Sloppy Joe Tater Tot Casserole

I could use a little less stress. I thought after matching the stress would ease up a bit. I did get a little break for about 1 month to just de-stress but then reality sunk in. I just matched to a site that is 1800 miles away! A place that I do not have time to fly up there and find a place in person ::sigh:: Finding a place all online ...YIKES! And when I visited for the interview ... I was there for about 12 hours before I had to fly out to the next interview. Don't you just hate when reality smacks you in the face and reminds you that your an adult...

Though I am still stressed, a few things came together for us. First, I got help from someone who knows the area well and could tell me what areas were safe/quiet. Then, I stumbled upon a really cute  listing that although did not want to accept dogs -- with a little bit of discussion and letter from our current landlord was open to it and said yes! I am going to take this coming year to show them that some dog owning tenants can be great :) Eapecially the food blogging ones because we come with dessert ;)

It is a 2-story town house with a basement and washer-dryer in unit (yesss). It has two decks for Ninja to spend some outdoor time on (Ninja loves sun bathing). It's in a safe and quiet area of town. It has a garage parking spot! AND the landlords seem really sweet and responsive ::fingerscrossed:: this works out. I also booked our moving truck! I celebrated this week full of findings and decisions made with ice cream. The hubby found this delicious hazelnut ice cream for me (it doesn't taste too much like hazelnut but i is yummy).

Here's another catchup post on a recipe I made awhile back. I had a random can of "Manwich" in my cupboard ... no doubt something the hubby picked up because he found it on sale. HA! And I thought how in the world can I use this -- well I found this recipe for a Sloppy Joe Tater Tot casserole and the rest was history and so was this dish because we ate it up waaaaayyy to quickly :)

Sorry for the excessive dried green onions -- I went to sprinkle some and a whole lot tumbled out!

SLOPPY JOE TATER TOT CASSEROLE

Adapted from Buns in My Oven

INGREDIENTS

Preheat Oven to 450F Degrees

1 tbsp. garlic (optional)
1/2 c. of diced onion
1 pound ground meat (I used ground turkey)
1 (15.25 oz) can of corn, drained
1 can of Manwich Bold Sloppy Joe Sauce
4 oz. cream cheese
2 c. shredded cheese (I used Mexican blend)
16 oz. bag of tater tots, slightly thawed
Diced green onions for garnish

DIRECTIONS

In a large skillet heat 1 tbsp. of olive oil over medium heat. Once hot, saute garlic and onions until garlic is fragrant and slight browned, and onions are translucent. Add in ground meat and cook through. Drain any excess liquid. Stir in corn, Manwich and cream cheese. Continuing stirring until cream cheese melts and is evenly distributed.

Grease a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish. Pour Sloppy Joe mixture into dish. Top with 1 c. of shredded cheese. Arrange the tater tots, in a single layer, on top of the cheese. Sprinkle the remaining 1 c. of shredded cheese over the tater tots. Bake for 20 minutes until or until tater tots are golden brown and warm. Garnish with green onions.

Enjoy,