Recipe: Duggars' Tater Tot Casserole

Holy moly! I just realized it's already August 1st. I hope everyone's having a good summer. My kids don't go back to school until the end of this month so I get to enjoy a few more weeks of sleeping in. I still have to get up early two mornings a week because of my work schedule, but on the other five I get to snooooooze!!

I know it's a little warm to be making casserole recipes right now, but with my family's odd schedule (now that my son is working he's not home for dinner a few days a week), I try to make easy meals that can be reheated. Last weekend I remembered how easy (although unhealthy!) the Duggars' tater tot casserole recipe is. You all know who the Duggars are, right? In case you've been hiding under a rock for the past few years, they're the 19 Kids and Counting family on TLC. My daughter and I watch their show every week. While I personally would never choose to have 19 kids, I don't judge or begrudge them. They're self supporting, take nothing from the government and their kids are happy. They aren't hanging out on the streets at night doing who knows what with who knows who.

Anyway, I digress. I apologize for not having a photo for this recipe. I'm going to start working on that. The problem is that my kitchen is very small and I'm usually too busy actually cooking to stop to set up a photo shoot. This tater tot casserole recipe is super quick to throw together - the part that takes the longest is browning the meat. You can do that ahead of time so it makes it go together that much faster. The Duggars' original recipe is double what I have here but seeing as I have a family of four and they have a family of 21, I chose to cut it in half. ;)

Duggars' Tater Tot Casserole

1 lb ground turkey (I use ground beef)
1 can evaporated milk (I use the small can)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 32 oz. bag of frozen tater tots
Shredded cheddar (optional)
Frozen veggies like corn, mixed, green beans, etc. (optional)

Brown the meat, drain the fat and spread it evenly on the bottom of a greased 9x13 baking dish. Pour the entire bag of tater tots over the meat and spread them out evenly. At this point you can sprinkle a little shredded cheese over the tater tots if you want. Mix the milk and soups in a bowl until well blended and pour the mixture evenly over the tater tots. Bake uncovered at 350 for 55-60 minutes. Serves 8.

Another option is to layer frozen veggies between the meat and tater tots. I meant to do that last weekend when I made this but I forgot. It's really no big deal if you forget to include it because the veggie can be served on the side. To keep this as low cost as possible, use generic brand everything.

Enjoy!

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