Dairy, Gluten, Corn and Pea Free Hamburger Tater Tot Casserole

Hello!

What a weekend!  My Friday started unusually early because Jim got a case of the stomach flu.  Luckily no one else in the house caught it - but my goodness that wasn't pleasant.  Needless to say we deep cleaned the house to kill all of the germs.  The babies and I escaped to gymnastics class Friday morning.  Saturday was spent doing things around the home.  Because of the stomach flu our original plans of watching my good friends little girl were canceled.  Baby boy was looking forward to hanging out with his friend too!  Sunday we had a family reunion of sorts at my moms house.  It was so nice to see my aunts and uncles that don't live near us.  I think if we all lived closer to each other we would have a lot of fun together more often!  I really enjoyed visiting with them, showing off the babies, and seeing what was new in their lives.

Today I am trying a Pilates class at a gym near our home.  A neighbor invited me to go and I'm looking forward to it.  Lets hope my post-baby abs get a good workout!

Since I'll be gone for dinner I whipped up hamburger tater-tot casserole for the family.  This was a favorite around the house and I decided to put a 'free' spin on it.  The dairy-free cream soup mixture could be used in other recipes too!

To start, make your dairy free cream of mushroom soup. 

Bring 2.5 cups of chicken broth and a half cup of soy milk to a boil on the stove.

While it is doing its thing, prepare your mushrooms.  Instead of using fresh mushrooms, I used canned.  Feel free to do what you like ; ) Chop them up into tiny pieces and away you go!

While you are waiting for the chicken broth and milk mixture to boil, mix together 1 cup of milk, 3/4 cup rice flour (or whatever flour you have on hand) and the spices (salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder).  The original recipe I found for this soup calls for a lot more spices than what I put in.  I've found that mixture of spices would be delicious for eating the soup by itself but not when mixed into a casserole.  The mixture will be thick.

After the chicken broth and milk has boiled on the stove, whisk in the flour mixture.  Reduce your heat to low, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens up.  This only took a few minutes!

Add your mushrooms and your soup is done!

Now to assemble the casserole.

Brown 1lb of hamburger on the stove top

While this is browning begin to assemble your casserole.  I added about half of the tater tot bag to my greased casserole dish.

Then add in half of your browned hamburger, half of a can of carrots and half a can of lima beans.  Usually I would use a can of mixed vegetables, but since we can't have peas or corn, that is out.  The carrots and beans add a nice texture to the casserole.

Then layer on half of the cream of mushroom soup.  This makes it extra creamy delicious!

Then repeat!

Bake for 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees and enjoy.  I was surprised at how great this tasted.  I couldn't tell a difference between this version and the 'normal' recipe.  We will be making this again! 


Dairy Free Cream of Mushroom Soup
modified from:  www.mywisemom.com
Makes ~ 4 cups or 2 cans of soup

2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups soy milk
3/4 cup rice flour
Salt
Pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 can mushrooms, chopped

1.  Combine chicken broth and 1/2 cup of soy milk in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil.
2.  Whisk together remaining milk, flour and spices in a medium bowl.
3.  Pour the flour mixture into the boiling chicken broth mixture.  Whisk constantly.
4.  Reduce heat to low and continue whisking until mixture thickens (approx. 2-5 minutes)
5.  Add chopped mushrooms.

Hamburger Tater Tot Casserole
1 lb hamburger
1 package tater tots
1 can of carrots
1 can of lima beans
4 cups dairy free cream of mushroom soup
Splash of extra soy milk (if needed)

1. Preheat oven to 350 
2.  Brown hamburger in a large pan on the stove
3.  Grease the bottom of a casserole dish
4.  Create a layer of half the  tater tots, hamburger, carrots and lima beans.
5.  Pour half of the cream of mushroom soup over layer one
6.  Use the remaining tater tots, carrots and lima beans to create the last layer
7.  Top with cream of mushroom soup.
8.  Gently mix.  If necessary add a splash of milk to make extra juicy.
9.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until casserole is bubbling.