Easy comfort dinner

Hey there jungle go-ers,

I have gotten a TON of requests about different recipes for meals or desserts that I make! I’m going to compile a collection of my favorite recipes for all sorts of things from the perfect mojito for a warm summer day, to my no-fail, handwritten, CLASSIC chocolate chip cookie recipe!

As a busy, young mom, Meals can be difficult for me. The time that goes into shopping for ingredients, preparing the dinner, sitting down to eat it, And then cleaning up the mess afterwards is spent rushing from task to task. It’s exhausting. If you know you know. To top off the dinner time stress: it’s not easy to find a meal that satisfies the WHOLE household. The recipe I am going to share with you today does not stand a chance in my house. Its practically called for once it’s pulled out of the oven. My family could eat this meal once a week (and we usually do!) If you’re looking for a super easy, delicious, and healthy weeknight meal that will leave your family licking the plate — May i introduce:

Tater Tot Casserole

Growing up, this dish was a staple in my home. This is one of the few dinners that a picky eater like myself would request on the regular. Not only is it relatively cheap to make, but the preparation time is short and it cooks pretty quickly too!

This is my adjusted recipe for a leaner, ‘healthier’ version of the dish. I will also put substitute ingredients in parenthesis next to the one i’m currently using. It should be noted that my husband agrees the leaner version tastes better than the higher calorie one.

Let’s jump right into it,

Ingredients:

meat:

• 2lbs lean ground turkey (you can substitute any meat or meat substitute for the protein

Vegetables:

• 2 cans mixed vegetables

• 1 can peas

• 1 can peas & carrots

  (You can substitute any vegetable of your choice: canned or fresh, you can also add more or less depending on your preferences. We like to add extra cans of lima beans and carrots in addition to what is listed)

• 2 Cans Cream of __________ soup. This is solely based on your preference! We use 1 can cream of mushroom with roasted garlic & onion and 1 can of cream of celery.

  It’s very good with cream of asparagus, cream of broccoli, and cream of chicken. If you like a thinner casserole you can use the reduced fat or sodium options. There’s a handful of soups you can choose from!

• Frozen tater tots (Ore-ida brand is my favorite, other brands don’t taste as good imo.)

• shredded Extra sharp cheddar cheese (For a lower calorie version you can opt for low-fat cheese, or substitute a non-dairy cheese alternative to make this vegan

• Seasoning

• Optional: Top with chives.

  Step 1. Preheat oven to 450 farenheit

  Step 2. Brown or cook your meat of choice (fully) season lightly with salt and pepper.

  step 3. combine cooked meat, canned vegetables, and cans of soup. season heavily with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. Heavy on the pepper and garlic powder for the best flavor

  Step 4. top with frozen tater tots. you can do this in an organized, virgo way, or you can just dump them on top. They both taste great.

  Step 5. cook at 450 for roughly 40 minutes or until tater tots on top are browned to your liking.

  Step 6: Top with shredded cheese and place in oven on broil until cheese on top is melted and browned on the sides.

Seriously, this dish is the easiest thing to make. It also freezes great for an easy prepped meal on busy nights! My husband will eat leftovers of this for all three meals a day and ask for it again not shortly after.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!