My Midwestern Roots Are Showing

[asphaltcowgrrl]

So, my parents were born and raised in a little town in Illinois and, although my palate has progressed past the meat and potato (both usually fried) staples we had growing up, sometimes I fall firmly back into those culinary wormholes my mother opened in my soul. It doesn't help that my husband's family is from Indiana and shares similar pitfalls in their diet, but I digress.

99.9% of the time, I make healthy, tasty food.  I'm no Emeril Lagasse, but I can make fancy meals, too, when the mood strikes me.  Last night was not one of those nights.  Indeed, it was quite the opposite.  I'm finally starting to feel better after approximately ten days of being sicker than all get out (and now my time in Texas is rearing its ugly head, I think...) and, despite having pulled a muscle in my back sneezing and coughing (I kid you not), dinner had to be made.  When my 14-year-old asked if she coud help me, I jumped on the offer.  I handed her the recipes I'd printed for the week and let her choose.  Why am I not surprised she chose the trashiest thing I've considered making in years?

There is nothing more satisfying when you're not feeling well than a hot, cheesy, horribly non-nutritious casserole. Well, for me anyway.  So, when I found this one on Pinterest a few weeks ago, I knew it needed to be made.  Even better that it's simple enough for my kid to make without any supervision.

"Cracked Out" Chicken Tater Tot Casserole

serves 8

3 cups chopped cooked chicken

16 oz sour cream

1 can Cream of Chicken soup

1 (1oz) package Ranch dressing mix

1 (3oz) bag real bacon pieces (Oscar Meyer)

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 lb bag frozen tater tots

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together chicken, sour cream, soup, Ranch mix, bacon and cheese. Fold in frozen tater tots. Spoon mixture into prepared pan.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until bubbly.

Pretty easy, eh?  I used a store bought rotisserie chicken because I'm weird and don't like chunks of chicken breast in my casseroles (or pasta, to be honest).  I also skipped the bacon because I'm not a big fan of store bought bacon bits and wasn't exactly in the mood to fry bacon last night.  My kid's a good cook, but she's as clumsy as I am so letting HER fry the bacon would have resulted in cat flambé, I'm sure.  Despite the lack of pork fat, sorry Emeril, this was the tastiest freaking thing I've had in weeks.  And I even resisted the urge to doctor it up with a little Worcestershire or Louisiana Hot Sauce.  The only alteration I might make next time is using the Mini-Tots that Ore-Ida makes.  Or, in a pinch, I might just pre-bake the tots for 10 minutes before dumping the sauce on them.

And now that I've just lost all culinary respectibility with this recipe, I'm going to go back and finish my leftover casserole I have in my lunchbox.

*no clue why this is 'cracked out' other than my husband and younger child were fighting over who got to get seconds first.

**as an aside, I'm making baked pork chops for dinner tonight, so my family is on the road to recovery from this meal, whether they like it or not.

Comments

[kaige68.livejournal.com]

I am so jealous. That sounds and looks so very very good. *sigh*

[asphaltcowgrrl.livejournal.com]

It was very good and probably not something I should ever make again. Hahaha. My husband's diabetic, so I try not to feed him trashy food too much. :)

It goes without saying that I'd feed you if you were closer. You and Eggs and the cat whose name I always forget.

[kaige68.livejournal.com]

Emma does not travel with me. In fact, even with the door left open, she won't go outside.

Eggs would adore chicken cheese tater tots!

:)

[asphaltcowgrrl.livejournal.com]

Aw, poor Emma. I had a cat like that, she would NOT go outside for anything. Buddy, on the other hand, is out the door if you don't push it closed. Somehow he's discovered that he can open the door into the garage with his claws if it's not properly shut.

Well, he did once devour your salad, so this isn't much of a stretch. :D

[kaige68.livejournal.com]

OMG - Floyd opened my kitchen door the other day from the outside. My closed kitchen door. He always bounces with the whole "Can Eggs come out to play?" thing, but he actually opened the door. Of course there was huge noise, and Eggs hides behind me...

It might also help that if she steps foot out the door the dogs will chase her back in. Poor little girl.

[asphaltcowgrrl.livejournal.com]

DOGS, I swear! But that's still too funny. One of my co-workers has a ball python that he's had for something like ten years now. She's so large that she's able to open the doors in his apartment (he has the kind of handle you push down onto open). Needless to say, he's been taken by surprise by his snake a couple times.

