Aug 24, 2010: Quick and Easy Tuna Noodle Casserole

Here's a simple recipe that can be done quickly with what veggies you want. It's something that can be thrown together.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

8 oz Elbow Macaroni - aiming for 4 servings
10.5 oz can Cream of Mushroom Soup
7 oz can of Albacore Tuna, drained and mashed
1/2 Onion, chopped
1 Stalk Celery, chopped
1 Stalk Broccoli, peeled and chopped... Using every bit while the florets were steamed as a side dish.
3/4 C Frozen Peas... I would added more if I had more.
1/2 C milk
1/2 C Sharp Cheddar, shredded
1 T Pimento... Added for color. I would have used carrots. I didn't find any.
1 T Butter

1) Cook the macaroni per instructions... toss in the frozen peas for the last minute.

2) While the mac is boiling, saute fresh veggies.

3) Add the cream of mushroom soup and milk to the veggies. Add Tuna and break up the chunks.

4) Drain the pasta and add to the soup mixture. (You can eat at this point, but being a guy I have to use another dish. lol )

5) Pour into a 8 x 8 baking dish and top with cheese... Bake 350 F until cheese melted.


Service up!


A very simple dish that turned out nicely.
Use any veggies you like.

Mar 10, 2010: Tuna Noodle Casserole

After a busy day, sometimes you want some good ol' comfort food. Nothing fancy and made as simple as possible. Today was just that day. The dish is Tuna Noodle Casserole.

There are many recipes and variations. This one is kept as simple and basic as possible.
Also, with this type of cooking there is a lot of ad-libbing and using what you like or what you have.

Basic Tuna Noodle Casserole
Preheat oven 350F

10 oz (dry) Noodles, cook the noodles per the package instructions
1 can of Tuna
1/2 Onion, chopped
3/4 C Peas
1 Can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
Shredded Cheese



1. Saute the onions with butter until soft.


2. Add the frozen peas and saute to defrost.
You can add any veggies you like.


3. Add the soup and tuna.
Mix to break up the tuna and combine ingredients.
Note: You can add milk or water if you like a saucier tuna noodle casserole.


4. Combine the cooked noodles and the sauce mixture in a buttered baking dish.
Note: I used 10 oz of noodles. The nutritional info stated 1 serving was 2 oz. Generally, I make one serving more. For 4 servings, I would use 5 servings (10 oz).


5. Top with Cheese. If I had more cheese, I would have mixed the cheese into the casserole.


6. Bake 350F for about 20 minutes.


The finished casserole.
Simple and hits that comfort zone. :-)

Casserole

Tonight is casserole night.
My goal was to make something simple and have enough leftovers for lunch.

I have two recipes in mind.

The first uses cooked ingredients and the second recipe uses raw ingredients.
I was torn between doing what I know would work, the first recipe, and just wanting to throw everything in at once and not worrying about it, but I only had raw ingredients.

Recipe 1: Chicken-Broccoli Divan

Recipe 2:Campbell's® Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole

My attempt at a casserole... I know I wanted broccoli and I had chicken so I looked at both recipes and combined techniques.

The Fixins'
1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup
4 chicken Breast, Raw
2 C Rice, uncooked
2 C Broth
2 C Broccoli, par-boiled
Black pepper
Garlic Powder
Grated Cheddar

Mix the soup, broth and add rice.
Add broccoli
Top with chicken breast, a little black pepper and garlic powder.


Bake 375 for about 45 minutes
Top with Cheddar and bake another 10 minutes


The Final Dish


Overall, the dish was not that good in terms of texture, flavor was okay. The rice was almost rice pudding like where the texture was very soft. The chicken was a little dry. The broccoli was actually okay considering the broccoli was cooked over 45 minutes.

My plan was not to spend the time cooking, but I knew I should have cooked everything before forming the casserole. Since I went down the no-cook path, my initial thought was to place the broth and rice on the bottom, cover with a thick layer of broccoli and mix the raw chicken and cream of chicken soup together to form the top layer.

What I did instead, since I forgot my initial plan, was mixed the broth and soup with the rice to form the bottom layer. I didn't have a thick layer of broccoli and the chicken was placed on top bare. That's when I remembered my initial plan. Oh well.

Next time I'll just spend the time cooking everything separately before combining to let the flavors meld in the oven.

In terms of time, it would have worked out the same and I would have had time to do the extra dished while the casserole was baking.