Spicy Cheesy Tots

When I got home from work today, I decided that I needed to make my crazy tasty chili cheese tots (recipe HERE). I baked up the tots, and got ready to mix up the chili with some onions and spices when to my surprise, I found that I had no chili. I swear there is a chili thief in my pantry, because every time I open the pantry door, I cannot find the chili. It disappears into an alternate universe or something. What's a chickpea to do? I had to improvise with a quickness.

I decided to whip up a cheese sauce using an altered version of my mega-spectacular-kickass Queso sauce recipe. I added some beans it was seriously a mega-hit at my place. This is what we had for dinner. Probably not the healthiest, but it was SOOOO good, especially as it cooled off a bit. The fella dipped his in a little ketchup, but I loved them as-is. I used Daiya pepperjack, but you can skip that all together or sub in some Daiya cheddar and add more spices. Hey, whatever floats your balloon. Enough talk, time for the recipe.

Makes enough for 2 very large dinner portions or 4-5 as a side.

What I used:

• 1/2 bag tots, cooked according to package directions. I bake mine at 450 for about 20 minutes. 
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 can light red kidney beans, drained (I was in a rush and didn't rinse them and that was just fine)
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup diced red onion
• 1/4 plus 1 TB nooch
• 1/2 cup Daiya pepperjack
• 2 TB flour (I used unbleached all-purpose)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2/3 tsp chili powder
• salt

What I did:

1. Baked my tots. Then turned the oven off and left them inside while I whipped up the sauce. The sauce takes about 5 minutes total.
2. In a sauce pan, add everything except the tots. Put pot over medium heat and whisk everything together. You don't really have to mix much the first two minutes, but after that, whisk almost nonstop so the milk and Daiya don't burn to the bottom of the pot. Keep on whisking until it reaches the thick consistency you want. Think melted velveeta, thick. Then remove from the heat and pour over your cooked tots.

Easy or what?