Oh yeah, I'd be wary of setting paw outside the safety of the house too, if that were the case! Poor Emma.

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

I have no idea who Emeril Lagasse is, so you're easily impressing me! Plus half the things aren't even a thing here! Wouldn't you have to break a rotisserie chicken into chunks anyway? I am confused. But it does all sound quite trashily yummy.

I'm just jealous that your daughter actually offered to help! Where on earth can I get one of those?

Cats in this part of the world go outside every day, just as an aside! And I hope you are feeling better! *hugs*

[asphaltcowgrrl.livejournal.com]

Emeril is a New Orleans based chef who became a bit of a celebrity here in the US after having a couple shows on the Food Network. He's pretty awesome and notorious for saying 'it's not rocket science, it's just food'. Hahaha... what things up there aren't things down there? (I'm a curious foodie person)

Yes, you do have to break down the rotisserie chicken but it's a textural thing... you can shred a rotisserie chicken but chicken breasts that you've cooked yourself are harder to shred, if that makes sense. The rotisserie (or even a roasted chicken) is 'softer' for lack of a better word.

Hah - she loves to cook, so I'm very lucky. My older girl does, too, but since she's gone vegetarian, she doesn't cook for the family these days. I'd loan you one of mine, but neither would probably ever come back!

Cats in this part of the world go out often, too, but it's not always the smartest thing to let them out. Here in Nevada, we have hawks and coyotes, both of which are notorious for carrying off small cats. Although my lard butt is 18 lbs and not likely to get carted off by much! And then there's traffic. But thank you very much, I feel human again so that's always a plus!

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

Ah! Another thing I don't much about as we don't have a 'Food Network'. Anyway, it all makes sense!

Okay, so the things we don't have:
*Ranch dressing mix - well, I guess we have ranch dressing, but I've never seen a mix for it.
*1 (3oz) bag real bacon pieces (Oscar Meyer) - I think you can buy bacon bits, but I've never done it, and they'll be a Kiwi version anyway. For rich and/or lazy people here, most likely (and thus surprising I haven't used them considering my laziness when it comes to food!). Also, food doesn't come in oz packets, but that's because we're metric!
*shredded cheddar cheese - is this the pre-shredded stuff? We do have it, but I was being a pedant - we call it 'grated' cheese. I only buy that under torture as it's WAY too expensive. I grate my own, but then you probably do too? Do you call graters 'shredders'? Just curious to know if you shred cheese with a grater... does that sound weird?
*frozen tater tots - I'm not completely sure what these are, although I suspect they're what we'd call croquettes or something similar perhaps?
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees - again, metric! HA! That's about 180 C as we learned the translations when I was at Intermediate School and doing Cooking at the age of 11, when we just started taking up metric seriously in this country!

I know, Kaige (she rolls her eyes at me and my insistence on the ease of metric, but honestly - BASE TEN!!!). ;-P

Ah, totally get you on the 'shredding' thing - I have to say we don't grate chicken since I just made a fuss about that with the cheese! We'd pull it apart from cooked like that, and people here are just starting to call that 'shredded' or 'pulled' as previously we didn't really have a name for it. When I do recipes that call for cooked chicken, if I haven't bought the Hot Chicken (as we call rotisserie) or deli cooked chicken pieces, I just cut up the raw meat and cook it diced to put in, but I totally get what you're saying - who wants big lumps of it in their food (although as I'm a carnivore any meat is good meat!); it's much easier in smaller pieces in a casserole or pasta.

I only wish my kids were so keen to cook! It's hard, but then I suppose my lack of enthusiasm has probably rubbed off on them! They will do it when I assign them a day, but no one ever VOLUNTEERS!

Oooh, that must be scary! We are very lucky in NZ as we don't have any predators big enough to take a cat, apart from the odd nasty dog, and that doesn't happen very often as stray dogs are picked up when found and most people are supposed to have better control of theirs. cats are probably our most dangerous predators after dogs - they often get blamed for attacking some of our native birds, but actually other introduced species like possums (from Aussie) and ferrets, stoats, weasels and rats do just as much if not more damage as they will attack young birds and take eggs too. Cats don't really care about eggs, and most city cats are more likely to catch mice and sparrows than anything native.

Wow, 8.1 kg is one heavy cat! Although I have one that's around 5.5kg and the other isn't far behind, which is big enough! ;-)

[asphaltcowgrrl.livejournal.com]

I think I'd go nuts without the Food Network. I like watching cooking shows entirely too much. :D

You don't have packets of mix that you stir into sour cream to make ranch dressing? Or is that entirely an American thing? That's funny. And the 'real bacon pieces' are more like actual bacon than the hard, crunchy bacon bits you generally find. I generally don't buy them because of the price either!

