(Almost) just like mom used to make

When I was growing up, we didn't have a ton of money, so my mom had to come up with delicious yet cheap ways to feed us. With our tough economic times, blah blah blah, we all want to eat cheap. One of her favorites was tuna noodle casserole. It was not, however, one of us kids' favorites. I always thought it would be better if it was just the sauce, noodles and veggies. My brother HATED it. Whenever he smelled it cooking, he'd say, "I'm not eating that. I know what that is." But my mom would just look all surprised and say, "But it's tuna noodle casserole! It's your favorite! You must've forgotten!" Then he would look super confused and say, "Really...? Oh. Ok." And his plate full of TNC (tuna noodle casserole) would magically disappear. Of course, this little trick only worked until he was about 8, then he caught on and realized he really did hate TNC.

But she had another casserole that actually WAS our favorite, and it took no mommy-voodoo-trickery to get us to eat it. Tater tot casserole! Or TTC if you will. So yummy. How I missed it when I became a vegetarian. I knew there were products out on the market that were like meat, but made from other wierd stuff, but I was so afraid to try them. I was actually veg for a year or so before I worked up the nerve to try these exotic products. Like hamburgers. And chicken nuggets. Turns out they are actually yummy! And you never have to worry about biting down on a bone fragment or something that looks suspiciously like an artery. Gross. And I was able to substitute the meat in some of my favorite comfort foods from childhood without having to kill an animal.

So now I'm sharing a super yummy, super (well, pretty much) cheap casserole recipe, and hopefully you and yours will love it as much as I do. Ok, so it's not so much a recipe as much as it is a list of crap you stir together and bake.

What you need:

2 cans of some kind of cream soup. I like to use 1 can mushroom and one can celery, but cream of potato can work in a pinch. Condensed cheese soup can work, too, but I prefer the veggie creams. Just be sure to read your labels (as I'm sure you already do if you're veg). There are a couple cream soups out there that hide chicken in it.

1 bag mixed veggies. I like the one with carrots, corn, green beans, peas and lima beans. Just like peas and carrots? That's cool. You can use whatever, except the ones with broccoli and the like. It think that would just be... gassy.

Some kind of hamburger substitute. My favorite is Morningstar Farms crumbles, but Boca or any other brand will work. Or tofu. Or seitan. Whatever you like. My mom's recipe called for a pound of hamburger, but I always thought it was too meaty. Use however much "meat" you think you would want. Oh, and make sure you always use fake meat. If you use real meat, sometimes there is a chemical reaction and the whole thing blows up and you will need to replace your oven. Don't ask me why, I'm not a chemist. Fake meat, ok? I don't want any lawsuits.

Tater tots. Nuff said.

Preheat oven to 350. Spray glass casserole with non-stick spray. I use a big flat Pyrex tray type casserole, because more surface area means more tots. Get yourself a big ass bowl and dump in the soup. Don't add milk or anything. You want that stuff thick. If you are using two different flavors of soup, just give it a little stir so the flavors mix up. Then dump in your bag of veggies and your meat. If you want, you can add a little black pepper, or get a little creative and add a dash of your favorite herb/spice. Go crazy and make it your own. Then stir that shit up. It will get a little difficult to stir once the frozen veggies and frozen "meat" hit that cream, so stir fast. Pour (more like dump the giant frozen blob) in your casserole, and cover the top with tots. Bake for... oh, let's say 40 minutes? I have a majorly defective oven and I have to rotate the dish and check on my stuff constantly. You might want to check it at about 30 minutes, but it will probably need a bit more. You'll know when it's done when the sauce bubbles and the tots are crispy and delicious. Serve with some crusty bread or something, and devour. The VegKids go nuts-o for this. Whenever my 3 year old sees me getting tots at the store, she starts yelling, "YAY! Tater tot casserole!" And this is a kid I've had to tell, "Hurry up and eat your cake. I don't want to be sitting here at the table all night."

Sorry, vegans. :-(