Perfect for using on Tater Tot Hotdish, Alice, from Dining with Alice, is back again to share her homemade tater tots. She is the kitchen star for the local Twin Cities Live T.V. show and rightfully so; she is charming, talented and fun. You'll be able to catch a new MN recipe from her her on NellieBellie each month. Watch for casserole, cheese, wild rice and things on a stick!

I was the big kid at the kids' table. I sat at the tiny preschool table. My legs were awkwardly stuffed under and out the sides of the table and my bottom was quite too big for those rickety plastic chairs, but I wanted to join in on the excitement of the day. I brought coloring sheets to the kids in my daughter's class. Now these weren't any run-of-the-mill coloring sheets.

No tv characters.

No princesses.

They were Minnesota coloring sheets!!

No, I wasn't the only one cheering. They liked them. Really. I just had to explain the sheets a bit.

We flipped through the pages, there were coloring sheets for the state bird, state flower, muffin (blueberry, if you didn’t know) but no mention of Minnesota’s favorite spud, the star of Minnesota’s favorite hotdish. In case you didn’t know, Minnesotans have modified the food pyramid to include hotdish as a main food group. Do know what spud I’m talking about? You got it.

Tater Tots.

Well, the kids loved learned to love the Minnesota coloring sheets. But it did get me thinking about the spud we all love and I thought about making homemade tater tots. Isn't this what you think about when your mind starts to wander?

Homemade tater tots sound so great, right? But what if we gave them an adult-spin. Like nothing you've seen in the frozen bagged variety? Intrigued? I thought so, now get your bacon engines ready.

To make homemade tater tots, you mix leftover mashed potatoes with eggs and flour. For this version, I'm adding blue cheese and cooked bacon pieces. After you get all that bacon and blue cheese mixed in you roll these little potato balls into a potato chip and bread crumb mix. I fry them over medium-high heat until they get nice and golden brown.

I love eating these homemade tater tots right after frying. They are crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside and perfect with a Minnesota craft beer. Perfectly Minnesotan. How could we make them even more Minnesotan? Well, this summer I had my first poutine at the Minnesota State Fair. Fries with gravy and cheese curds. You see where I'm going here? Yes. So I took my homemade tater tots with bacon and blue cheese and made it into poutine. Taters smothered in gravy and squeaky cheese curds. Now that's Minnesota perfection. Want the full recipe with all the details on how to make these homemade tater tots and poutine? You can find it here on the Dining with Alice web page.