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!

Scalloped Potatoes with Pork Chops

Scalloped Potatoes with Pork Chops

This hearty meal brings back memories of Sunday dinners when I was young – and from the many comments I’ve received from FB friends, it does the same for them as well!  So by request, here is my recipe:

Ingredients

4 -6 pork chops bone in or boneless

1 quart sliced portabella mushrooms

6 large russet potatoes

1 lg can mushroom soup

3 tablespoons cooking oil

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon coarse ground sea salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 ½ tablespoon all-purpose seasoning blend

½ cup half-and-half

1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce

Directions

I prefer to use a one pot method so I use my large electric frying pan to both brown my chops and then slow cook the dish; however you can use your large cast iron skillet, or a frying pan and baking dish – whichever is your preference.

    In a large heavy skillet add oil and heat over moderate to high heat.  Place pork chops in pan several minutes on each side to brown slightly.  Remove from heat.  Season lightly with a bit of the salt, pepper and seasoning blend.

            Thoroughly scrub potatoes and slice, skins on, into thin slices.  Approximately 1/4” slices.  Toss potatoes with remainder of salt, pepper and seasoning blend.

            Layer sliced potatoes and mushrooms over the top of the chops in the skillet.  Place slices of butter over the top of the potatoes.

    In a bowl add mushroom soup, half and half and Worcestershire sauce and whisk together.  Pour over skillet contents. 

    Cover and place skillet (or baking dish) in 325 degree oven for 1 hour.  Check potatoes for tenderness.  Potatoes should be tender and intact.  Remove cover and continue cooking 15 more minutes.

Prep time:  20 minutes

Cook time: 60 minutes

Serves:      4 - 6

Serve this with seasoned baby sweet peas and homemade applesauce for a truly delicious from the farm meal.

Pantry List

ü  1 quart fresh sliced portabella mushrooms

ü  6 lg russet potatoes

ü  1 lg can mushroom soup

ü  1 pint Half and Half

ü  ½ stick of butter

ü  All purpose seasoning blend

ü  Sea Salt

ü  Black Pepper

ü  Worcestershire Sauce

ü  Cooking oil

ü  4 – 6 lean pork chops

Kitchen Tool List

ü  Cutting board

ü  Slicing knife

ü  Measuring Spoons

ü  Measuring Cups

ü  Large heavy skillet (or frying pan and baking dish)

ü  Lg mixing bowl

ü  Whisk

ü  Large spoon

I hope you enjoy this hearty meal!  Please leave a comment and let me know you were here!

...another recipe post coming soon.

Stormy

A Menu for the Week!

Wow, I am amazed at how easy it is to get out of cooking daily meals.  Too tired so let’s just go get Chinese buffet; oh it’s so late, let’s just go get a burger; I haven’t shopped yet, let’s just stop for a sandwich……and soon, we eat out more than we eat in. 

Not only is that very costly, it’s not always healthy or well-balanced. 

So now I’ve started the Meal Plan, I’ll set up a menu for the upcoming week, create a shopping list to match the menu, and make good use of bulk purchases and leftovers.

So here is this week’s menu and the coordinating shopping list.  You’ll see how I plan to use some of the items in more than one dish.

MENU

Sunday

Oven-baked fried chicken *

Baked sweet potatoes

Southwest Fiesta Corn ¥

Cole Slaw

Monday

Pasta with vegetable sauce

Romaine salad

Tuesday

Skillet Chicken Pot Pie *≠¥

Wednesday

Scalloped pork chops and potatoes ≠ and diced ham ó

Baby Peas ¥

Baked apples

Thursday

Roasted Turkey BLT’s

Homemade potato chips ≠

Friday

Chili cheese dogs

French fries

Saturday

Potato Soup ≠

Ham Biscuits ó

* Chicken- I’ll purchase a package of whole cut chicken and use some for the for oven baked chicken and at the same time, cook off the rest for the skillet pot pie.  In addition, I’ll set at least ½ cup of chicken aside to make chicken-salad for one of Mom’s lunches during the week.

¥  Peas and corn as side dishes and also used in the  Skillet Chicken Pot Pie.  This is also a good time to look in the freezer for other veggies that are approaching expiration and toss them into the pie as well!

ó  Ham steak is used to flavor Scalloped Pork Chops, Potato Soup and to make Ham Biscuits – there is a lot of meat in one ham steak.  I like to trim it up and brown off all of the trim until crispy and use it to flavor other meals, such as the potato soup.  Angle cut enough slices to make your ham biscuits and store safely in the refrigerator for Saturday.  Dice the rest and use ½ in your scalloped potatoes and ½ in your potato soup.

≠ Potatoes are used in Scalloped Pork Chop, Skillet Pot Pie and to make homemade potato chips. Remember, left over scalloped potatoes can also be incorporated into your potato soup!

In these lean times over the past few months, my pantry has become depleted, so I’m adopting the restock plus one shopping plan.  It’s simple plan that allows you to gradually stock your pantry to the point that you could rely on your pantry stock to feed your family for up to a month or more! ….if need be. 

Additionally, this plan keeps you from running out of staples – I hate when I decide to create a dish, and go to the pantry for an ingredient and I’m out!

This is how it works.  You’ll see on the menu for this week is Pasta with Vegetable Sauce.  I’ll purchase the pasta for the dish, one can of tomato sauce, one can of fire roasted tomatoes and one can of tomato paste.  Even if I have these things already in my pantry.  When I get home from the store, I’ll put the purchases away in the pantry, rotating the cans to use the oldest first.  You put your new purchase behind the like item already on the shelf.

