Tasty Tater Tot Hot Dish

June is Country Cooking Month and all month long I'm sharing some of my favorite country cooking recipes - with a healthy twist. Here is my recipe for Tater Tot Hot Dish. 

I have shared my recipes for scalloped corn and meatball inspired meatloaf, but if there's one recipe I'm asked for a lot, it's this one.

You'll need: cooking spray, one pound of seasoned ground beef, (I like 96/4 just because there's no need to drain it and it takes in the seasonings really well. For seasoning, I use granulated garlic, minced onion, a dash of salt and about a teaspoon of pepper.) two cans of Campbell's Healthy Request cream of celery soup, one bag of frozen mixed vegetable medley of peas, carrots and corn thawed and drained. You could also use a can of the no salt added Veg-All. (I like a lot of vegetables, so that's what I use. It has green beans, Lima beans, potatoes, peas, carrots, corn and celery in it.) Of course, don't forget the tater tots. I use the Ore-Ida crispy crowns because I need them flatter for the layer on the bottom, but the squareish roundish tater tots would work too.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Brown ground beef in a non stick skillet. Mix soup, vegetables and ground beef in a large bowl. Fold until well incorporated. Next, lightly coat an 8X8 baking dish with cooking spray and make a layer of tater tots. Scoop mixture into pan and then make another layer of tots on top. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes until hot.

Now, I caught some grief for not including cheese in mine, but cheese is sneaky calories, so I don't use it, but if you're a big fan of cheese, knock yourself out.

I do have one other variation that I like to make every now and then and it's my favorite!

You'll need: one package of lean ground turkey, minced onion, ground sage, nutmeg, black pepper, two cans of Campbell's Healthy Request cream of celery soup, a bag of frozen mixed vegetable medley thawed and drained or no salt added Veg-All and Alexia brand sweet potato puffs.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Brown the turkey in a nonstick skillet and season to taste with onion, ground sage and black pepper. Mix in soup and vegetables. Pour the mixture into an 8X8 baking dish and cover with tater tots. Lightly sprinkle the top with nutmeg and bake for 40 minutes or until hot.