Tater Bake Turkey Casserole

Turkey Tater tot casserole

Once in a while, I rely on canned soup. I was able to pull this #tatertotcasserole together in about 15 minutes (then bake for 25). By including sauteed vegetables, I added that extra bit of nutrition that I believe makes these kind of dinners that much better. If you need to omit a couple veggies go ahead, no one will know but you.

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, small diced

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1-2 stalk celery, small diced

• 4-5 cremini or white mushrooms, small diced

• 1/2 of a small zucchini, small diced

• tt salt and pepper

• 1-2 oz red wine

• 2-4 tsp Montreal chicken seasoning or similar

• 1 lb lean ground turkey

• sprinkling of soy sauce or aminos

• 10 oz can cream of mushroom soup

• 1/2 cup sour cream

• 2 tsp Dijon mustard

• 1 cup cheddar, sharp, shredded

• 1 - 20 oz pkg of frozen french fries, divided

• garlic chives or scallions

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. With a little drizzle of oil in a pan, saute on medium heat: onion, garlic, and celery. Add Montreal seasoning, salt and pepper. Cook and soften a bit, then add mushrooms. Keep the heat a tad high so that the mushrooms are a bit dry and caramelize. Now add the zucchini (don't let it get mushy). Give it a quick saute and caramelize it a bit. Add red wine and cook off.

3. Set these veggies aside. Add the ground turkey and more Montreal seasoning, as well as soy/aminos. Break it up in small bite-size pieces.

4. Place the veggies back into the pan and let them heat up. Then add in soup, sour cream, and mustard. Blend well and let just heat slightly on low.

5. In an 8x8 oven-safe casserole dish, place 1/2 of the frozen fries in the bottom. Now place the saucy turkey veggie mixture in the dish. Be sure to push it into the corners and spread evenly. Now sprinkle with cheese and add remaining french fries.

6. Bake approximately 25 to 30 minutes until thoroughly heated and cheese is completely melted. Garnish with green onions or garlic chives.

---

Susie's Tips and Tricks

Why soy sauce/aminos? It give a meaty, rich flavour to proteins. You might know it as umami. Turkey needs seasoning; be generous with salt and pepper.

Sauteeing veggies adds the extra dimension to a meal. Since the veggies are prepared in the pan and then baked, its okay if they are a bit on the el dente side.

You can add more cheese, but we didn't seem to need it.