Tuna Casserole without Cream Soup

Tuna Noodle Casserole Revamped

One of my husband’s favorite meals is Tuna Noodle Casserole.  Two of our daughters and I like it really well too.  However, at one point I noticed I hadn’t been making it as much since evaluating the health value of store canned cream soups.  It’s a good way to get healthy fish in our diets, so I began considering ways to replace the cream soup from our traditional recipe.

When a Sunday Night Noodles recipe came through my email from Mr. Food, I thought, “Aha!  Maybe this will work with tuna!”

I tweaked Mr. Food’s noodle recipe some to accommodate what I had on hand and to make it more like Tuna Noodle Casserole.  I made a few adjustments after the first few trials to make it more to our liking and here is what we now use:  A Tuna Noodle Casserole without canned cream soup.

Ingredients

• 1 pound medium egg noodles
• 6 oz sautéed button mushrooms, sliced or chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped and sautéed
• 1 cup cottage cheese (I pureed mine due to a picky eater in our house)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
• 1 cup chunked Butter Cheese
• 1 family size soft pack of tuna (consider pureeing this for non tuna lovers)
• 1 cup chicken broth or stock
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs

I followed Mr. Food’s instructions fairly closely, making the appropriate substitutions and additions. 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9- x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
    
2. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook noodles to desired doneness; drain.
    
3. In a large bowl, mix tuna, sauteed vegetables, cottage cheese, sour cream, Cheddar cheese, Butter Cheese, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Stir in noodles then spoon mixture into prepared baking dish.  Drizzle with chicken stock.
    
4. In a small bowl, combine melted butter and bread crumbs. Sprinkle over noodle mixture then bake, covered, for 45 minutes.
    

I have made this half a dozen times and now our non-fish eater will even eat it - and sometimes asks for seconds!

If I don't have mushrooms, I substitute celery or something else to be similar to cream of _____ soup (use whatever you like).  I have also had success with using cream cheese in place of the cottage cheese, although cream cheese provides a richer flavor and fuller texture.

I buy Butter Cheese at a bulk foods store in Bremen.  It melts down smoothly and has a mild yet pronounced flavor that complements the tuna and noodles well.  While the total cheese used in this recipe may seem like a lot, our first attempts with less cheese were a bit dry.  

This makes a simple weeknight meal.  Enjoy!  

How does your family like to include fish in your meals? 

 

Double Duty Chicken Tacos

Sorry for my absence.  I've been a bit preoccupied with sending my youngest to Kindergarten, working on several aspects of volunteer work, and trying to adjust to the new school schedule which now includes my role as Crossing Guard.  My husband asked me to write down tonight's supper recipe (I make up a lot of meals), so I thought that would be a good thing to share.  A good part of my mental energy is on meals right now as I try to keep the girls well fed so they can do their best at school.

Tonight we had Chicken Tacos and Spanish Rice with lots of fresh veggies incorporated.  Here is what I did.

Spanish Rice
1 cup rice
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with sauce
2 cups water
diced fresh tomato
diced fresh pepper
salt to taste
2-3 pinches of cumin
chili powder to taste
Mix ingredients together.  Bring water to a boil and then reduce to medium high heat.  Let the rice cook while you prepare the chicken.   Rice takes about 40 minutes to cook.  Don't check it too often as the steam helps the cooking process; but do check it once in a while to be sure it isn't drying out before it is fully cooked. 

Taco Chicken
Dice several boneless, skinless chicken breasts (my package was about 2 1/3 pounds).  Coat a frying pan with olive oil and add chicken.  If chicken starts to stick add chicken broth as needed.  I also added some diced zucchini just because I had it.  I thought the chicken and seasoning would reduce the objection to the vegetable - I was right!  Season to taste with Taco Seasoning of your choice (I use homemade from a recipe by Jonni McCoy in Miserly Moms).  Depending on your taco seasoning, you may also need additional salt.  Cook until chicken is fully cooked.

I served the Spanish Rice and Taco Chicken with taco shells (purchased for 10 cents a box at the local dent and ding store - yippee!), lettuce and cheese.  I had other traditional taco toppings available, but the rice and meat were so flavorful we skipped the other things.  I should also tell you that I intended the rice to be a side dish, but most of us thought it was tasty in the tacos with the meat and cheese.

The question was asked, "Why did you use chicken instead of meat?"  I decided to ignore any discussion about chicken also being meat and answered this way, "To balance our eating and save some meat for another time so we don't run out." 

One daughter picked up a stomach bug on her first day of school so she couldn't eat this meal.  But the rest of us who ate it liked it and went back for more!  In my book it's a double hit because I could pack leftovers to send to school!

