Skip to main content

tater tot casserole recipe

i realized i forgot to post this last week when we had it.  i actually like it a little better than the hash brown one, but both are good.  it’s VERY similar.

once again, this is something i’ve made so many times that i just kind of wing it now, although i do have the recipe that kate sent to me after she made it for my family when micah was born. i like to keep the recipe because it has some little ‘britishisms’ throughout, just like kate! ;-) who, by the way, rocks, having called to check up on me the other evening when she saw that the power in our area was out AGAIN!  thanks kate, smooch smooch! but now i’m getting distracted… big surprise.

here goes.

you will need:

  • 1 lb or so ground beef (or ground turkey)
  • 1 chopped onion
  • a bunch of veggies (kate’s recipe calls for a ‘tin’ of mixed veggies, but i use fresh carrots & celery if i’ve got’em, frozen beans, peas, corn, whatever).  maybe 2-3 cups.
  • 1 can (or tin) of cream of something soup (i use celery usually)
  • grated cheese (i use cheddar)
  • 1 bag of frozen tater tots

brown the beef and onion together (i usually add some garlic powder and maybe some parsley). while i’m doing this, i steam the veggies. you must do this if you’re using fresh or frozen so they won’t be crunchy! in a big enough bowl, mix together the meat, veggies and soup and then pour it into a casserole dish (9X13 or 2.5-3qt.). sprinkle with a little cheese. cover the entire top w/ tater tots (in rows, rings, whatever – depending on how OCD you are) and then cover them in a good layer of grated cheese.  bake, uncovered, at 375* for about 45 minutes.

i often make a double and stick one whole casserole in the freezer before i bake it. i just wrap it up good in plastic wrap and foil, w/ masking tape around it. that makes a good place to write the baking instructions.  just pull it out the night before you want to eat it and put it in the fridge to thaw a little. if it’s still a little frozen, you might have to bake it a little longer.

Comments

  1. You'll have to let me know how school with Shane went. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is similar to mine; I usually use cream of chicken and mix equal parts soup and sour cream. Then smear it on top of the browned meat, then put the tater tots on top, "lined up like little soldiers" because that's the way my husband likes it and the math major in me has to do it that way. (It makes it easier to portion out, too.) I'd keep Kate's recipe just for the Britishisms, too!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

all comments are moderated. unkind comments will be deleted.

you may like...

fillet of sole

so i sat micah at the table today to eat his lunch.  he had a plate of food, a fork to eat it with, he was buckled into his seat, and had shoes on his feet.  i left the room and came back to find him out of his chair, done with his food, and this scene:    want a closer look?  i know you do…     yes, that’s a fork IN the shoe.           have i mentioned he’s a total houdini?  the straps are still buckled and it’s impossible to get them tight enough to keep him in.  but i’m loving that he left a shoe behind.  it’s so cinderella. i’m kind of thinking at this point that i should maybe look inside the shoe, just to be sure he didn’t stash any of his lunch in there. i’ve said it before, i never claimed to have normal kids. at least he ate…

for my not-so-american friends

i didn't have an actual roll w/ the green plaid on it, but i found a refill and an empty roll in my junk drawer (yeah, i know, that should tell me something).  but even the empty one says 'scotch' on it.  there you go!  SCOTCH TAPE!

does home ec even exist anymore?

my last post got me thinking about how i somehow missed 'learning' all of those things which are essential in running a successful home. i'm wondering who dropped the ball on this (because, i can't possibly take responsibility for my own shortcomings here). i guess traditionally, one learns these things from their parents. i suppose i did learn a lot of my domestic skills at home. for example, the husband is supposed to eat the leftovers in the fridge. when making a bed, the 'top' of the top sheet goes down so that when you fold the edge over the blanket, the 'top' side is then up. why this matters when you are just going to cover the whole thing with a pillow and comforter is totally beyond me. but that's how you do it. so yes, my mother taught me how to iron, do laundry, clean a toilet, etc. my dad taught me how to plant a garden, mow a lawn, appreciate baseball, etc. and then there's home ec. do people still take home ec? i took it

i’m sure i will offend all sorts people with this…

… but i just don’t get why the entire world is so torn up about the death of michael jackson. yes, he had an insanely successful career as a singer/entertainer/pop star. yes, he took a lot of that to a whole new level. yes, i remember thriller and doing the moonwalk. yes, i remember wanting one of those red leather jackets, and one of those sparkly white gloves. however… i’m also wondering why everyone else is seeming to forget how he bleached his skin (and then had a big hit stating that it doesn’t matter if you’re black or white… always wondered about that one), underwent so much plastic surgery that he barely looked human anymore, made crotch-grabbing an acceptable dance move, hung his kid over a balcony, showed up for court in his pajamas, and, oh yeah, was accused of child molestation HOW MANY TIMES??? this was a VERY disturbed man. i have never understood why being a celebrity excuses people from upholding the same morals and standards that we expect of normal people. i w

blessed with good oral health!

well, i made it another 6 months with no cavities! i had a dentist appointment today. my second in six months, but prior to that, i don’t think i’d been in 4+ years. oops. i was much less nervous for this appointment than i was for the last one. last time i figured my luck had run out and because i’d been bad about seeing the dentist, this time i’d really ‘pay’ for it. but no. other than a little excessive scraping of tartar (4 years’ worth), everything was fine. around the time i turned 20, i pretty much assumed, every time i went to the dentist, that this was finally my time for a cavity. i mean, how long really, can one person go without ANY cavities? well, now i’m kind of over that and figure that maybe my teeth are just impenetrable or something. at any rate, every time the dentist comes in at the end of my cleaning, pokes around for a minute and tells me my teeth look great, i breathe a sigh of relief and feel tremendous gratitude for my good teeth. the no cavities thing is only