You know, I think I’ve finally gotten the hang of tater tot hotdish.
Don’t get me wrong; I’ve enjoyed it all along. But something always seemed … off. I mean, it tasted all right, and I could tell the recipe had “good bones,” as my mother would say, but it just didn’t come together perfectly. Tonight, it did! And I couldn’t be more pleased.
The trick, I think, is to ignore the recipe’s recommendation to water the celery/mushroom soup combo down with a little bit of water. Today, I just mixed the two soups together in a bowl, spooned it over the top of the mixed vegetables and ground beef, put the tots on top, and baked the heck out of that dish. And lo and behold, the end result was tastier than ever! (Also, instead of adding diced fresh onion, I sprinkled some minced onion on top of the vegetables instead. I think the dish was better for it, to be honest.)
Finally, I feel like I can add this hotdish to our more regular rotation with confidence. And I’m glad for that; it’s the perfect wintertime meal!
The stats:
Ground “beef”: $3.99 ($2.00/person)
Cream of celery soup: $1.39 ($0.70/person)
Cream of mushroom soup: $1.39 ($0.70/person)
Tater tots: $3.49 ($1.75/person)
Frozen vegetables: $1.99 ($1.00/person)
GRAND TOTAL: $12.25 … or $6.15 per person.
BUT WAIT! This meal makes enough for another round of leftovers. So the per-person price goes down even more!
:)
It’s worth trying this dish just so I can say, “We had Tater Tot Hotdish for dinner.” Love the name. Is this a recipe of your own creation?
Hey, Lucy! Actually, it is not a recipe of my own — and looking back at my post, I see the URL I’d embedded has gotten lost in the mail! I’ll go back and add it now. Suffice it to say, I ran across it while looking for something else (butterscotch candies, I think) on Cooks.com a year or so ago. And I’ve been working on perfecting it ever since. :)
OK — off to embed that wayward link!