Staple Minnesotan Supper: Tator Tot & Green Bean Hot Dish

Staying in the Minnesota spirit as long as possible, I come today w/a recipe to share.

The holy grail of all a mid-western’s dinner menu: Hot Dish.

We don’t call meals in a pan casserole, we call them Hot Dish.  And boy do we love them.  If I wasn’t consistently concerned about my health I would eat these meals every night of the week.  All the best food groups slammed right into one pan, what’s better than that?!  (Anyone see that Friend’s episode where Rachel makes the Thanksgiving 7 Layer Dessert, “Cream, cake, berries, chocolate, beans, beef, jam” LOL)

After living YEARS without hot dish in my life I made an attempt at the ever so common – Tator Tot & Green Bean Hot Dish.  (My nickname as a child was: Spud.)

I did my best at making this recipe as healthy as possible – however, keep in mind Tator Tot’s are one of the main ingredients.

And I have A WAY EXAGGERATED excitement over the fact that I made homemade cream of mushroom soup! Cream of pretty much anything is a MUST in any hot dish.  Minnesotans always have a can on hand, at least a good Minnesotan would.  But I’m a huge believer in knowing every ingredient on the food label & I can’t manage to find a good cream of mushroom soup can.

So I bit the bullet & made my own (so easy it’s embarrassing).  Find the recipe: HERE  The only thing I changed was adding a few chopped mushrooms.

This is a true Minnesotan dish & totally worth trying at home.  Even if you’re not from the Midwest, get a little taste of it!  Also, don’t be afraid of the presentation, it’s all those good ingredients in one location – a hot dish pan, not too scary.

Tator Tot & Green Bean Hot Dish

Ingredients:

1 lbs ground beef  (Can absolutely be made meat free!)

1 medium yellow onion Diced

6 cloves garlic Diced

2 C French style Green Beans cleaned & chopped into 1 inch pieces

1 Tbls minced Herb (Thyme, Oregano, both)

1 ½ C Cream of Mushroom

8 Button Mushrooms Chopped Small

¾ C Milk

½ C Plain Greek Yogurt

Tator Tots

Salt

Pepper

1.5 C shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:  Pre-heat oven to 375.  In a small saucepan, brown ground beef over med-high heat until cooked through, drain any excess grease.  In large sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat, once hot add the garlic & onion cooking until near translucent (3-5 minutes).  Add chopped mushrooms & cook another minute, until barely soft.  Turn off heat.  Add the ground beef to the onion, garlic, and mushroom mixture. Mix well.  Starting adding! Chopped herbs, cream of mushroom, green beans, milk, & yogurt.  Spread evenly into a casserole dish, layer shredded cheese on top of ground beef mixture.  Finally, line the top of the casserole with tator tots in even lines. Bake for 45 minutes & enjoy!

Anyone reading have their own hot dish recipe to share?  If you try this one, let me know!  Anything Minnesota has a special place in my heart, including being able to share this little recipe.  Enjoy!

Xx

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