Tater Tot Casserole

So, the other day I was feeling very unmotivated when it came to dinner. On most nights like this one, I quickly whip up spaghetti or macaroni and tuna or something just as quick and easy. My sister, however, brilliantly suggested we make Tater Tot Casserole. Simple, easy, classic, right? True on all counts. Except, would you believe that I had no idea how to make it. Yes, yes, I could've guessed and surely figured it out, right? Well, not only do I prefer to stay on the safe side, but it tends to bit me in the rear when I don't. I'm definitely no super chef. I grew up on pork steak and goolosh, so I didn't know much about anything else before I had a family of my own...or how great other food (and cooking it) could be!

Well, believe it or not, I only had about half the ingredients. I don't keep tater tots on hand and I don't like to keep sour cream around very long. After going through the trouble of looking up a recipe and realizing how delicious it sounded, I was having this dinner, regardless. So, I did what I hate to do... I drove to the grocery store in town and bought the tater tots and sour cream. Surely, they were a little overpriced, but still affordable enough where I didn't cringe too much at the register. I despise shopping more frequently than my weekly trip, where our weekly food budget is typically spent. However, I had to have Tater Tot Casserole. That was all there was to it. I'm happy to say that it turned out fantastic! Everyone loved it, including my picky self. It was delicious! The only thing I'll do different next time is I won't use Velveeta Shredded Cheddar Cheese. It's very sharp, very dry. It's hard to melt, as well. It's a very poor choice for melting on thing, like my baked spaghetti or on lasagna. On to the recipe! Which is probably the same as 100 others, but I had to look one up, so maybe you need to, as well?



Estimated Prep & Cook Time: ~1 hour

Ingredients & Supplies

• Bag of Tater Tots, any brand will do
• 8oz+ Shredded Cheese of choice
• Cream of Mushroom
• Sour Cream
• 1-2lb Hamburger
• Pan to fry hamburger
• Baking dish

How-To

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Brown hamburger in skillet.
3. Mix hamburger, sour cream, and cream of mushroom in bottom of baking dish.
4. Top burger mix with tater tots.
5. Top tater tots with shredded cheese.
6. Pop into oven until cheese is melted & tater tots are done.

Tip: I sliced up some Velveeta block cheese (yum!) and put the slices between my burger mix and my tater tots for an extra cheesy, delicious casserole.