My Eight Pound Bag of Tater Tots

Occasionally when I shop at Sam’s or Costco, I feel like I really need a big bag of something.  Ordinarily I am a paleo or at least a soaked-grains-a-la-Nourishing-Traditions kinda gal.  But, sometimes I am utterly possessed by a large bag o’ unhealthy.  Tonight, after a long afternoon of putting together quotes for our business, I really, really didn’t want to cook dinner.  I figured I’d call my husband and ask him to bring home dinner from one of the myriad (like three) of restaurants in our town of 1200 .  Well, it turns out he is under a house (he’s ok, I promise) and won’t be home until after bedtime.  Ok freezer, what can you do for me?  Oh yeah, there is that eight pound bag of tater tots sitting there in my freezer; the big bag of I live nowhere near a city, but I’m in the city at a Sam’s Club, need to feed my  family of five boys, but I know this really isn’t healthy, purchase.

Voila, a Tater Tot Casserole, recipe from AllRecipes.com:

Tater Tot Casserole

I doubled everything and threw in a bag of frozen vegetables (its healthy now, right?)  I kept the condensed soup to one can of cream of mushroom, but I also added a can of condensed cheddar cheese soup.  I also added some finely diced jalapeno peppers I had in my crisper.  I think an excellent New Mexico addition could be green chili.  I might try that in the future if I find myself with tater tots needing to be eaten and am making this again.  Top with shredded cheddar cheese during the last five minutes of cooking.  Instead of adding tater tots around “the edges”, I topped the whole thing with tater tots.  Actually, my five year old topped the whole thing with tater tots because he was looking for a job at dinner time.  And that led to this exchange:

Sam: “You know, tater tots are not actually healthy”.  Me: “Yeah, I know.  They are kind of a treat.”  Sam: “Like for dogs?” Um, yes.  But our dogs eat very well.  Bon appetite!

Favorite Family Breakfast

Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow has been my life's motto. I am a procrastinator, seriously, ask my husband; he had never really met a procrastinator until he met me. Self discipline has never been a particularly strong character trait of mine, either. However, as God has blessed me with a large-ish family, I am being forced to overcome my character flaws or face utter pandemonium and a Lord-of-the-Flies situation with my five boys. What has really kicked my rear into gear is having to leave home for half a day in the mornings to go into the office of our family run business. "Be prepared" is my new motto. (Shout out to the Boy Scouts over at Philmont!) So, I have been making breakfasts in advance. Here is one of our favorites:

Baked Oatmeal, Nourishing Traditions style

4 cups oatmeal
1 cup yoghurt
1 cup water
4 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1/3- 1/2 cup maple syrup
1 cup mix-ins (choc. chips, dried fruit, etc.)

Soak the oatmeal in yoghurt and water for 8-24 hours (the closer to 24 hours, the better). Use more or less soaking liquid depending on your climate. (We live in a dry climate and burn wood for heat which sucks the moisture out of the air). Mix soaked oatmeal with remaining ingredients. Mix, mix, mix, mix until you can't mix any more. Make those biceps burn, baby burn. I digress, sorry, this isn't an exercise post, is it? Back to the recipe... pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake in a 350 degree over for about 30 minutes. Let cool, cut into squares.

I cut this into 14 bars and make it last for our family of 7 for two days by hiding 7 of the bars and putting them out the following morning. If I leave it all out, it is demolished in one morning. This is my boys' favorite breakfast. I keep asking them if they are sick of it and much to my astonishment they say no. I am trying to go more "Primal" (no grains) in our family's diet, but I still allow some grains if they are properly prepared. This is one of those recipes. My thought is that this recipe would be very good for a nursing mother because of the oatmeal which is said to be good for milk supply. (I am still nursing, but my baby is actually a toddler now who doesn't nurse as much as he used to, so milk supply isn't much of an issue.) I have prepared this recipe without soaking the oats before, but it is so much healthier and the texture is amazing if you plan ahead and soak the oats.

Stay tuned for my egg casserole recipe...