Pennsylvania knows how to do taters right. I'm mostly Penssylvania Dutch and German, and I kinda think we got the market cornered on how to eat mashed potatoes.
Ever hear of a dish called green peas and hamburger? Essentially, you brown a bunch of burger and make gravy from the drippings, and then mix up the burger, the gravy and a mess of peas, then ladle it into a bowl of mashed potatoes. AWESOME comfort food on a cold winter day.
My mom also used to make a casserole where she'd put down a layer of mashed potatoes, then a layer of creamed corn, then burger, sometimes crumbled bacon too, then cheese. Toss it in the oven, then enjoy.
A lot of the mashed potato things are Depression-era holdovers... easy ways to stretch out bland staple foods into meals. Potato soup was another frequent meal at my Grandma's house.