Tater Tot Casserole Recipe

This is a very simple and easy recipe that I use pretty regularly. My family loves it and it doesn't take all that much time to put together. It is also relatively cheap and can easy feed a family of five. For this recipe you will need:

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 8 oz package of cheddar cheese (strong or mild)

1 can corn

1 can green beans (normal or French cut)

1 2 lb. package of Tater Tots

1 lb. ground beef (turkey or deer can also be used)

1 small skillet

1 13 x 9 cake pan

1 can opener

1 rubber spatula

1 mixing bowl

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Open your can of corn and green beans and combine in the cake pan. Try to cover the entire bottom of the pan. Open cans of soup and combine in mixing bowl. Mix until it the contents of the bowl look as they came out of the same can. In small skillet cook beef on medium high heat until browned. Make sure beef is cooked thoroughly as it won't cook much in the pan. Strain the grease from the beef and evenly spread the beef over the green beans and corn. With rubber spatula, spread the contents of the mixing bowl over the ingredients in the cake pan. Again, try to spread the soup over the pan as evenly as possible. If you don't you will get sections of the casserole that are much more creamy than the others. Open your bag of cheese and spread about half the contents of the package over the soup. Now open the bag of tater tots and spread them evenly over the entire dish. Now you are ready to bake. There could be some variance here due to different cooking temperatures of the tater tots you are using. I've always found that cooking my dish at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes. When the time is up, remove dish from oven and sprinkle the remaining cheese onto the top of the casserole. Put back in oven for approximately 3 minutes or until cheese begins to brown. Remove pan from oven and let sit for 5 minutes. The dish is now ready to serve.