Helloooooo! I cooked again! Thank you so much for leaving me links and recipes. There is lots I definitely want to try to make! However, I became obsessed with the idea of making a tater tot casserole for the “Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner” that Manda and I went to, and HERE SHE IS!
(That photo is pre-oven-ating. And I forgot to take a photo of post-oven-ating, since were kinda in a rush to leave.) I googled around for some recipes, and a lot of them included BEEF, which I didn’t want to cook. So I found and used THIS recipe from The Village Cook.
I have a slight fascination with super kitschy “American” casserole hot dish type things. I was really excited to make my first one. Hairy made a face like this was going to be the grossest adventure ever, espesh after I said, “ranch dressing.”
The recipe that I used does not call for french cut green beans, but I wanted to add, you know, “NUTRITION” to my casserole, cuz IDGAF. So I layered my tots on the bottom, then poured over the liquids, then packed on about 3/4 can of green beans, and then a good handful of fried onions, and then I packed on way more than 1/2 cup cheese, cuz, CHEESE.
I started this project with about an hour to work with before Manda was swinging by the house, so I didn’t have time to defrost my tater tots. I just put them in there frozen. I’ve seen other recipes which say to just leave the casserole in for 20 more minutes more if your tots are frozen, but I didn’t have an extra 20 minutes either. It will remain a mystery to me, whether my casserole actually cooked in the middle, because someone actually took the rest home, CUZ IT WAS SO DURN GOOD!!!! People were like, “WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND THIS TATER TOT CASSEROLE!?” I was like, “If it’s gross, I had nothing to do with it.” But they thought it was the greatest thing ever. They thought it was so great, that it had a story, like, a history. So if you have a T-Day pot luck to go to (or any pot luck, really), I think you could be the star by making this bad boy. It was easy and yummy! The most work you have to put in it is chopping up parsley and chives. I decided, I do not like chopping, as it is time-consuming and I might lose a finger, but, hey, anything for you, tater tot casserole!
The pre-Thanksgiving party was fun and mostly populated by people we didn’t know. I tried birthday cake or cupcake vodka for the first time. I also got into a small fight with someone over whether Chicken in a Biskit exists (it exists, OBVIOUSLY, don’t argue with me about SNACKS), but other than that, thumbs up!
