Tuna Noodle Casserole

Here's the original recipe--you'll notice it's easily halved for a smaller version and very food storage friendly.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

2 cups macaroni
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
2 cans tuna, drained
1-2 cups frozen peas (optional)
grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain. Mix in soup, milk, tuna, and peas. Pour into a large casserole dish (9x13). Grate cheese and sprinkle over top of casserole. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

There you have it! Easy peasy and very kid friendly. This was Jeff's favorite dinner. But after cooking it for twenty years I got a bee under my bonnet and decided I wanted to avoid some of the ingredients in commercially canned soups. So I tried to create a roux version. I looked here for guidance. I think it taste's better than the original, but it takes a whole lot longer to make, and there are more dishes to clean. But if I keep practicing I'll eventually be able to have the roux done by the time the noodles are cooked, and maybe I'll be able say this one's easy peasy too!

Tuna Noodle Casserole with a Roux

5 Tablespoons butter, divided
2 cups macaroni
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped (to make it more kid friendly, grate the onion) 1 stalk celery, finely chopped (to make it more kid friendly, you could leave it out)
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped crimini mushrooms (I like crimini better than button)
1/4 cup flour
2 cups whole milk
salt and pepper to taste
2 cans tuna, drained and flaked
1 cup frozen peas
cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium-low heat and cook onion and celery until translucent. Increase heat to medium-high and mix in mushrooms. Continue to cook and stir 5 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Remove from heat.

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a medium saucepan, and whisk in flour until smooth. Gradually whisk in milk, and continue cooking for about 5 minutes, until sauce is smooth and slightly thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in tuna, peas, mushroom mixture and cooked macaroni. Pour the entire mixture into a 9x13 pan (I've always used glass pans and never had a problem with the casserole sticking. If you do, try buttering it first.). Sprinkle generously with cheddar cheese.

Bake for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Spinach Mushroom Ricotta Frittata

6 large eggs
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
pinch of nutmeg (freshly grated if you've got it)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

2-3 Tablespoons fat (whatever you want, olive oil, butter, coconut oil, bacon grease, or any combination)
minced onion (about 2-4 Tablespoons)
3-4 crimini mushrooms, sliced
2 handfuls of spinach
1 clove minced garlic

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a pie plate.

1. Beat the eggs in a medium bowl. Add the ricotta and Parmesan and beat to combine. Add the nutmeg, salt, and pepper, and beat to combine. Set aside.

2. Heat the fat in a skillet on medium low. Saute the onion for about 15 minutes. Add the mushrooms, cook for about 5 minutes. Add the spinach. Cook about 3 minutes. Add the garlic. Cook about 30 seconds. Remove from heat. I decided I wanted to chop the spinach, I'm not sure that was necessary. I just didn't want big strings of spinach in there. Add to the egg mixture.

3. Pour mixture into the buttered pie plate then put it in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until it's golden on top. When it's done, sprinkle some more parmasan on top. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Honey Butter

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Just mix it all together and enjoy! And it will still be good, even if you don't have the lemon.

A lot of people asked how I zest the lemon. I use this and love it!

Potato Bread

1 1/4 cups warm water
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup potato flakes
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 teaspoons regular active dry yeast

I make this in my breadmachine the same way I make My Daily Bread.
Same time and temp and everything (Warm, 25 min.;350 degrees, 23 min.).
Nobody wants me to type that all over again, do they? 


Note:  Cooking while distracted leads to happy accidents.  The other day I was making Potato Bread, happily dumping ingredients into my bread machine pan.  As I was pouring in the yeast (the final ingredient), I noticed oatmeal in the pan.  Wha...?!  How did oatmeal get into the pan?!  Well, both my potato flakes and my oatmeal are in similar cannery cans in my pantry and I just grabbed the one where potato flakes usually is found and merrily measured out the oatmeal instead of potato flakes.  Well, I just went with the flow and made the bread like I usually do--and it turned out just fine!  Not incredibly good, not incredibly bad, just fine.  So I'm just letting you know, if you ever accidentally replace the potato flakes with oatmeal, it's all good!  :P

My Daily Bread

If I wanted to be successful at making the bread my family ate every day, I had to find a way to make it as predictable as possible, and I had to make sure there was a timer that would go off to remind me that my attention was required. Thank goodness I already had a breadmaker. It comes with a dough cycle, so if you have one too, all you do is:

1. Dump in the ingredients*, press start, and in an 1 1/2 hours it has been mixed, kneaded, and has risen twice--and best of all, it beeps!**

2. Turn the breadmaker on for a minute or two. This "punches down" the dough and kneads it into a ball. While that is happening, butter your loaf pan and turn the oven on "Warm".

