there, but loved all the same.

Anyway, yesterday we got home from a long day out and the whole drive home I kept thinking of what I could make for dinner, mentally running through the pantry, fridge and freezer. By the time we got home I was exhausted and still had no clue what to make. I have no idea why I reached for the box of potato flakes but I did and happened to find a recipe on the back for potato corn cakes. It seemed like the perfect, easy dinner for the night. A mix between periogies, cakes, potato and corn. Did I mention that growing up we always mixed our corn and mashed potatoes together? Delicious. This just screamed, "make me!" So I did.

The recipe was originally for "small appetizer cakes" but since this was dinner I made them adult sized + 1 baby one for LB. I also halved the recipe which is what I will give to you. It was perfect for 2 adults and one child. You can make the cakes as big or as little as you want.
There are some things I would change next time I make these, and make them again I will (was that yoda-ish?) The recipe called for 1/2T garlic salt. I stupidly added all of that even though my mind was screaming "too much!!!" I will probably omit that next time or just add 1/4tsp instead. I also did not have green onions, never do apparently, so I finely minced up about 1T yellow onion which was just fine in my opinion. I'd even add a bit more next time. So here is the improvised recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup potato flakes
2T+2t cornmeal
1/4t garlic salt
1/8t cayenne pepper
1 cup milk
1 cup frozen corn, thawed (i used canned corn)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1-2T finely minced onion OR 3 green onions, thinly sliced.


Directions:
- Mix the potato flakes, cornmeal, garlic salt and cayenne pepper together (I also added a bit of black pepper.)

- Stir in milk, corn, cheese and onions. Let sit for two minutes while your non-stick pan heats up.
- Spray non stick pan with no stick spray.
- Make patties - again, as big or as small as you want. I usually score the bowl into 4 equal parts and try to make 4 adult sized cakes plus one small one for LB.

Place cakes on pan heated about medium heat. Do not move! Let crisp up.Use more spray if needed. Flip and brown on the other side.

We served ours vegetarian style with homemade cole slaw (need the recipe?!) and black eyed peas. The sour cream on top of the corn cakes was delicious but they are just as fine plain.

LB's plate. She loved it but unfortunately it was a bit too salty for her (which is why I adjusted the garlic salt!)