Parmesan Tater Tots

Yum
I had some of the infused oil I used to make the potato crusted sea bass dinner in a container. The oil had plenty of garlic cloves in it and some sprigs of thyme as well as the other spices and as it had been sitting it gained more wonderful fragrance. Our dinner plan was some kind of baked chicken thighs. You know, something easy and not complicated. That's when I thought about the left over infused oil and decided to baste the chicken thighs with the oil and toss in the garlic cloves and sprigs of thyme right into the baking dish. The chicken came out so incredibly flavorful.
But the over all question was what do we do for a starch? Cauliflower was on sale and that was the side vegetable but I was totally stumped for the starch. As I wandered around the store I spotted Tater Tots on sale (store brand). I haven't had these little potato puffs since I was a teenager and figured I needed something different. Don't you get tired of the same starch over and over? What I did to these was so simple and they came out incredible.
One two pound bag has about eight servings per bag. We did about half the bag and it was way to much for just two people. Our dinner of chicken, cauliflower (super sale at $2.99 a head, any color) and chicken thighs cost about $8.15 for the entire meal. Here's the super easy way to take the ordinary tater tot and give it a splash of flavor.

• frozen tater tots - about half a bag
• 1 tbsp. of oil
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Place all of the above ingredients in a bowl and mix well to coat.
2. Spread the tots on a foil lined baking sheet for easy clean up or use parchment paper.
3. Bake according to the directions and even a little longer to get them extra crispy.

That's all there is to it!