Tater Tot Casserole

Don't know why (could be my meat&potatoes kick), but recently I got a wild hair that I wanted to make a tater tot casserole. I had a rough idea of what I wanted it to consist of so I hopped online and started shopping around for recipes. I never found one that matched exactly what I was looking for so I slopped together some ingredients, made some compromises, and VOILA! When I say slopped together I mean it too- which is unfortunate for trying to re-create recipes sometimes. Even when using recipes I tend to ignore measurements and guesstimate and taste-test when possible. I will do my best to put this into recipe format.

Disclaimer: I never said that this recipe would be healthy or pretty. Tasty is what we are going for here. That is all :-)

Tater Tot Casserole

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground meat (turkey or chicken in our house)
4-5 dashes worcestershire sauce
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3-4 tbsp. sour cream
~1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1- 1 1/2 lbs. frozen tater tots (depending on size of baking dish)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees (or tater tot cooking temperature as directed on bag). Pull bag of tater tots out of the freezer and sit to the side while preparing casserole. Brown ground meat and add worcestershire sauce while cooking. After meat is done, set to the side. In a medium bowl combine soup, sour cream, and milk- whisk until blended well. Add meat to soup mixture and stir. Put meat/soup mixture in bottom of baking dish and spread evenly. For a thicker meat layer use a 8x8 dish. Sprinkle grated cheese on top of meat. Top with tater tots- spread out so they do not touch, about 1/4-inch apart. Bake for ~25 minutes, a few minutes longer if you want your tots crispier.

Serve with green beans or peas for a complementary green veggie!

Note:
If cooking for more people or if you want more leftovers, double amount of meat and increase soup mixture by 50%. If using a rectangular baking dish amount of cheese and tater tots will not need to be increased.

Tomato Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

olive oil
butter- if you're feeling naughty :-)
1 medium onion
garlic to taste
sea salt
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 can tomato sauce
~1 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Heat olive oil in pan. Add a smidge of butter to hot oil if desired (if you use salted butter, omit sea salt from recipe). Add onions to oil, add garlic (I used granulated garlic) and saute on medium until onions are soft. Add diced tomatoes and saute for 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and add tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low to medium-low heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve over tortellini, or toss with your favorite pasta. I like whole wheat pasta in a shape that really grabs the sauce like a rotini or fusilli.