Garden Tuna Casserole

This is not your momma's tuna casserole, no crumbled potatoes chips, no canned mushroom soup and no peas - but lots of fresh veggies and flavor packed in.

INGREDIENTS
12 oz. tuna (canned or packet packed in water)
3 cups uncooked egg noodles (I love the Amish noodles)
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cups chopped fresh baby lettuce
2/3 cup sour cream
2 tsp yellow mustard
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1 small zucchini, scrubbed and sliced
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 medium tomato diced
2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped

DIRECTIONS
Place drained tuna into a large bowl and flake with a fork.  Set aside.  Cook noodles as directed, rinse in hot water and drain well.  Add to bowl of tuna with celery. Gently blend in sour cream, mustard, thyme and salt.  Spoon half of the tuna and noodle mixture into a 2qt buttered casserole.  Layer about 1/2 of the zucchini and chopped spinach.  Add the rest of the tuna and noodle mixture, top with zucchini and spinach.  Top with cheese.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.  Remove from oven and top with diced tomato and fresh parsley.

SHOPPING/PANTRY LIST
2 cans or packets of tuna
egg noodles
celery
sour cream
yellow mustard
mayonnaise
fresh thyme
fresh parsley
1 small zucchini
1 small package fresh baby spinach
Monterey Jack cheese - shredded or block to shred yourself
1 medium tomato

KITCHEN TOOLS
cutting board
sharp knife
lg mixing bowl
lg mixing spoon
lg sauce pan
colander
2 qt casserole


Quick and easy, your family is sure to love this new take on an old favorite.

Stop back by and let me know if you enjoyed this as much as my family did!

Pizza Porcupine Rounds

These were so popular in the 70's.  Porcupine meatballs, porcupine patties - just mixing hamburger and rice seemed so clever!

When I make patties I like to use a mix of ground beef and ground pork or ground beef and ground turkey.  I simply mix equal portions of both.  For this recipe I will include only ground beef, leaving it to you to mix in your favorite option.  Options include ground pork, ground pork sausage, ground turkey, or ground chicken.

Ingredients
1 can tomato sauce
1 pound ground beef (80/20 or leaner)
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
2 tablespoons chopped canned chilies
2 tablespoons chopped sun dried tomatoes in oil
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp beef bouillon
1 cup boiling water
1 package shredded mozzarella cheese (just about a cup)


Directions
Preheat oven to 350.  Reserve to the side 1 cup of tomato sauce.  In a large bowl, mix ground meat, rice, chilies, tomatoes, salt, garlic salt.  Shape mixture into 6 patties about 1/2 thick.  For thicker patties, make four patties.  Place patties in an ungreased  baking pan.  Bake patties uncovered for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and drain.  Dissolve beef bouillon in 1 cup of boiling water and stir in the remaining tomato sauce.  Pour mixture over the patties.  Cover baking pan and return to the oven and bake for an additional 35 minutes.

One more time, remove pan from the oven, spoon tomato sauce mixture from the bottom of the pan over the patties.  Cover each pattie with shredded mozzarella and return to the over for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Serve with a hearty romaine salad and crusty french baguette!

From the Pantry:
tomato sauce
ground meat of choice
rice
canned chilies
jar of sundried tomatoes in oil
salt
garlic salt
beef bouillon
shredded mozzarella

Kitchen Tools:
can opener
measuring cup
measuring spoons
sharp knife
mixing bowl
baking pan

Looking forward to tonight's dinner.  This should be yummy!  I'll post more pictures and family comments later this evening!

Please leave a comment and let me know you stopped by.  Take time to check out past posts!  I'm just getting the hang of this blogging thing!

Wishing you a lovely week!

-Stormy

Menu for the Week 2

So here is our next menu for the week, a few additional one pot meals which are a bit easier for me when I get home from work and well that's always a plus.   And I'm busy testing recipes for my cookbook, so who knows what mix we'll have each week!  Good thing my family is willing to try most anything I cook.....

SUNDAY
Pizza Porcupine Patties
Romaine Salad

                     I have these Betty Crocker recipe cards from the
                     late 1970's and used them when Jason was young.
                    Going back to them to rework the recipes for some
                     tasty new meals!


MONDAY
Hearty Tuna Casserole
A new twist on an old favorite.  Remember when your Mom thought it was so gourmet to crush potato chips across the top!

TUESDAY
Farmgirl Ham and Eggs
Pumpkin Pecan Biscuits
This is not a typical egg dish, can't wait for you to see the pictures!

           I have over 100 cookbooks in my collection and will sit and read
           them like books!  I love to look up recipes in books rather than online!

WEDNESDAY
Meat and Vegetable Medley

THURSDAY
Cheesy Vegetable Casserole
Pecan crescents

FRIDAY
Wagon Wheel Chili
Waldorf salad
This will be our last time for chili until next Fall, so I'm breaking tradition and not doing my family's favorite, but trying something new!  Hopefully it will become a new favorite!

SATURDAY
Red Eye Ham and Biscuit Squares
Remember in Menu 1 we used a Ham Steak?  Well the grocery store had a special and were offering two steaks individually packaged and put together in a mesh bag for only about $1.50 more than a single steak.  So I bought the two, put one in the freezer to use later.  It's later!

SUNDAY
Crusty Baked Chicken
Sliced Baked Potatoes

              Round up all your pots and pans - and get ready, its going to be a great week.

Love sharing my kitchen experiments with you....hope you are enjoying them too!  Don't hesitate to leave a comment, and if you are looking for a particular recipe let me know, or if you want me to test a recipe for you and post the pics and how-to's - I'm happy to do it!