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I made this last night for a friend's "white trash prom" themed birthday party.  I didn't think it tasted all that great (it was really bland, and the tots themselves weren't all that great) but I'm archiving the recipe because the cheese sauce was DELICIOUS.  I'd never made a cheese sauce before, so it was a fun experiment.  The only change I would make is to use a sharper cheese.   The recipe came from here:  http://abreiden.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/vegetarian-tater-tot-hotdish/

Vegetarian Tater Tot Hotdish

3/4 cups milk

3/4 cups vegetable broth

2 T butter

2 T all-purpose flour

Kosher salt and pepper

4 oz colby jack cheese, shredded (I used sharp cheddar, pre-shredded, but would use a sharper cheese next time)

1 lb green beans, trimmed

1 onion, chopped (I omitted these as someone at the party is allergic to onions)

8 oz button mushrooms, sliced

2 T sherry

Most of a 24 oz package of frozen tater tots

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter over medium heat in a small saucepan in preparation of making a roux.  When the butter has melted and the water from the butter has evaporated, add the flour and whisk constantly for about 2 minutes or until the mixture no longer smells like raw flour.  Add the milk and let the mixture thicken and then add the vegetable broth.  Let the mixture thicken again and then taste it and adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper.  Then, whisk in the cheese until melted.  Set the sauce aside, off the heat, until ready to use.

Meanwhile, heat a saute pan with a bit of olive oil.  Add the onions, season, and let them cook until they just are beginning to show some color.  Then add the mushrooms.  Season the mushrooms.  Cook until the mushrooms have softened.  Add the sherry and cook until almost all of the sherry has evaporated, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan as it cooks.

Now mix the beans, onions, and mushrooms together.  (Use your baking dish if you like or a large bowl.)  Then add about half of the sauce.  Keep adding sauce until the mixture look fairly wet but there isn’t a large amount of sauce in the bottom of the bowl.  If you end up adding too much sauce, just add some tater tots to the mix to thicken it up again.  Place the mixture in a 9X13 baking pan and then spread a layer of tater tots over the top.  Bake for about 30 minutes and then, if the tater tots aren’t crisp, turn on the broiler and get them nice and crispy.  Serve immediately.