Tater Tot Casserole... HEALTHIER!

Tater tot casserole is a mysterious legend. No one quite knows where it comes from. I first heard about it on the TLC show about the Duggars, the family with 19 kids. I guess when you have that many kids, you need to get creative about feeding them. One episode featured the father making "Jim Bob Barbecue", canned tuna mixed with barbecue sauce and served on a hamburger bun! They have the recipe for their version of tater tot casserole on their website; it includes 2 pounds of meat and 6 pounds of tater tots! (it also includes evaporated milk and 2 kinds of cream soup)

Let's try and make this healthier.... and sized for an everyday family. Based on my calculations, my new version of this recipe has about 138 calories and 3.8 grams of fat per serving (if the entire casserole serves 8, which is reasonable). God knows what the calorie count looked like on the original recipe!

Here's the ingredient list for my version:

1 bag Morningstar Veggie Crumbles
1 can fat free cream of mushroom soup
1 small onion, chopped
bag of frozen mixed veggies (green beans, limas, corn, peas, carrots)
2-3 potatoes, shredded OR bag of frozen tots
seasonings: garlic salt, salt, pepper, seasoned salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Saute onion with salt, pepper, garlic salt and canola oil spray.

3. Add Morningstar crumbles, stir for a few seconds. The crumbles come pre-cooked, so the idea here is just to get them combined with the onion.

4. Add crumbles/onion mixture to bottom of 9 x 13 greased pan.

5. Pour bag of frozen vegetables on top and spread evenly.

6. Add can of undiluted soup to the top and spread evenly.


7. Shred potatoes in food processor or by hand. Lay out on a towel and pat dry. Saute briefly on high heat with a small amount of oil. The goal here isn't to cook the potatoes, just get rid of some of the moisture.

8. Remove potatoes from heat. Add to top of casserole. Sprinkle with salt, fresh pepper and seasoned salt.

* If you believe that tater tot casserole just isn't tater tot casserole without, well, tater tots, you could use them instead of the shredded fresh potato. I debated it, and figured it wasn't worth the added fat.

9. Bake for one hour.

ENJOY!

Okay, okay. I know it LOOKS kind of gross, but it TASTES so good!