trying out American recipes

One night I decided to go American and made tator tot casserole. It's basically a modified shepherd's pie - instead of mash on top, tator tots are used. [they're like frozen hash browns but shaped into a little cylinder]
In most recipes, only 4 ingredients are used - beef mince, cream of something soup, shredded cheese and tator tots. but there's no way I could brown beef mince without adding garlic, onions, pepper, chopped carrot and peas and worcestershire sauce..

So, that's layered on the bottom with the soup, cheese and potatoes on top and baked in the oven for it to heat through, the cheese to melt and the potatoes to crisp.
Not the most balanced meal around, so it has to be served with a salad.

Jim Lahey's book really got me intrigued and I've been making a few rounds of his no knead bread. These I shaped into long sticks and baked on a tray. They're still not as soft as store bought though...perhaps bread improver really is necessary after all?