Navigation Bar

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Tater Tot Casserole

A lot of my fiends joke with me about trying to be like the Duggars because I am the only one out of them all who was crazy enough to just keep having children.  You know the Duggars, that family from the TLC show Twenty Kids And Counting.  Don't worry...no personal aspirations for 20 offspring, we are more than happy (and DONE) with the 4 we have!  Although the more people I meet and talk to, the more people I am finding out surprisingly have 4 or more children.  I do have to say that I am quite fascinated by the extremely large family.  Whether you agree with their lifestyle or not, I do think they are a pretty interesting family.  I love their family dynamics and how smoothly their household appears to run!  I'll never forget the episode where they all waked into Aldi's and filled up like 10 carts with groceries.  It was like a caravan of grocery carts.  How do you possibly feed and cook for THAT many people EVERY night?!?  I forget their exact monthly food cost, but it was quite a lot more than I spend in a few months.  With soon to be 6 eaters in our house, I have to try really hard to keep food expenses as low as possible.

Another thing I specifically remember from their show was the tater tot casserole.  They had me at tater tot!  I love those awesome little cylinders of pressed potatoes goodness.  They just make me happy.  So when I saw this featured one evening, I searched out their website and found the recipe the following day.  Although there isn't any cheeses in it, the creamy topping sure gives it a cheesy appearance, texture and flavor.  My 10 year old was shocked when I told him there wasn't any cheese at all.  There are very few ingredients, making it quick and easy to throw together.  Even though I love to do a lot of cooking that requires a lot of prep work, it's nice to have an easy dinner to fall back on sometime!  It is definitely kid friendly...the Duggars should know all about that!  Plus it's pretty much meat and potatoes...perfect for my husband's "taste". 

Mrs. Duggar considers her large brood to truly be blessings.  As I ate my dinner that night with one hand, trying to navigate my fork successfully to my mouth without spilling food on the squirmy baby being held on my lap with the other hand because he didn't want to sit in his bouncer chair, I looked around at my 2 year old dumping peas on the floor, my 4 year old eating with her hands half the time and my 10 year old trying to argue some strange point only he understands with my 4 year old while having a mouth full of food, I took a deep breath and gave a silent thanks that I am not as "blessed" as The Duggars!  

Tater Tot Casserole (The Duggar Family)
*I half their recipe since I don't need two pans of the stuff!!

1.5 lbs ground beef
Garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper
1 32 oz. bag frozen tater tots
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can evaporated milk  

In a pan, brown the ground beef, drain the grease and season with the garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste.  Place the meat in a greased 9" x 13" baking casserole dish.

Spread the bag of frozen tater tots in a single layer over the meat.

In a bowl, whisk together the cream of chicken, cream of mushroom and evaporated milk until smooth.  Pour evenly over the tater tots.

Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

Tater Tot Casserole.


Recipe for: Tater Tot Casserole
www.momsaysjustonebite.blogspot.com
Adapted originally from  http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html
To prepare: Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease a 9” x 13” baking dish.

Ingredients
Directions
1.5 lbs. ground beef
Garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper
1 32 oz. bag frozen tater tots
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can evaporated milk


1.   In a pan, brown the ground beef, drain the grease and season with the garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste.
2.   Place the browned meat on the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
3.   Cover the meat with the frozen tater tots.
4.   In a separate bowl, whisk together the cream of chicken, cream of mushroom and evaporated milk until smooth.
5.   Pour the mixture evenly over the layer of tater tots.
6.   Bake uncovered in the preheated oven for 1 hour.

6 comments:

  1. I LOVE TATER TOT CASSEROLE!! I tried to tell Dave about this but he was a lil hesitant! hahaaa
    -Kelly

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kelly-tell him his cousin said to man up and try it! You haven't lived until you've had tater tot casserole! =)

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is a great recipe, fast and easy as well! I have to admit I was chuckling at the beginning of this post, because I too have four children. Each time we would announce we were pregnant yet again, the eyes would roll and the comments would start. You know the "don't you know what causes that" or "do you know what birth control is?", comments.

    I also love to "torture", oh I mean experiment on my kids with new recipes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Hoosier Mom. Welcome! Glad you stumbled across my crazy blog. I hope you can find some recipes that work for your family!

    I have also heard all the pregnancy comments. We are for sure done though. There will be no #5 for us! We are out of room for any more children...unless of course we run plumbing and heating to our storage shed out back. Hmmmm...that's a thought! =)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am definitely going to try this recipe..I'll let you know how mine turns out. Let's hope not like my attempt at the rice patties ;) lol

    ReplyDelete
  6. I used to make something very similar to this only I used fresh potatoes in place of tater tots. I just cut them into small chunks. I believe the rest is the same.

    ReplyDelete