Pinterest Challenge: Tatertot Casserole

It's been a while since I last tried a new recipe, so I thought I'd attempt two new things this month. I tend to pin whatever looks good, and later come back to see if it's something I'm interested in ever making, so about twice a month I go through my pin boards relating to food, desserts, or crafts to delete what I'll never ever attempt (no matter how it looks or sounds). If I come across something I want to try in the next month or two, I repin it to a private board that runs more like a to do list than anything else. With both the recipes I tried this month, they went directly onto the 'to do list' board.

First up was the delicious looking Taco Tater Tot Bake recipe from blogchef.com.  Tater tots, enchilada sauce, and cheese? What more could I ask for!

We made a couple substitutions - going with ground turkey instead of ground beef, and using crispy crowns instead of true tater tots. And one unintentional issue when I forgot to stir the cheese in before putting the mixture of potatoes, black beans, corn, and meat into the baking dish - so my cheese is just kind of clumped on top instead of quite as mixed in as it ought to be.

I had one comment that it was spicy (from the same person who always finds enchilada sauce spicy, even when I buy the mildest option) and I thought it was a little salty (next time I'll probably skip the taco seasoning in the ground meat, I don't think it was noticeable under the sauce except as extra salt) - but overall it was really good. I think three out of four people had seconds, and I even had the rest as leftovers the next day. The potato pieces didn't hold up well as leftovers, but the flavor might have been better the second day. It's not quite as easy as I'd like - having to take an additional pan for browning the meat - but it was relatively fast and very delicious. Will be fixing this one again.