Homemade Tator Tots With Cornflake Crust and Accentuate the Bicep Positives!

Hi everyone! So, why do I have a photo of my bicep posted here? Well, my kids, along with commenting on every wrinkle, every muffin top sighting and gray hair, have recently taken to making fun of my flabby arms.

Now, after ten continuous years of lifting small and large children, pretty good arm muscle genetics and lots of compliments over the years about my buff arms, I feel pretty confident about my arms. True, I felt a pang when they starting dissing my guns a few weeks ago, specifically my triceps which , honestly, are not as gravity defying as in my early years, but my muscle confidence did not allow their jabs to have a huge impact on my self esteem.

I bring the focus to my arms one, to brag (hey, everything else is heading down hill so why not draw some attention to my positives?) but two, to point out how if we feel lousy or insecure about a skill or lack there of, like cooking, an insult or criticism, like , “Sorry, I can’t eat this!” can leave us discouraged and/or unwillingly to persevere in order to improve. Have you ever noticed that people can make fun of you for some things and you laugh but if a joke is directed at you around other aspects of your personality, your skills or the way you look you want to cry? If we build confidence, however, by practicing and cooking for supportive eaters (in the case of cooking skills for example) we may not take criticism or perceived criticism so hard.

Keep up the good work and surround yourself with positive people who are complimentary and give constructive criticism in a kind and gentle manner!

O.K., thanks for indulging me. Practice making these tator tots I created and you will build a cornflake crust fortress around your cooking vulnerabilities. They are delicious!!!

Homemade Tator Tots:

Filling:
2 large White Potatoes, steamed until tender
2 medium sweet potatoes, steamed until tender
salt to taste

Mash separately in two bowls

Coating:
1 cup crushed organic cornflakes (dont want those nasty genetically modified corn products in my kids-can get for a bit more $$$ at Whole Foods)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp any other seasoning you like-black pepper, cayenne pepper, cajun seasoning, cumin, etc.
Olive oil spray or Pam for spraying before oven time
Combine all above coating ingredients

Form one-inch balls of mashed potatoes, roll in the cornflake mixture. Makes about two dozen white potatoe and about a dozen sweet potato balls.

Place the coated balls on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and spray with oil spray.
In 400 degree oven in the middle rack, place the baking sheet. After about 15-20 minutes, when the balls start looking crispy, flip them all over so they brown on the other side and bake another 15-20 minutes or until the start getting crispy.

Serve with ketchup or a homemade aioli of two TBS Mayo with one medium sized clove of crushed garlic and a dash of salt (we grown ups ate them with the aioli). Deeeee-licious!