Yes, the pre-shredded stuff. And I do both. If I need a large amount of cheese, like if I'm making pizza, I'll just buy a block and shred it myself (cheaper). But if I only need some to sprinkle on top of something, then I'll buy a bag. Great question though - it's called a grater although we don't grate the cheese, we shred it. You grate carrots, garlic, onions and other things, but unless it's Parmesan, it's shredded. Weird language we have, eh?

YES! Exactly like those croquettes, although from the looks of it, the tots are smaller. Same concept though.

Hee! Celsius doesn't bother me, it's easy enough to convert. It's when I find an older British cookbook that tells me to preheat to Gas Mark 4 that I'm like WTF? Hah! And really, metric IS so much easier. I don't know why the US is so against it (aside from the fact that our politicians are old and resist change).

That's usually what I'll do, too, but for some reason, it has a harder texture (I know I'm not explaining this well) than when it's been roasted and it puts me off whatever I'm eating (and you thought you had strange food issues LOL). I do agree though, I'm all for the meat!

It has taken a long time to get here with my kids. They've always liked to help, but never wanted to do the whole meal on their own until a year or two ago. Hey, even if they don't volunteer, at least the don't give you a load of garbage when it's their turn.

It definitely can be! Coyotes aren't a danger to humans for the most part, but small pets are too tempting, I guess. Yeah, even domesticated cats can be fierce predators, so it doesn't surprise me that they'll go for the local birds.

He's what's known as a Maine Coon and they're very large cats. Not just fat, but long and muscular too. But wow, 5.5kg is a good sized kitten too! When we adopted Buddy, one of my husband's friends asked if we chose the biggest cat we could find. I told him that he looked smaller in the cage. Hahaha.

[skyesurfer12.livejournal.com]

Oh, I swear I can lick that plate right now ....
We all need a good trashy casserole in our repertoire - maybe a dozen or so, too. When one of my friends told me she doesn't make casseroles *sniff* I had to defend the amazing goodness that is all baked, bubbly, cheesy components to her. She still doesn't get it (for some people, there is just no hope ...;)

One of the first dishes I made after getting married (a few years ago - ahem) was Hamburger Tater Tot Casserole. Almost the same thing, but of course, ground beef. That particular oddity has Le Chef lining the casserole dish with the tots first to make the crust and pre-baking them (as you suggested) to form the shape. My husband will STILL ask for it on occasion. Trashiness aside, I'm trying this version! (On a side note, your broccoli cheesy chicken dish got big kudos at our house a while back!)

Hope you're feeling better! Sorry I have been so absent. Work has been a bit brutish...

*On another note, have you ever thought of a food blog? Your combination of writing and cooking/baking beats the pants off many I read, and I read plenty of them.*

[asphaltcowgrrl.livejournal.com]

Right? Hits all my culinary hot buttons in one dish. :D How do you not like casseroles? But then, I ask that about a lot of things.

I've made a few variations on that theme over the years, too, but never could find one that I had to have again. Too funny that your husband still asks for it now and again. I have this 'recipe' for chicken and rice that my husband and kids love. It's chopped, cooked chicken breast dumped into a box of chicken flavored Rice-A-Roni. Someone once heard us discussing it and said they had to have my recipe and my husband nearly fell over laughing. (That broccoli cheesy chicken dish is a winner!)

Thanks, I really am. Ugh on the work thing, I feel your pain, sister.

*Hah. Yeah, I've thought about it many times, but never went through with it. I don't create my own recipes and I also am not photographically inclined, so no pretty pictures! But thank you!*

[sharpiesgal.livejournal.com]

Just the name sounds Texan...lol

Sounds amazing.

I do a killer cheesy chicken casserole with Velveta Shells and Cheese, rotisserie chicken, and a can of peas and carrots. Simple recipes are the best...lol

[asphaltcowgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hah! You so have a point there. :) Wonder if the cowboy grew up eating things like that?

As unhealthy as it was, barely enough survived for me to have leftovers the next day.

That sounds really good, too. And you're right - I have a handful of quick and easy meals because some nights just aren't worth the effort. I have a friend who tells me my meals always sound so gourmet and then I go and make something like this. Tasty, yes. Gourmet? Not so much. :D