PEMBERVILLE – Margie Lang is a farm wife in the best sense of the word.
For almost half a century now, she’s been getting up good, hot, filling meals in planting season and in
harvest, for her hardworking husband Mike, sons, and now even grandsons.
So when she points to her hamburger-green bean-Tater Tot casserole as a perennial family favorite, take
her at her word.
Save the latest "Gourmet" magazine contributions for another Cook’s Corner. This one’s all
about reality, and real people.
"This is a real good recipe when they’ve been in the field. They come back to the house at 9 or 9:30
at night," glad to be served a flavorful entree that takes care of several food groups at once.
"They really like this," Lang said of her menfolk.
It’s a recipe that she’s had for a long time.
"I think I read it in a magazine and I decided to try it," at least 20 or 25 years ago.
"So many times you read these recipes in a magazine and they turn out awful. But this one was a
keeper!"
Her own impression was confirmed by the response of others.
"Everybody who’s tried it likes it real well."
Lang and her husband are in charge of the Martha’s Kitchen committee at Haskins Community Church, where
they are active members. She’s made the Tater Tot casserole for Martha’s Kitchen a number of times,
using a larger 12-by-18-inch baking dish. "You just up the ingredients and baking time" from
the amounts listed in the recipe on this page.
"We belong to Farm Bureau Council and I made the casserole for them maybe last November," Lang
said, listing yet another group of people who love the dish.
Fellow member Betty Wenig could only shake her head at the simplicity of the ingredients and how very
tasty was the end result.
"Boy, that’s the best recipe," she said, admiringly, asking Lang for a copy.
"She was gonna go home and share it with her kids because she thought it was really good," Lang
recalls.
The Langs are one of the six couples who formed the Ag-Wood Farm Bureau Council group way back in 1966
who are still meeting regularly 45 years later.
"We eat dinner prior to every meeting," Lang explained. "We decided our tummies were
getting too old" to wait until after the meeting, with just a dessert or snack being served.
Asked for the secret to the casserole’s success, Lang believes it is its universal appeal.
"All the ingredients are ingredients that everybody likes, even the children."
There are, in fact, only six ingredients, although Lang has occasionally added a seventh.
"You can make it with dressing too, added as a layer. I don’t make that real often, but for a change
sometimes I do."
The Langs, both 69, got to know each other as classmates. "We were in the first graduating class of
Eastwood High School."
But she has almost as many old friends in Otsego territory as Eastwood.
"My dad was like a tenant farmer. I went my first six years at Tontogany, then three years at
Haskins, and then two years at Webster. And the last year we combined and went to Pemberville High
School.
"I know a lot of people!" in the county, she admitted.
As much as friends admire her "comfort food" recipes, Lang’s own family is likely to brag about
her dessert-making abilities first.
Included in that number are her three sons, two daughters and 14 grandkids "from age 22 down to
4," all of whom still reside in Wood County.
"I do bake cakes." And of course, "a grandma’s got to have cookies!"
"I’ve got a good sugar cookie recipe from my great-aunt, a yeast cookie. It’s supposed to be rolled
out but I just drop ’em and that seems to work out."
Another cookie that people ask for is her peanut butter cookie. "It has powdered sugar in it. It’s
just a little different than the regular recipe."
For anyone who plans to make the Tater Tot casserole this week, just remember: "It’s not one you can
really hurry along.
"You have to make sure that you bake it long enough, so the meat gets done." She kept the
casserole she just made in the oven for almost an hour and 10 minutes.
Of course, "when the Tater Tots are getting real brown, then you want to get it out (out of the
oven) or they’ll get too hard."

Tater Tot Casserole
* This is for a 9-by-9-inch dish:
1 1/2 pounds lean hamburg
Small onion, chopped
1 14.5-oz. can green beans (drained)
1 tsp. onion powder (optional)
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
2-pound bag of Tater Tots
Spray your baking dish with cooking spray.
Mix the hamburg and onions together and press into the bottom and up the
sides of the dish. Drain the green beans and mix them together with the
Cream of Mushroom soup. I add onion powder to the beans for taste, but
this can be up to the maker. Pour the beans mixture over the hamburg and
add the Tater Tots on top of the beans, placing them as close together
as you can so they cover the whole top.
Bake at 350 degrees for an hour or until hamburg is done.
* Can be made in a 9×13, 12×18 or 16-inch-square baking pan. Just increase ingredients and baking time
accordingly.