Now the plus one…next week when I shop, I will have my list for the menu AND the list of items used from the pantry.  I used one box of pasta so I will replace that box and purchase another.  Restock plus one.  Now you don’t do this with frozen, fresh or refrigerated items, only with your pantry stock.

So let’s review.  You pull a can of tuna (or foil pouch) from the pantry to make tuna salad sandwiches for lunch.  So you add tuna to your restock list and replace the can used, and purchase your plus one to add to the stock!

Same thing goes for condiments such as mayonnaise, ketchup, salad dressings.  If you pull a bottle of ketchup from the pantry to use, you will need to replace it, and purchase your plus one.  That way, the next time the ketchup bottle is empty; there are no worries when you go to the pantry to pull one for use!

We’ll talk more about pantry storage in an upcoming blog!

Here’s the shopping list for this week’s menu:

SHOPPING LIST

ð       Bacon

ð       Chicken whole cut

ð       Pork chops

ð       Ham steak

ð       Hot dogs

ð       Small whole turkey breast

ð       Bisquick

ð       Corn flakes

ð       Cream of chicken soup

ð       Hot dog chili

ð       Mushroom soup

ð       Pasta

ð       Tomato Sauce

ð       Fire roasted diced tomatoes

ð       Mayo

ð       Ketchup

ð       Cole Slaw Dressing

ð       Caesar Dressing

ð       Frozen baby peas

ð       Frozen sweet corn

ð       Steak fries

ð       Potatoes

ð       3 whole sweet potatoes

ð       Romaine Lettuce

ð       Tomatoes

ð       Cabbage Shred

ð       Apples

ð       Hot dog buns

ð       Sour dough bread

ð       Milk

ð       Pint of cream

ð       Eggs

ð       Colby Jack Cheese

ð       Shred Parmesan

Now this shopping list coordinates to the menu.  I may have a few of these items in my pantry, but since my goal is to restock my pantry, I’ll be purchasing everything on the list so that it will become new stock.

I like to plan a menu that uses leftovers creatively, as my Farmgirl Mister is not crazy about just warming up leftovers for another meal.  If I hide them in an all new dish, well let’s say, what he doesn’t know, he eats! HA!

I do admit, I do buy a portion of prepared items, however right now working full time and other demands on my time, it just proves a bit easier.  As I get my pantry stocked, and refine my weekly menus, you will see less and less prepackaged items and more prepared from scratch alternatives!

So here’s my menu and my shopping list, off to the store I go.  When I get back, I’ll let you know how I did on bulk purchases and sale items – and then post two new recipes for items on this week’s menu!

‘til we chat again,

Stormy

Stormy (not Julie) and Julia

Long before the movie Julie and Julia, I loved Julia Childs. She was on my list of people I most wanted to meet, along with Frank Sinatra, Jackie Kennedy and Mikail Barishnikov. I can’t even tell you when that began, I’m certain it was before my ‘tween years, when I would watch her on television and wonder how this - not model perfect, Donna Reed, Father’s Knows Best Mom with perfect hair crinoline under her skirt, perfect wave in her hair - woman was on television in her own show, cooking and making me love her with each new segment in her show. Dropping a chicken, flubbing an omelet, that not so melodic voice, I loved it all!

I am 5’10” and have never enjoyed that perfect weight, and here was this woman who carried herself in such a way that you thought about her grace, but you didn’t think about her physical appearance at all, you just thought about this great woman and what she was saying.

Then came the movie, and even with a Hollywood spin, I was enamored with her even more – and Meryl Streep’s performance was so on the money. I love that Julia’s husband loved her like he did, and that everyone who knew them, knew they we so in love with each other.

So why do I bring this up? Because I love to cook, I love to put on an apron and bustle around the kitchen and create new things, bake, and good old fashioned farm fare is my passion, and yet somewhere over these past few years, I have lost my passion, my bliss.

I have dozens and dozens of cookbooks, tucked in cupboards and stacked in piles and on shelves. I can just sit a read a cookbook like others pick up a magazine. The favorite thing about my kitchen is the small corner fireplace and comfy chair. Perfect to sit and read and peruse recipes for my next creation.

I really love old cookbooks, and really get a chuckle from the illustrations and “helpful hints” these vintage gems contain.

My passion for cookbooks began when I received my first cookbook when I was about 8 or 9, and I received Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Girls and Boys. I still have it to this day.

Second to the wonderful contents of old cookbooks is the comfort of an apron. Tying on an apron somehow makes you feel like the queen of the kitchen, of the home. Perhaps it’s those old family television shows when every mom wore an apron and pearls, and that was reinforced for me by the apron and pearls worn by Julia when I stumbled upon her show one afternoon after school.

The concept of the movie, the blogging her way through Julia Child’s recipes, life, and passions opened a passion in Julie…………………….and in me. Watching the movie for my fifth or sixth time, I am consumed by Julie’s words as she blogs, and how the blog changes her life.

So where is this rambling blog going? Well, I am challenging myself, much like Julie did, and rather than working my way through someone’s cookbook, I am going to do something that I have wanted to do for years. I am going to write my own cookbook.

So I have gotten down my recipe box, laid out several spiral notebooks and pens (I work better that way than I do on a computer), picked out five fabulous vintage aprons, and put my string of pearls next to my favorite tea cup.

Six months from today, I will have 50 recipes created, tested, and ready to share in my first ebook, ready for any of you that are interested. From my fabulous stuffed meatloaf to my mixed “bumble” berry cobbler, a taste of good old fashioned farm cooking will be on-line and ready. Let the clock begin!

Bon Apetite!

Stormy