Tot-Chos Supreme

    My sister and brother in-law reintroduced me to the fry supreme a while ago (I think I'd only had the "real one" once or twice) when they came to visit and they suggested we make it for dinner one night. So, we cooked up a huge batch of fries, and went fry supreme nuts! 

    If you're asking yourself, "what is a fry supreme?", fear not, I'll fill you in! Basically, a fry supreme is potato fries piled high with what you would normally find on nachos.

    The "real' fry supreme (in Canada, it's from Taco Bell) is simply seasoned meat, cheese sauce, green onion, tomato & sour cream, so if you're a purest, you can stick with those items! 

     I, however, love adding seasoned meat, shredded cheese, cheese sauce, salsa (sometimes con queso-which is a cheese sauce and salsa mix), finely chopped lettuce, diced pepper, green onions, tomato, sour cream, and guacamole. I like to also add a drizzle of spicy bbq sauce, and a drizzle of ranch dressing. I mean, if I'm going for it, I'm really going to go for it! : )   Basically, anything you love on nachos also tastes amazing on french fries....but seriously, no, seriously.....it tastes 100000x better on "Tasti Taters" as they are called in Canada.

    "Tater Tots" is the name of these lovelies in the U.S. (and made by Ore-Ida). According to the (all knowing) Wikipedia, names from other countries include: "potato gems", "potato royals" or "potato pom-poms".in Australia and New Zealand. In the United Kingdom there was once a similar product called "oven crunchies" which are no longer available, but are still produced and sold under the name "potato crunchies". Canada also has an organic version from Cascadian Farm called "Spud Puppies".

      As for the 'recipe" today, it's less of a recipe and more an idea, a few tips, and a lot of drooling while dreaming up what you would add to your "Tot-Chos" Supreme (Ya get it right? Tater-Tots, nachos, Supreme-d?) Yes! : )   I'm sure I didn't have to spell that out for you, but I did anyway!      

Tot-Chos Supreme

Ingredients:

• Tasty Taters (Tater Tots), in my experience, 1-800g bag feeds 2-3 adults or 3-5 children, but this number depends greatly on how much each person eats!!! Know your crowd, and if you don't know them, air on the side of too many.

Possible Toppings:

• Shredded cheese (any kind you prefer)
• Cooked and taco seasoned ground meat (assume for 1/4 cup cooked meat per adult, slightly less for kids)
• Re-fried beans for the vegetarians...or meat eaters who like beans (warmed up)
• Cheese sauce
• Sauces like bbq (I love to use a beer & chipotle kind), ranch dressing, or hot sauce
• Chopped lettuce (I like to use romaine)
• Diced bell peppers
• Diced tomatoes
• Salsa
• Guacamole
• Sour cream
• Diced green onion

 

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
2. Once the oven is hot, spread Tasty Taters into a single layer on as many baking sheets as needed
3. Bake for a total of 30-35 minutes, re-arranging the pans and turning the taters over with a spatula at the half-way point of baking  ***this bake time is longer than the recommended time, but you want the taters to be sturdy enough for all your toppings!!!*** 
4. While your taters are baking, get all your desired toppings out, and ready to go!
5. Take the taters out of the oven once they are deeply golden, divide among plates and top first with shredded cheese (so it can get melty), then meat or re-fried beans, then cheese sauce, bbq sauce, hot sauce or dressing (if using any of those), then any veggies you want, and finish with your sour cream, guac, and salsa, then maybe add a smidge more shredded cheese and some green onion, cause it looks nice
6. Voila!!! : )   

     This meal is actually a great one to throw together for company (uh...not fancy company, obviously!) : )  

    Really though, if you set up all the toppings like a bar/buffet, then when the tots come out of the oven everyone can pile up their taters with toppings as they so desire. Sometimes, per gram, the price of Tasti Taters is cheaper than corn chips too, so, bonus!

​    Welllz, my parents are coming up to visit this weekend, which we're pretty excited about! And, it's my hubby's birthday today, so we're going out for dinner tonight, which we're also very excited about! We usually go to a fancy-schmancy, locally owned restaurant in Belleville where we can get amazing steak, so, yuuummmmm........

    This week has been an odd one 'round here.....Monday and Tuesday seemed like long and stressful days, the kids had Wednesday and Thursday at home because of snow days (so they seemed like long days too)......but now it feels like Friday is suddenly here! How confusing is that?!? 

    Anywho....it looks like the kids finally get to go back to school today, and I'll just be busy baking a cake for Adam, making cookies for Sunday's "The Music man" rehearsal, and cleaning the guest room and house for my parents arrival! 

   I hope you have a great weekend, whether working, staying home, visiting people, etc., etc., etc.! Just enjoy whatever you're doing! Don't waste time being grumpy or unhappy! Ok? Ok. : )  


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