My sweet little princess turned 3 this weekend, and to celebrate we wanted to make her a special dinner made out of things that she loves. We made a run to Walmart to get the things that we needed. Have you ever gone shopping with two tired children?
It’s amusing. Especially at Walmart because they’re always so busy and it’s such a huge store.
I try to sneak vegetables into everything that I make because two of my little lovelies don’t like veggies all that much. I thought if I chopped some chicken nuggets up and covered them with cheese, ketchup, and tater tots, that I’d have a real winner at the dinner table, but how do I add veggies? Squash is relatively bland so I figured grating some squash into the casserole would work. Broccoli is about the only veggie that my kiddos will eat so I thought I could also grate some broccoli and toss it with some ketchup, layered with cheese and VOILA! a casserole that my kiddos will eat. I had to trial and error the recipe but we finally got it perfected. Initially I put the vegetables in the casserole raw and baked them but they were a little overpowering. Once we sautéed them with some onion, garlic, and olive oil; they wilted down and tasted wonderful.
I like doing creative things with otherwise “easy” foods so that the kids don’t get sick of them. Plus, they’ll eat “hidden” veggies but if I serve them Tyson chicken nuggets and tater tots, they won’t touch broccoli, even though they normally like it. Putting some of their favorite things together and hiding veggies adds some nutrient-dense foods alongside a protein and starch. WINNING!
We don’t know many people here yet so to celebrate Madilyn’s birthday, we had some family over. She was content playing with her cousin, Tyler but us adults were bored. It’s not like me to be bored on a Sunday, especially on football opening week but our lovely DirecTV wasn’t working and that NFL Sunday Ticket we pay for? Let’s not even talk about it. So instead of watching TV, we decided to pick out one of our favorite Hasbro games and make a night of it. One of our favorites is Clue: Secrets & Spies. This isn’t like the clue that you’re used to. This is like Clue Mission Impossible style. SO cool. There’s a lot to it but it’s very easy to learn, and a whole lot of fun to play. They used to involve a really cool text messaging feature but when we pulled the game out earlier this year to play, they had discontinued that feature. SO bummed!
In any event, have you heard of #DipDipHooray and how you can win a $1000 Hasbro Game Night Grand Prize? If not, it’s SO super easy. You visit the Dip Dip Hooray website and register with your email address. Don’t worry, I registered and I haven’t been receiving spam mail so go ahead and register. You literally click on the very obvious icon to enter (one entry every single day!) then type in the captcha code to verify that you’re not a bot. That’s IT. SO easy. To unlock the digital version of the game of the week you simply type in the UPC codes from Tyson Chicken Nuggets, Ore-Ida French Fries, and Heinz Ketchup on the “Game of the Week” screen. You have to use one of each to unlock. We use Heinz Simply Ketchup, and that’s fine too, even though it’s not pictured. This week we got Pictureka! WE LOOVE that game but don’t have the board game version so this has been a BLAST! For the complete list of rules , check here.
We love to have family game nights but our schedules often get in the way. I sometimes complain that the babies are too young but we recently bought a Sesame Street Memory game by Hasbro. She LOVES it and does a great job playing. Grady is still a little young but if we give him a card or something to hold he’s as happy as a pig in poop. I’ve been trying to do a better job focusing on spending quality time as a family since we moved to Raleigh and I think we’re doing a darn good job. Styles loves the interaction and so do we. It definitely leaves us feeling more connected when we’re done.
How do you and your family get quality time in?
Don’t forget to check out our awesome recipe creation below!
Nuggie Tot Farmer’s Pie
Ingredients:
1/2 bag Tyson Chicken Nuggets
1/2 bag Ore-Ida Tater Tots
1/2 cup Heinz Ketchup (I used their “Simply” ketchup)
2 yellow squash
2 broccoli crowns
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 package (2 cups) shredded cheese (I used Pepper Jack)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400*. Once oven is preheated, bake chicken nuggets according to package instructions.
2. While chicken is baking, shred veggies with the grating attachment on your food processor or with a box grater. Heat oil on medium, with garlic until garlic is softened but not browned. Add squash and broccoli and saute until soft, approx. 5 minutes. Set aside.
3. Once the chicken nuggets are done, preheat oven to 450*. Bake tater tots according to package instructions.
4. Cut chicken nuggets into bite-sized pieces. I found that making a lateral cut and two horizontal cuts made perfect child-sized bites. Place diced nuggets into the bottom of a casserole dish. Layer sauteed vegetables over chicken nuggets.
Note: I took these pictures during my first trial run and did not saute the vegetables. They were way overpowering. Your vegetables (if done right and sauteed) will be darker and softer-looking.
5. Spread 1/2 cup of Ketchup over the vegetables and layer 1 cup cheese over the ketchup.
6. When tater tots are done cooking, reduce heat to 350* then mash the tots with the back of a fork and layer them over the vegetables and cheese.
7. Bake casserole in 350* oven for 20 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cheese over casserole and bake 15 more minutes, until cheese is bubbly.
8. Allow casserole to rest 5 minutes outside of the oven before serving.
“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ Tyson and Heinz #CBias #SocialFabric,lfg[o3rlllrrrklwA
Come to Our Nest 
This is an amazingly smart idea!! We do “Hamburger Tator-Tot” casserole, and this is a cool variation of that
LOVE it!
Meagan Paullin recently posted..Fall Style Report: Pick Pumpkin!
Yum! I love tater tot casserole (with hamburger like Meagan said), and this would be great to get more veggies in it. Thanks for the great idea!
Jenn [ Crippled Girl ] recently posted..20 Fall Salad Ideas
These look soooo good! I’m going to have to try this….
Melody recently posted..We Will Never Forget!
That looks amazing!!!!!
I definitely have to try this because my son hates veggies as well.
Diane N – Philzendia recently posted..At Last, Walgreens Has a Loyalty Program!
We love GAME NIGHT!
I think it’s my favorite part of the week.
Sadie recently posted..Easy Way to Help Me Become a Blogger for Macy’s!
This looks… AWESOME! Love your shopping story, by the way! It’s totally entertaining to read!
Nicole (SAHM Reviews) recently posted..Rewards of Poolside Shopping