S.N. -Week 1 Day 1

Well, the day didn't go as planned...surprise, surprise. Heheh. Life happened and on top of the usual chasing of my 4 year old around all day to keep him out of trouble and trying to get household chores done, my second oldest had an off day at school and I ended up having to lecture him and set a punishment for getting in trouble at school for not obeying his teacher and talking too much. After setting up my 2nd oldest with his homework and punshment,I ended up having to try and help my oldest calm down and work his way through one of his autism-over focused-freak-out-and-panic episodes before he reached a "serious" level which took several hours. When he has one of those episodes, everything else get's put on the back burner and it's a fight to the finish.I was exhausted more than usual come dinner time. The delicious chicken meal I had planned was going to have to wait. So, tonight I made plan B. Plan B usually means a burger from the nearest fast food restaurant but I had promised myself that I would cook every day this week. So, I made one of the quickest and yummiest meals that I loved and made often as a young girl called Tater Tot Casserole. You've probably already heard of it but just in case ya haven't, here it is...

All you need is:
  1 lb. of ground beef, or more depending on your family size
1/2 of a small onion, diced
1 can of cream of mushroom soup (even with more beef, one can will go a LONG ways.)
1 can of green beans- drained well
1 bag of frozen tater tots
11/2 cups of grated cheese
salt
pepper
8x8 pan
Preheat the oven to the temp. that the tater tots bag directs you to.
In a skillet, brown meat and onions together. Salt and pepper meat to taste.
Drain most of the excess grease, leaving just enough to help the meat stay moist when it's in the oven. Then place meat and onion mix into the 8x8 pan.
Empty the can of cream of mushroom soup into the meat mix. With a large mixing spoon,mix it well.
Next, empty the can of drained green beans on top of the meat mix. Spread green beans out evenly.
Next, place a layer of frozen tater tots on top of the layer of green beans. Spread tater tots out evenly.
Sprinkle generous amounts of cheese evenly on top of the layer of tater tots. Add amount of cheese according to your taste preference.
Bake in the oven to the time specified by the tater tot bag or until ALL of the tater tots are golden brown and heated ALL THE WAY through. Sometimes it takes longer than the bag specifies. That's why I add lots of cheese so the cheese doesn't burn.
Yield- 6 servings

I love how this only takes me 20-30 min to make from prep to eating. I like to serve it with a garden salad and bread. ENJOY! We sure did!