Tater Tot Hot Dish II

I sampled a tator tot like casserole at a potluck dinner I attended last night. After the first bite, and even though it was a little cold, I knew I had to find a similar recipe. There were plenty to choose from at allrecipes, but I'm glad I picked the one I did. It was exceptional, easily a 5 star recipe--as casseroles go. I used a pound of hamburger and a pound of sausage. I usually feel like there isn't enough meat in a dish like this. Adding the extra meat was a good move. Fearing there wouldn't be enough soup and that the casserole would be too dry, I added what I thought was another can of mushroom soup. After I opened it, I discovered it was cream of chicken, not cream of mushroom. Never fear, there is margin for error in this dish, but I loved the way this turned out. The flavor was amazing. The tots disintegrated into the mix and it was an absolutely fabulous layout. Talk about comfort food! I served this with some leftover Cheddar Biscuits, the recipe of which is also available at this website--for a meal I won't soon forget. Do it!

This was VERY good. I made a few additions myself. Along with everything called for here, I added a can of cheddar cheese soup and a tsp. garlic powder. I also mixed in 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. I found it easier to throw all ingredients into a large mixing bowl, brown and drain the beef and onion, add to the mixing bowl and toss everything well. Then transfer to the baking dish. I took this out to stir every 15 minutes because my tater tots were not completely thawed. This helped, as well as helped the tots to crumble a bit and mix well with everything else. I liked that effect. For the last 15 minutes I topped with more shredded cheese and the french fried onions. This was AWESOME! A+

This recipe hit the spot. I seasoned the beef and onions with garlic powder while browning, added shredded cheddar and green beans between the meat and tots, used Healthy Request soup to lower the sodium and fat, and also used onion flavored tots. We loved the way it turned out. This is a keeper!