Adventures in Ovening - Seasoned Potato Bits

I've been a bad lady.
I haven't been cooking as often as I should be.
Sometimes, I just cannot be bothered. Corn dogs can go in the microwave even, and stirring for macaroni and cheese sounds like too much work and it's just...ugh.
Yes, it sound pitiful - because it is.

But I found a new thing recently, and it's amazing, and I wanted to share.
Because it's almost no effort and it's delightful. 

Do you remember Taco Bell like ten years ago? Maybe even longer than that, I don't know when the menu changed...but do you remember Mexi-Nuggets?!!?
Because those were amazing. It was a staple of my Taco Bell eating as a kid (which wasn't frequent, don't worry). We moved away from a local Taco Bell for a few years, and then came back to a civilized place (as in, a place that actually has Taco Bell!) and they were (and are!) no longer on the menu. They were replaced with...I don't even remember what they call them, but something not nearly as good.
And while you can find a similar replacement at Taco Time, it's not the same, and also always much farther away of a food joint.

A few weeks back, I was sad because I remembered them (Mexi-Nuggets, that is) and ended up with a hankering for them.
So, as anyone would, I turned to the internet to find me an answer.
As luck would have it, the internet had me an answer after all.

Y'all, it's amazing (I can say "y'all", cuz I lived away from a 'civilized' place, you see).

The original recipe can be found here and it is the simplest thing I think I have ever seen. In a good way of course!

I did not have cilantro, as the recipe calls for, so I skipped that one, and traded it for powdered onion. And I had no chili powder, so I used red pepper flakes.
But really, it's all the same.
I almost added Tapatio the second time (yes, I've already made this twice), but didn't want to risk it!

See, you start off with this:

Which is tator tots in a ziploc. Seriously, who thinks of these things?! But it's perfect! I suppose if you didn't want to use ziplocs you could use a bowl and stir, but shaking is way more fun than stirring - hold that thought.

You pour copious amounts of these things in the ziploc. I didn't measure, because I was being lazy, and I'm a pretty good spice-guesser. Plus, some will come off in the bag, some will come off in the oven, so more is always an okay option. 

Then, you shake, and it turns out like this: 

See, a lot of the red pepper flakes end up on the bottom of the bag, which I tried to squish out, but only had some luck with it. 

Either way, they go in the oven and come out and smell amazing.

I would have photos of this out of the oven except for the fact that I was so excited to eat them I forgot. 

Also, these photos are from the second time I made it, because I was so excited the first time I didn't even think of photos until I was done. 

But, when they get out of the oven, they look like tator tots with seasoning, so not really anything exciting to look at anyway! 

As I've already made this a second time, you can bet I'll be making it again...and again...and again. Especially since it's as easy as, well, shaking a ziploc full of formed potato bits. 

That sounds weird.

~Havok