beef and tator bake

Yummy note: This meal can be easily thrown together in minutes. It is a pretty filling casserole, so you don't usually need to serve anything else with it for a meal. I think we might serve some bread with it, but that's about it. This recipe was modeled off of a school cafeteria meal that we used to get in high school. We made fun of it alot and called it some unappealing names, but really we all loved it. It was tasty and had your meat protein, veggies, and what else than everyone else's favorite, tator tots piled on top! I added an extra twist and add on french fried onions at the very end to make it even yummier.

Beef and Tator Bake

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef/turkey

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can of green beans

1/2 can of milk

1/2 can of french fried onions

1/2 bag of tator tots

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Brown ground beef and diced onion (or onion flakes) in skillet. After hamburger is browned, pour into 9x9 or 9x13 pan. Add a can of cream of mushroom soup and half can of milk to pan. Add a can of green beans and stir all together until blended. Add in some of the french fried onions here to your liking. Sprinkle in salt/pepper. Stir all together and spread the mixture out in the pan, and cover with tator tots.

Depending on pan size, a 1/2 bag tator tots works for a 9x9 pan, while you'll need a full bag of tator tots for the 9x13 sized pan. Note, the tator tots cook best if they are only in a single layer. Cook in oven for about 30 minutes or until tator tots are done (crispy and brown).

Easy add on's -- In the last few minutes of baking time, with about 5-10 minutes left, you can add either sprinkled cheese on top or french-fried onions on top.