3. Turn off the breadmachine and dump the dough right into your hand.*** Roll it back and forth between your hands**** until the dough is the length of your pan. Drop the dough into the pan and put it in the oven. Set the timer for 25 minutes.

4. When that beeper goes off, turn the oven to 350 degrees***** and set the timer for 23 minutes.

5. When the final beeper goes off, take your beautiful, fragrant bread and dump it out of the pan onto a cooling rack, turn it right side up, and, viola, homemade bread!******

Have you been asking "Where are the ingredients?!" Relax, they're almost here. But I had to tell you one more thing I do to help me make breadmaking an everyday thing. The first five ingredients I measure out every time I make bread. But I measure out the last four ingredients into a bunch of snack-size ziplock bags and store them in the freezer. Why store them in the freezer? Because both the gluten and the wheat should be stored in the freezer after opening the packages. Since the snack-size bags aren't freezer proof, I keep all the bags (five of 'em, if you were wondering) in a quart-size freezer bag. That way, I can grab one of those bags out of the freezer, dump it on top of the flour and sugar, and I've cut my measuring time almost in half!

My Daily Bread
1 1/3 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons butter
2 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 lightly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons potato flakes
2 Tablespoons Vital Wheat Gluten
2 teaspoons yeast

* I do dump them into the pan in the order listed. Really, you just have to make sure the yeast doesn't touch the water if you aren't starting the cycle right away.

** I could bake the bread right in the breadmaker, but I don't like the size of the loaf, and I especially don't like the big hole the paddle leaves in the loaf.

*** I confess, if I wanted to successfully make bread every day, I knew I wouldn't always be able to count on having counter space.

**** Like when you are rolling clay into the shape of a snake.

***** Thanks to Donna Hunter for teaching me that technique! Hey, Donna, is there some rule about how many asterisks in a row you can use? I'm sure I should be using some other symbol by now. :) (For those of you that don't know Donna, she's an English Teacher.)

****** And then I forget to turn off the oven--ask anyone in my family. Try to remember to do that--especially in the summer! :) Good luck!

Zucchini Ricotta Frittata

I found this recipe on the SimplyRecipes website here and it interested me because I'm a frittata fan, and becauseI just planted zucchini and so I'll be needed lots of recipes that have zucchini in them soon! Ms. Elise cooked her frittata entirely in one pan--at first on the stove-top and then finishing under the broiler. My skillet won't safely go in the oven, so I just cooked it in a glass pie plate. Kate and I loved it. Sarah said it was too spicy (just her way of saying she didn't like it). And Kristen wouldn't even try it--wrinkling her nose at the sight of the zucchini. Silly girl. All the men were off on adventures so they couldn't give their opinion. My guess is they wouldn't have cared much about it, but would have been grateful for the calories and the change in menu. :) Here's what you need:

6 large eggs
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (if my basil plant doesn't survive, I'll just use dry)
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (I used dry)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 small zucchini, or one larger one, washed and sliced into thin rounds (about 3/4 pound)

(If you're gonna do it like I did, before you begin, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and butter a 9" glass pie plate.)

1. Beat the eggs in a medium bowl. Add the ricotta and Parmesan and beat to combine. (I tried using just a fork for this--get out the whisk. It works much better.) Add the salt, freshly ground black pepper, basil (the basil plant you see in the background of the picture was only a few cents more than the little box of fresh basil leaves in the produce department. I planted it right next to the zucchini plant. If it survives I'll use it all summer.) and thyme and beat to combine. Set aside.

2. Heat the olive oil in a 10-inch oven-proof stick-free skillet (just my regular skillet) on medium high. When the oil is hot and begins to shimmer (Sorry, I never did notice the "shimmer" thing--there's so much going on while I'm cooking dinner you gotta to do a lot more than shimmer to get my attention!), add the zucchini slices. Stir so that the zucchini slices are all coated with some of the oil. Cook, stirring only occasionally (if you stir too much the zucchini won't brown), until the zucchini slices are lightly browned, about 5-6 minutes. (Thanks, Mom! for the cool oversized spatula that made flipping those zucchini rounds easy peasy! My girls asked if you got it at Spatula City! Hah!) Remove from heat. Remove zucchini slices from the pan with tongs or a slotted spoon to a bowl. Let cool for 30 seconds or so, and then stir the zucchini slices to the egg mixture.

That's as far as I followed the directions. At this point, I poured everything into the buttered pie plate then put it in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until it's golden on top. I sprinkled some more parma on top after I took it out of the oven. You'll want to let it sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

I think its delish--but like I said, I'm a frittata fan. This is the first time I'd used ricotta in a frittata (Ha! Say that again, ricotta frittata, ricotta frittata! Ha! 'sworth makin' just to say "I'm servin' you a ricotta frittata!"). Anyway, I thought it made everything rich and creamy and wonderful!

