November 07, 2010

Tator Tot Casserole

I try to lead a healthy lifestyle, and although some may beg to differ, I try to extend that healthy lifestyling to my eating habits. But every once in awhile, when the days get darker faster and stress levels begin to pique at obscure hours, I heartily welcome the occasional "omg Paula Deen, HOW many sticks of butter do you want me to use?!" kind of recipe. Say hello to the glorious thing that is known as "tator tot casserole."
This is tator tot casserole and its man food. It's not pretty. It's not fancy. Its job is to fuel the guys to go out and do man things. Like cut down trees and hunt bears.
inspired by keep calm and carry on

Sounds amazing, but also sexist. Despite having been told that I eat like a man (I'll never forget that, B), I can hardly categorize this as "man food." To me, it's "food, man." And it's pretty damn delicious.Check it. :))

Pre-bake

Fini!

Beautiful.
Nomnomnom

Ingredients:
  • 4 lbs. of ground beef (I used lean ground turkey)
  • 2 bags of frozen tator tots
  • 1 onion (1/2 if you're not a big onion fan like me)
  • 3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese (I used 2 cups cheddar, 1 cup pepper jack)
  • 3 cans of cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken condensed soup (I used mushroom)
  • 1 family size can of French style green beans, drained (I also added a can of corn)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • optional: Tapatio hot sauce for an extra kick

Instructions:
  1. Pre-heat oven in 375 degree F.
  2. Lightly spray or butter a 9x13 baking dish. Line the bottom with a bag of tator tots. 
  3. Dice up your onion and set aside.
  4. Brown your meat in a pan. Add onions to the meat until onions are slightly translucent and the meat is cooked through. Add salt and pepper (I used a dust of cayenne pepper and Cajun spices). Drain well.
  5. Add some of the meat mixture to the baking dish with tator tots. 
  6. Add drained green beans & corn on top of the meat mixture.
  7. Then add about a can and a half of cream of mushroom soup and 1/2 of the cheese.
  8. Layer the remaining meat mixture and the rest of the cream of mushroom soup and finally another layer of tator tots. Cover the entire casserole with remaining cheese.
  9. Bake in oven for 45 min. or until the middle is well-cooked through and cheese is completely melted.

The layers of the casserole with be in this order, from bottom to top
1. tator tots!
2. meat & onion
3. green beans
4. cream of mushroom
5. cheeeeese
6. meat & onion
7. cream of mushroom
8. tator tots!
9. cheeeeese

---

yield: one hefty baking pan of deliciousness
type: Casserole
difficulty: Easy
cost: $$

2 comments:

  1. Ahhh Doah, potatoes (any kind, made any way) are one of my favorite foods and this post is making my mouth water as I sit here in the library. I have to try this over the weekend!!

    Your blog rocks.

    -Mai

    ReplyDelete