Tater Tot Nachos

So Sunday nights have once again inspired a delicious winner.  Part of our ongoing family project  is what we are lovingly calling, the Year of Awesome.  We are basically having a money saving contest with ourselves.  Sunday nights have traditionally been our "eat out" night. Like clockwork, at about 4pm on any given Sunday, I would ask my husband, "What are we getting tonight?"  From there, I would hop in the car and off I would go to pick up dinner from wherever we decided on.

The Year of Awesome means that we now are eating out only once a month.  This hasn't been overly difficult, so far, especially since a major part of what we are eating right now are smoothies, so on Sunday mornings I just make up a couple, and miraculously, I have supper made too.  Sometimes though, a smoothie just doesn't cut it.  So as usual, desperation became the fount of creativity.  This recipe is a collaboration between my husband and I.

Now, I will say that most of the items used to construct these were convenience foods.  The one thing that set this over the edge was a cheese sauce that we quickly threw together.  I will not say one tiny thing to you if you choose to use a canned or jarred cheese sauce, cause if I'm being honest with you, the next time this gets made, that is what I may be using.  If you have a cheese sauce in your brain that you use, use it, this is not fancy.  My standard is a 2/2/2/2 mix, so it goes something like this:

Melt 2 Tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, add 2 Tablespoons of Flour, and you guessed it, cook for 2 minutes until the flour has cooked a little.  Add 2 cups of milk, and stir/whisk until it starts to thicken. When it is starting to thicken up, add 2 Cups of Cheese and stir/whisk until it is melted.  Now, depending on your tastes, the cheese you use, or just the whims of the cooking spirits, you may need to add more cheese or milk to get the consistency where you want it. I will just caution you to add less milk than you think or want to if you are adjusting this, you can always add more but you cannot take it back if you go too far, think tablespoons at at time, not cups.  Salt & Pepper to taste.  

1 (28 oz) Bag of Tater Tots
1 Recipe Cheese Sauce
Green onions Chopped
Tomatoes Chopped
Olives
Sour Cream
Salsa
Chili, canned or homemade

OPTIONAL:  Meat, Jalapenos, Cilantro, Avacado, basically any topping that you would put on nachos.

Bake or Fry the Tater Tots according to the package directions.

Make or warm the cheese sauce.

Put some of the Tater Tots in a Bowl or on a plate, add the cheese sauce and garnish with all the toppings that you have.

You can thank me later, I know you're busy eating.