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Chicken Curry in a hurry!

"What's for dinner?" + "Chicken Curry." = Smiles

I found this recipe in one of Mark Bittman's books. He writes "The Minimalist", a column for the New York Times. As the column title implies, he pares a recipe down to the bare bones. That's especially nice when dinner's gotta be done now! Mr. Bittman cooks this dish in one skillet, a really big skillet, and you can find a really good visual demonstration of how to do that here. My pan isn't that big and I like to cook the onions low and slow, so I mess with the recipe. For instance, today I used chicken that I had cooked the previous day. But however you do it, the end result will be big smiles!





Chicken Curry in a Hurry

1 T Canola Oil (Extra Light Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, or even Bacon Fat leftover from cooking bacon this morning)
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
salt and pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder (sometimes I use this curry paste--about 3 Tablespoons)
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, in 4 pieces (uh, read my comments below)
1 cup sour cream

Optional Add-ins
slivered almonds (toast them in a dry skillet on medium high heat until they become fragrant)
raisins (I plump mine by soaking them in warm water while I cook everything else, then draining them just before I add them.)

Place the oil in a large skillet and turn the heat to medium-high. A minute later, add the onion. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Turn the heat to medium, sprinkle with about half the curry powder, and continue to cook for a minute or two.

Meanwhile, season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle it with the remaining curry powder. Move the onion to one side of the skillet and ad the chicken in one layer. Cook for about 2 minutes per side, remove to a plate.

Add the sour cream and stir constantly over medium-low heat until the mixture is nice and thick. Return the chicken to the skillet and cook for 2 more minutes. Turning once. Garnish and serve with plenty of white rice.

Holy cow, I don't follow those instructions at all anymore. It's been awhile since I've looked at the recipe. Now, you've got to remember that I at least double and sometimes triple this recipe. To not have enough for left-overs for the next day would be a crime.

First thing you've got to remember to do is cook the rice, or you won't have anything to put your curry on! Actually, it's so good it doesn't need rice. But most people want it anyway.

So, I slice up two large onions and put them in a skillet with some oil and salt and pepper, and cook them on medium low for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While that's cooking, if I'm working with raw meat, I put oil in a skillet (okay, I only have one skillet large enough to cook this kind of stuff, so I use my giant stock pot--but that's good, because then there's plenty of room to mix a triple batch together) and cook the chicken in batches--there has to be room between the pieces of chicken or it steams instead of browns. I don't really like how the chicken cooks up if it's in large pieces, so I cut it into bite size pieces. And if you're cooking in bacon fat--my, oh my--you'll be in heaven. (Unless of course you're Jewish. And I have no idea what people from India who really know what a curry is supposed to taste like would think of using bacon fat. :) Ignorance is bliss.)

Look! I have a picture of how I cooked the chicken! Hmmm, should have spread apart that chicken more. And of course I'm not doing it in my giant stock pot. But you can see my handy dandy spider there to scoop out the chicken. And in that white mug--bacon fat!

So now I've got a skillet of yummy onion and a giant pot that has all the delicious brown bits that come from cooking the chicken (the chicken has all been scooped out). Over medium low heat I dump the onions in the big pot, add the sour cream and more salt and pepper, stirring constantly until it thickens, and then add the almonds, raisins, and cooked chicken. Check for seasoning. If you're concerned that the cooked chicken won't warm all the way through adding it at the end (you know, if you're using leftover chicken you just took out of the fridge), let it warm up with the onions before you add the sour cream.

Note: This is only Low Carb if you don't eat it with the rice. :)
MM Recipe Card

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Believe it or not, I don't have this written down anywhere so it's coming straight out of my head. I think I got it from Laura Worley in Tracy, CA.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1 1/2 bags frozen broccoli (enough to cover a 9x13 inch pan - if using fresh broccoli, blanch it first)
cooked chicken (again, enough to cover a 9x13 inch pan)
grated cheese (holy cow, enough to cover a freakin' 9x13 inch pan--what do you want from me? :D Just kiddin'!)

Layer these three ingredients in your 9x13 inch pan.











(I must say, that is one beautiful picture of goodness!)








2 cans cream of chicken soup
mayo (a little less than the amount of soup)
juice of half a lemon (I am a fresh lemon juice nazi. Bottled juice is nasty, but I do keep this on hand if I don't have any fresh lemons. It's a pretty good substitute.)

Combine these three ingredients and spread over the other three.








Sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Cook in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until heated through and golden. Serve over rice. (That means don't forget to start making the rice right after you put in the casserole!)

And take a picture of the finished product, because I forgot!