Tater-Tot Hotdish.

I know, I know.  It’s Sunday night, cookout night, and tater-tot hotdish is not exactly grill-friendly.  But this morning we awoke to a strange marine layer sort of day, where everything has just been perpetually damp despite no discernable rain.  And in my experience, these conditions aren’t conducive to smoking food.

By “my experience,” what I really mean is “my stubbornness.”  I can’t tell you the number of times it’s been misting, or drizzling, or flat-out raining, and I’ve confidently marched into the back yard, torches blazing, in an attempt to grill my beloved Buffalo tofu (or what-have-you).  I also can’t tell you the number of times said Buffalo tofu (or what-have-you) has become a soggy, damp, cold mess as a result, but I can confirm that the percentage is 100%.

So it’s about time I learned from my hard-headedness.  Tater-tot hotdish it is.

I discovered this recipe a few years ago – and wrote about it earlier this year, among other times, on this very blog – and it’s one I like to pull out of the hat (not literally, I hope) every quarter or so.  Filling, tasty, and easy to make, it’s a great go-to when, say, Virginia’s new marine layer cancels your cookout!

To make it, I simply spread a bag of frozen mixed vegetables on the bottom of a lasagna pan and top the veggies with a layer of ground “beef.”  The recipe calls for onion, but I elected to leave it out and instead just sprinkle some onion powder atop the soy crumbles before continuing on.  The recipe also calls for me to brown the “beef” and onions, which I also didn’t do.  Just one of the joys of being vegetarian. ;)

Next, I combined two cans of cream of mushroom soup in a bowl, added a little water to thin the soup out, and poured the blend atop the crumbles.  Once that was spread out to my liking, I topped the whole dish with tater tots and put it in the oven at 375 for an hour.  By the time 60 minutes had elapsed, the pan was piping-hot and ready to eat!

And eat we did.  We’ve both been working all day today – LeeLee in the yard, and me, well, actually I wasn’t working at all but out for a hike, if you must know the truth – and we both brought our appetites to the table.  So while there are some leftovers, there aren’t nearly as many servings left as there “should” be.  There may in fact be only two servings left.  Or one very, very hearty one.

So it’s safe to say that tonight’s hotdish was a hit.  Now I’m trying to come up with other hotdish combinations to cook!  More to come on that – but in the meantime, all suggestions welcome!

:)