Last school year was Picky Eater's first year of full day school and I worried about her!  How would she survive with a limited menu all day long instead of a plethora of choices to fit to her mood?  So I spent a good deal of time studying lunch packing blogs - it's kind-of addicting.

Now, I give back to the lunch packing blog world with my contribution of Chicken Tacos Lunchbox Style. 

I made two lunches (assuming Sickie will be well enough for school) because one child wants school lunch tomorrow.  In the round Tupperware container I have 2 shells for the younger child, and 3 for the older child.  They're mini shells - aren't they cute?!  In front is a Lock&Lock sandwich box with silicone cupcake wrappers as dividers (learned from my previous lunch packing blog research).  I filled two sections with chicken, one with cheese and one with lettuce.  In the morning I will add fruit and a drink to each lunch and Voila!  Lunch is made.  I suppose I should add a fork or spoon - better go do that now before I forget.

What are your favorite tacos?

The New Baby (and snack recipes)

My new granddaughter came for a visit on Sunday.  She is small and sweet.  We had fun together.  Of course, all of the aunts had to hold her.

Grandpa loves his newest granddaughter

 Oh, yeah, her brother, sister and mother came too ;-)   Brother and sister had their usual energy and played with the girls.  Mother had gotten three kiddos ready for church, attended church and gotten two kiddos to our house (one rode home from church with us), so her energy was fading.

I remember those days.  In addition to constant tiredness, I remember feeling frequent hunger.  I remember those early days of sitting down to feed the baby, realizing I was hungry and feeling like it was too late - I was already feeding the baby so I had to wait to grab something to eat.   Then I got a little smarter and tried to have snacks available to grab before I sat down to feed the baby!  Some of my favorite easy-to-grab snacks were (and still are) fruit, cheese sticks, cereal snacks and granola bars.  Those kind of snacks are also great for keeping busy toddlers happy while you tend to baby or other important matters.  I'll share two recipes that are great for easy snacking for any stage, but with my daugher-in-law and new moms in mind.

Quick Cinnamon Snack

1 14 oz box cinnamon swirl or cinnamon toast cereal

½ cup sliced almonds

½ bag semi sweet chocolate chips         

1 cup raisins

1/3 – ½ box Apple Cinnamon Cheerios or Toasted Oats

Mix together in a large bowl.  Store in an airtight container.  Put individual servings in snack cups or bags to carry in the diaper bag for a quick nutritious snack.  Easy and yummy for tired moms and cranky preschoolers!

This next recipe is more complex, but is full of healthy, filling ingredients.

 

Michele’s Granola Bars 

2 ½ cups oats                  ¾ cup mayo or butter

½ cup barley, ground (optional)   1 cup brown sugar

¾ cup flour                                  ½ cup sugar

¼ cup wheat germ                        1 egg

½ tsp baking soda                         1 tbsp water

6 oz mini chocolate chips            1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon       handful mini marshmallows

Mix together and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.   Cut into bars or squares.  Store in an airtight container.           

I recently read this article about creating a nursing basket that might be helpful.  The Keeper of the Home sight has lots of helpful information for new moms and not-so-new moms about babies, families, budgeting, meal-planning, etc..  You can search for things by topic if there is something you are struggling with or want to learn more about.

Enjoy your infant and hang in there, mom, you'll start feeling normal again before too long.

Bulk Cooking: Ground Meat

I've been trying to get around to this post for a couple of weeks.  But as I hinted at in my last post, this is Crazy Season around here!  Even today I have a to-do "wish" list that seems a mile long, but I'm choosing to ignore it and take things a little slower today to conserve energy for my double header tonight.  (Why did I agree to play softball again this year?  Oh, did I mention, the three girls also have games tonight.)

I wanted to get this information out as soon as possible in case any others are also in Crazy Season.  In my craziness I stumbled upon a quick way to brown large quantities of meat and I want to share in case it might help alleviate someone else's craziness.  Preparing food in bulk quantities is helpful if you are planning a large gathering or preparing food for a crowd.  It is also helpful for small families who are often busy or lacking energy.  I've read about once-a-month cooking before and never thought it was for me.  I've also prepared meat for large family gatherings one pan full at a time then putting it in a crock pot to stay warm.  But this method that I discovered is easier and faster than that!  Interested?  Keep reading...

I volunteered to make a meal for a group of about 42 people.  I wanted to have enough for my own family of 5 too, so I rounded the number to 50 people.  When cooking for that many people, I try to leave some room for personal preferences so I chose to make a taco salad type meal with rice, meat, veggies, tortilla chips and condiments that individuals could put together according to their own tastes.  As the time got closer, my week began to fill up with some unexpected activities.  I realized I would only have a few hours on the day of the meal to get everything ready.   I have never been accused of being fast in the kitchen with food prep, and on this particular day I expected to be somewhat tired from a week full of activities.  I quickly realized I would not have enough room in the oven for the quantities of meat and rice and I was planning, so I concluded that I had to prepare the meat ahead of time.

