I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! Since Labor Day is over I think it’s fair to assume all the children are now back in school and activities are in full swing. I know how hard it can be when you have one kid going to soccer and another going to dance (and neither kid wanting to go to either) and coordinating car rides and fitting in homework… and what about time to just be a kid? Adding dinner on top of all that can get stressful.
It takes a while to get back in the groove when school starts. With that in mind, I’m going to help you out with an easy, kid-friendly dinner, Tater Tot Casserole! This is one of my family’s favorite dinners. Some examples:
1. When our house was not ours and I went to my mom’s for a weekend the first thing we made in her kitchen was tater tot casserole. Talk about needing some comfort food.
2. When my husband and I had been dating for less than a year his grandmother and mom asked him if I liked to cook. At this point I was not the cook I am now but I still made some delicious things. I had made him steak, spaghetti, etc… He tells them “She makes this really good thing, tater tot casserole.” REALLY?!!???!! I wanted to impress his relatives and I didn’t think a recipe I picked up from the preschool I used to work at was going to do that.
I should have known better. What’s not to love? In your best Joey Tribbiani voice… beef, good! Cheese, good! Tater tots, good! And it is so, so easy to throw together! Here we go…
Brown some ground beef in an oven-safe skillet. 
Pour in a can of cream of mushroom soup and stir.
Top with cheese.
Load with tater tots.
Bake until tots are nice and crispy.
Serve with some canned green beans and Hawaiian Rolls and your kids (and everyone else) will be in heaven. EASY!!!
Tater Tot Casserole
Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 1/4 lbs Ground Beef
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1 tsp Garlic Powder (Granulated Garlic)
1/2 tsp Pepper
10 1/2 oz can Cream of Mushroom Soup
Milk (optional
1/2 – 1 c Shredded Colby Jack Cheese
1/2 bag Frozen Tater Tots
Preheat oven to 450
Brown the ground beef in an oven-safe skillet over medium to medium-high heat. While browning, season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. When meat is browned, drain off fat if necessary.
Add soup and stir. The soup will thin as it heats but if you feel it is too thick you can add a splash or two of milk.
Even out the meat mixture with the back of the spoon and top with desired amount of shredded cheese.
Place frozen tots on top of cheese (I like to load it up with tots) and place in oven. Bake until tots are crispy and brown, about 25 minutes.
Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Tater Tot Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 lbs Ground Beef
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder (granulated garlic)
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
- 10 1/2 oz can Cream of Mushroom Soup
- Milk (optional)
- 1/2 - 1 c Shredded Colby Jack Cheese
- 1/2 bag Frozen Tater Tots
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450
- Brown the ground beef in an oven-safe skillet over medium to medium-high heat. While browning, season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. When meat is browned, drain off fat if necessary.
- Add soup and stir. The soup will thin as it heats but if you feel it is too thick you can add a splash or two of milk.
- Even out the meat mixture with the back of the spoon and top with desired amount of shredded cheese.
- Place frozen tots on top of cheese (I like to load it up with tots) and place in oven. Bake until tots are crispy and brown, about 25 minutes.
- Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.