Odds & Ends: Sunday Dinner

Sunday, January 31, 2021

I'll be returning to work on site tomorrow after having worked remotely since this past March. I'm feeling a little anxiety about it. Also finishing up a slightly modified dry January I went four weeks without a drink. Decided to finish up the Irish cream that's been sitting in the fridge since Christmas. Not much left. Just enough for half a glass. 

Listened to The Nutcracker a couple of times today. The recording I have was conducted by Andre Previn.

For cocktail hour I had a martini. It went down okay but it negatively affected my sleep. Maybe I'll do a dry February too. 

For dinner Dale and I made Tater Tot Hotdish. It turned out wonderfully. There's a rib-sticking quality to this that's especially appealing during winter time. 

For dessert we had a gingerbread cake. Unlike the one I made from scratch for Old Twelfth Night, this one was from a boxed mix. Regardless, it was delicious and especially so with whipped cream. 

Christmastide 2020: The 7th Day of Christmas - New Year's Eve: Joe's Tater Tot Hot Dish

Thursday, December 31, 2020

High Minnesota cuisine for dinner: Tater Tot Hot Dish

Here's the recipe which is an amalgamation of 3 different recipes I found online. For that reason I'll call it Joe's Tater Tot Hot Dish:

1 pound of ground turkey

1 bag tater tots (I could only find a 28 oz. bag of mini tater tots. We used most of it.)

1 standard sized can of cream of mushroom soup

1 standard sized can cream of celery soup

1 small bag of frozen green beans (We used fresh green beans and I just eyeballed it. One of the recipes called for 8 oz.)

1 small bag of frozen corn, thawed (The smallest bag I could find was 10 oz. We used it all.)

1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese.  2 cups is better.

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

French fried onions (I bought a 6 oz. can and didn't use more than a third of it.)

Set oven to 350 degrees. Fry off turkey with some Worchestershire sauce. Meanwhile, combine soup, beans, and corn in a large bowl. Then add turkey and mix well. Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with cooking spray and transfer mixture to it. Cover with frozen tater tots (no need to thaw) and cheddar cheese. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. When finished cover with French fried onions. Note: Sweet potato tater tots are another option. 

We watched Star Trek: Discovery during dinner...

and then had Oh Ho cake from Kowalski's for dessert.