Loaded Tater Tots at Hooter's

Pub grub food can seldom be considered healthy food but on occasion it can be part of an other wise healthy diet.  Pub food is usually high in sodium and fat.  It's meant to keep you in the pub/bar longer which translates into drinking more.  Pubs and sports bars usually have televisions for the same reason.  The reason for this is the real money is made on the alcoholic beverages so the longer they keep you there the more money they make.

During our last visit to Hooter's one of the guys ordered loaded tater tots as an appetizer.  This appetizer is very much pub grub food but not one that I have seen before.  The closest I've seen that resemble the loaded tater tots is the Irish fries at Murphy Inn Restaurant in Lexington, Michigan.  The only difference between the two appetizers is using tater tots in place of French fries.  This would be a very easy dish to duplicate at home and it could be made a bit healthier than the restaurant version.

I'm not a huge fan of frozen potato products (eg. French fries, hash browns) especially the pre-formed ones like hash brown patties and tater tots.  However,  kids tend to like the hash brown patties and tater tots because they look like those served at fast food restaurants.

To make a healthier version of loaded tater tots:  Check the labels when buying as some brands have less sodium and fat than others.  Choose the brand with the lowest sodium and fat content.  Bake rather than fry the tater tots on a Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet with no additional oil.   Drain the baked tater tots on paper toweling to remove any excess fat.  Do not sprinkle on any extra salt.  Make a béchamel sauce (white sauce) using skim or 2% milk.  Stir in low fat cheddar cheese to create the cheese sauce.  Substitute low fat or no fat sour cream to further reduce the fat content.  Use portion control as well.  The appetizer as pictured was meant for one person.  It was more than enough for two!