Tots. How to eat like a kid isn’t that hard to do. It’s all in how you look at it.  For me it was manipulating left over tots from a brewery dinner the night before. I mean left over tots people!

I remember being a freshman at the University of Redlands and experiencing my first Sunday morning eating breakfast in the old Commons. Once you’d checked in at the desk, it was all you can eat. Did you hear me? ALL YOU CAN EAT! And not just all you can eat, but self serve all you can eat. So what did I do? I filled my plate with tots of course.

I vividly remember standing there, tray in hand, plate overflowing with hot, crispy, golden tots. There was a football player, upper classman, right next to me. I’d never spoken to him before – was surprised as all get out when he spoke to me, a little freshman.

“You getting those for your table?” he asked.

“Ummm, no,” I gulped. “These are just for me.”

“Damn girl!” he exclaimed. “That’s something I gotta see.”

So he watched me walk off and every once in a while I caught him looking over, and shaking his head with a smile as he watched me wolf down the entire plate. All. By. Myself.

Um… cough cough… I think that’s where the phrase “freshman 15” comes from…  My leftover tot creation is very easy to do. Just follow these simple instructions.

How to Eat like a Kid: Smothered Tots

1 plate left over tots
1 can re-fried beans
1/2 sweet onion
1 Roma tomato
Shredded dairy-free cheese
Fresh cilantro

• One plate of left over cold tots, heat these up in the toaster oven or regular oven until they’re once again crispy and hot
• While the tots heat up, open a can of re-fried beans
• Place beans in a sauce pan over medium-high heat
• Dice up ½ a sweet onion
• Chop a tomato & fresh cilantro if you like
• Mix onion into warming beans
• When tots are done remove from oven & place on a microwaveable plate
• Put a good dollop of re-fried beans on top of the tots, but don’t cover them completely, you don’t want to lose the crunch
• Sprinkle with some of your favorite dairy-free cheese
• Microwave until cheese is melted
• Top with tomato & cilantro, and pretty much anything else the adult in you has a taste for, just because part of your meal is kid like doesn’t mean it all has to be

Smothered Tots

Heather Thomas, sloCooking

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

  

• 1 plate left over tots
• 1 can re-fried beans
• 1/2 sweet onion
• 1 Roma tomato
• Shredded dairy-free cheese
• Fresh cilantro

Instructions

 

• One plate of left over cold tots, heat these up in the toaster oven or regular oven until they’re once again crispy and hot
• While the tots heat up, open a can of re-fried beans
• Place beans in a sauce pan over medium-high heat
• Dice up ½ a sweet onion
• Chop a tomato & fresh cilantro if you like
• Mix onion into warming beans
• When tots are done remove from oven & place on a microwaveable plate
• Put a good dollop of re-fried beans on top of the tots, but don’t cover them completely, you don’t want to lose the crunch
• Sprinkle with some of your favorite dairy-free cheese
• Microwave until cheese is melted
• Top with tomato & cilantro, and pretty much anything else the adult in you has a taste for, just because part of your meal is kid like doesn’t mean it all has to be

my cookbook launched on Amazon in the Kindle Store – You can purchase it through my shop. If you like what you’re reading, be sure to check out my sloCooking archive site.