I looked around my kitchen and decided to try a new roaster pan I had purchased at a "Stock Up Sale" at our local Big R. 

This roaster held about half of the meat and it had a nice fitting lid.

I kept looking and decided an extra large cake pan was the best I could do for the rest of the meat.  Since this pan did not have a lid, I covered it with a cookie sheet.  (Hint:  since the "lid" was not tight fitting, I found it best to put the full pan in the oven first, then cover it with the cookie sheet.)

I left the meat to cook for a while.   I checked on the meat after about 20-30 minutes.  I drained it and added the seasoning.  The meat in the cake pan was cooking faster than the meat in the roaster.

Because this is Crazy Season, I of course, got interrupted by a long phone call at this point.  (Don't worry, I put the meat back in the oven to finish cooking first.)  Anyway, as you probably guessed by now, I don't know how long the meat took to cook for sure.  The cake pan/cookie sheet combo seemed to cook about 9 pounds of meat in right around an hour.  The roaster pan took a little longer; I stirred it an extra time to help the middle cook completely.

Now that the meat was cooked I was able to put it in smaller pans (after it cooled) to keep it in the fridge overnight.  I reheated it in the oven for about an hour (while other things were cooking and being prepared) when I was ready to use it.

If you don't need to use the whole amount right away, you can place meal size portions in freezer bags or freezer containers.  Be sure to mark what it is and the date you prepared it.  When you need a quick meal, pull some cooked meat out of the freezer - it works best if you do it in the morning so it thaws some.  Prepare the rest of your meal while the meat warms and you have an easy supper.

I hope that helps some of you through crazy seasons of life.  Do some preparation ahead of time so you can continue providing good meals while still participating in and enjoying your family's activities.

Just for fun, I will close with a picture of my second oregano harvest.  I dry it and use it in my homemade taco seasoning and many other things.

Isn't it beautiful?  :-)

Snack Bags and Bread Recipe (Bluebanacchini)

This is Cara's favorite print.  She took crackers( to go with chili) in her lunchbox  yesterday.

I recently ordered sandwich wraps and snack bags from Earth Swag.  I love them!  If you are interested in reusable wraps, check these out.  Not only are they convenient, cute, and waste-reducing, through Sunday they are 50% off!

We use the snack bags for crackers, cereals, snack mix, bread, or small sandwiches.  They fold up and fit nicely in lunchboxes.

The sandwich wraps are nice because you can fit a variety of breads or wraps in them rather than having a separate container for each kind of bread.  We've used them for sandwiches on regular or over-sized bread, tortillas and hot dog/hoagie or sub buns.

This is a piece of  a Pumpkin mini-loaf we ate for supper last night.  I just took the picture as an example.

To learn more about earthswag.com click the link and see what they have.  To get 50% off, make your order and type "earthday" (without quotation marks) as a coupon code.

My adult children have been begging for my Bluebanacchini Bread recipe, so I think it's time to share it.  It is a great snack to carry in your Earth Swag snack bag :-) 

BLUEBANACCHINI MINI LOAVES

3 eggs or flax substitute         1tbsp ground cinnamon

¾ c vegetable or olive oil       1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 c brown sugar                      1 tsp baking soda

1/2 c white sugar                    1 tsp salt

1 c grated zucchini                 1/2 c oats        

1 tsp vanilla                           2 bananas, mashed

1 c bread flour                        1 cup blueberries
1/2 c all purpose flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1/4 c wheat germ

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 5 mini loaf pans.

Beat eggs lightly in large bowl.  Stir in oil, sugars, vanilla and bananas.

In a separate bowl mix flours, wheat germ, oats, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients.  Fold in blueberries and zucchini.

For a special treat coat loaf pans with cinnamon-sugar oat mixture.  Fill loaf pans about 2/3 full.  Top with additional cinnamon-sugar oat mixture if desired.

 

Bake for 30-35 minutes until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.

According to dole.com:

Blueberries contain Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Manganese, and fiber and they are low in calories

Bananas contain Vitamin B6, Potassium, fiber and Vitamin C

Zucchini contains Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Lutein & Zeaxanthin for eye health, and it is low in calories

Those in addition to wheat germ and cinnamon gives this recipe immunity boosting properties to help you fight winter sicknesses. 

This is also a great recipe to help clean out your freezer in preparation for a new batch of summer fruits and vegetables.

ENJOY!

I wish I had some zucchini left to make some myself...