Loaded Tater Tots

I have another round of cooking classes with the boys, Asher, Micah and Noah today. I am always getting ideas from all over the place. I never know what is going to inspire me. However, I do have a few kids cookbooks that help out a lot when I am making things for the kids. These are great resources in general, however, if you have kids with special dietary restrictions, they are not so helpful. Fortunately, I have a wide array of other cookbooks that I can refer to for that. 🙂

Micah and Asher will be making some loaded tater tots. Tater tots are not usually something I cook at our house, but they are a favorite with kids, so I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing before having the boys make them. They are just like loaded potato skins, only they use the tater tots instead. I usually try my best to make quick, fun things for the kids that they will actually eat. So I am having to re-learn how to cook simple things all over again. But we all have a good time, and that’s all that really matters.

These are easy to make and are pretty tasty too.

Loaded Tater Tots

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 175* C.

Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray.

2 cups of tater tots

1 cup cooked bacon, crumbled

1-2 cups shredded cheese – I used a combination of jack and cheddar

green onions, sliced thin

tomatoes, diced fine

either ranch dressing, bleu cheese dressing or sour cream for topping

Place 3 tater tots in each muffin slot of the muffin pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until soft and golden.

Have your bacon, green onions and tomatoes ready to load up so when the tots come out of the oven you can gobble them up as quickly as you can. These are best when served hot, straight out of the oven.

Remove the tater tots from the oven and allow to cool slightly, then make a well in the center of each tot nest. I used a juicer, but you can use whatever you want to make the nest in the center.

Fill each nest with the cheese and the bacon crumbles and place them back in the oven until the cheese is completely melted, for about 5 minutes or so.

When the cheese is melted, you can dob each nest with a dollop of sour cream if you like, then add the tomatoes and green onions. I did not add the sour cream for us, but instead topped them with ranch dressing, just like I would for loaded potato skins.

We had a very oddly paired meal this time around. I was making these as a trial to see how easy they would be for the kids, plus I was using up some leftovers. Larry and I had both bought a bunch of Brussels sprouts, so I had those to use as well. It all worked, but not a combination I would normally do or do on a regular basis. We had prime rib with a hot mustard cream sauce which was delicious, Brussels sprouts with apples, bacon, shallots and apples, which was also very good, and then the loaded tater tots. Sometimes you just have to roll with what you’ve got. You just never know what is going to happen when you play with your food. That’s why it is called playing. 🙂

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.