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over the weekend, i posted this picture on instagram:

that, my friends, is tater tot casserole...the breakfast version. i feel like i've posted about this deliciousness before, but i don't think i've shared an actual recipe for it. and since a couple of people asked...well, i'm more than happy to share the details so everyone can experience the happiness of this concoction. 

6 eggs

1/4 cup milk

4-6 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped (totally up to you. there's never too much bacon, in my world)

shredded cheddar cheese

frozen tater tots

set the oven to 350 and spray a 9" round pan (an 8" square one would work too) with your favorite nonstick spray. my current favorite is trader joe's coconut oil spray, probably because it smells lovely and makes me think of hawaii. ah, the islands. i sure hope to return someday, i love me some hawaii. 

sorry, i get distracted easily. anyway, whisk the eggs and milk together. ideally, you can assign this part to your kid. but if yours is anything like mine, you'll spend more time fishing little bits of eggshell out than it would've taken to get this whole shebang done. either way, it's always fun to try and get the littles involved so when you're old and tired of cooking, they can can do it for you. or, you know, they learn basic skills that will last a lifetime. whichever way you want to look at it is fine with me. 

pour the egg mixture into your pan, and then sprinkle the bacon bits evenly on top. your shredded cheese goes on top of that, and you can decide for yourself exactly how much you want to use. i'm honestly too ashamed to actually measure the amount we tossed in there. the bean and i like cheese, okay?

then you top that with a layer of tater tots. again, there's no scientific measurement for this. just cover the surface in a nice, even layer. pop that bad boy into your preheated oven and bake it for 35-ish minutes. 

you're welcome. 

"come on, gimme some of your tots."

i've never been to the midwest.

well, unless you count a stopover in chicago when i was 17, coming home from visiting my godparents in maryland. i had an hour, which was just enough time to find the gate for my new plane and check out the airport shops. so i guess that doesn't really count, huh?

where was i going with this? oh, yes. so i've never been to the midwest, where casseroles are called "hot dishes" and are a staple in many households for dinner. i've made a few of them myself, but never had i tried the glory that is TATER TOT CASSEROLE.

dudes. there are three basic ingredients in this thing - ground beef, tater tots (you know, those delicious bits of seasoned potato all smushed together in a cute little bite-sized cylindrical patty), and cream of [insert random vegetable here] soup. all good, right? i googled for recipes and found all sorts of variations, including ones that called for french fried onions, green beans, sour cream, bacon.

you know where this is going.

i don't even know what brought this casserole to mind - i'd never heard of it until i read a cheesy la vyrle spencer novel years ago - but for some reason, yesterday, i HAD to have it. i knew i had all the ingredients, and i seriously looked forward to making it all. day. long.

i tweaked one of the recipes i found and made my own variation of "tater tot hot dish" - browned and drained a pound of ground beef, added in some crumbled cooked bacon (surprise!), mixed a can of low-sodium cream of mushroom soup with a can of skim milk, and stirred it all together. i put that in a baking pan, topped it with some shredded cheddar, covered the entire surface with frozen tots, and then sprinkled more cheese on top of that.

i'm drooling just thinking about it.

to make the meal semi-healthy, i decided to make the teen's favorite spinach salad (see, the bacon did double duty). i served it alongside the casserole, and the hub took one look and said "dude, are those TATER TOTS in there??"

i glared at him, started feeding the bean, and we all dug in.

oh mah gah. i am in luuuuuurve with tater tot hot dish. it's the best thing EVER. and although i really, really dislike leftovers, i was totally stoked to pack up the rest of the pan in a tupperware container for lunch.

so guess what i just popped in the microwave? mmmmm. peace!