GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — You wake up, belly still a little bloated from all of the great food you enjoyed last night at Thanksgiving dinner. After getting your morning caffeine going, you open the refrigerator for your milk or cream and then you see it.... stuffed into every nook and cranny... leftovers... staring right back at you!

Now if you have some kids home for the holidays and headed back to college, you do not have a problem. Back in the day, I know I cleared out as much as I could, packing it into coolers for my drive back to college in Vermont, knowing that I had some decent food for my dorm room. But if you do not have any ravenous eaters there, you start thinking. What am I going to do with all this food?

One of the easiest and tastiest next-day offerings (and actually may be a legal requirement in some areas) is the obligatory Thanksgiving sandwich. Take a couple of dinner rolls and slice them like a burger bun. Put a nice portion of turkey on the bottom, top that with some dressing, a little mashed potatoes and then top that with some cranberry sauce, maybe some chutney, cover with the top half and enjoy!

But you can also get really creative. You can usually swap out your leftover turkey in your chicken recipes. If you are on the net, just Google search for Thanksgiving leftovers. I saw at least 10 pages of search results and saw some really creative and tasty recipes, most too long to post here.

WEBSITE OF THE WEEK

It comes from The Food Network. Check out their “Top Ten” Thanksgiving leftover recipes!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/holidays-and-parties/top-10-thanksgiving-leftover-recipes/index.html

And this week's recipe of the week is from that site; a great recipe from Rachael Ray — Smashed Potato-Cheddar Cakes with Warm Cran-Apple Sauce!

Do you have a great Thanksgiving recipe? Do you like to share? Email me your recipes and if we print yours, you will win a six-pack of our Cheesecakes in a Jar.

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Lee is the founder and owner of Decadence Gourmet Cheesecakes and Catering. He can be reached at decadencecheesecakes@mindspring.com, through their website at www.decadencecheesecakes.com, on Facebook or by calling 256-4688!

Smashed Potato Cheddar Cakes with Warm Cran-Apple Sauce

Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

Serves: 4 servings, 3 cakes each

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3 Golden or Red Delicious apples, peeled and chopped

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 cup apple cider

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup prepared whole berry cranberry sauce, store-bought or homemade

3 cups smashed or leftover mashed potatoes*

Water or milk, as needed to thin potatoes

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

2 scallions, finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, eyeball it

Coarse salt and pepper

Drizzle vegetable oil

Butter pats

Paprika, to garnish, optional

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Place apples, lemon juice, cider, sugar and cinnamon in a medium pot over medium high heat and cook down into a thick sauce, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cranberry sauce to warm through and combine.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.

Place potatoes and water or milk in a bowl and cover with plastic. Microwave 2 minutes on high to slightly reheat and loosen potatoes. Stir them up with the liquid to make them workable again. Combine cheese, scallions and nutmeg with potatoes and adjust salt and pepper.

Add a drizzle of vegetable oil and a pat of butter to your preheated skillet then score the potatoes and cheese mixture in half. Using the first half of the potatoes, make 6 (3-inch across and 1/2-inch thick) potato cakes and space them evenly around the pan. Cook the cakes until golden all over, 3 minutes per side, then remove and garnish with paprika, if using, and repeat with remaining ingredients.

Serve potato-cheddar cakes with warm cran-apple sauce for topping.

* To make fresh smashed potatoes, cook off 2 1/2 pounds of small new skin potatoes until tender and smash them up with some milk or stock and butter, salt and pepper to taste.