Cheesy Tuna Casserole

By Somer

I’m starting to feel better and am venturing back into my kitchen to start cooking for my family once again.  Because we knew to expect the same drama with this pregnancy as with my first, when I first got pregnant my husband went to the grocery store and basically bought a bunch of junk that would be easy for him to prepare for himself and for our son.  As it turns out, he ended up mostly eating takeout and beef-a-roni right out of the can (gag).  So now I am left with a kitchen and a freezer crammed with a bunch of crap that I wouldn’t normally buy, but in order for me to make room for my usual cooking staples, I need to try to use up some of this stuff.

While looking at the shelves in my kitchen that I use for a pantry, my eye was caught by the large stack of tuna cans.  “I’ll make a tuna casserole to use up some of that, ” I thought.  I’ve never had tuna casserole before…unless you count Tuna Helper.  I’ve certainly never made a tuna casserole before, so I consulted cookbooks and the internet for a recipe.  There’s certainly no shortage of Tuna Casserole recipes on the world wide web, but to be honest, none of them really got me excited.  Each one had the same structure and basically the same ingredients and I just was not wowed.

First of all, most of these recipes called for peas.  I hate peas.  They are too sweet and when they hit the back of my mouth, I start gagging just as I do when I try to eat sweet potatoes.  I just can’t stand that weird starchy sweetness.

Second, most of these recipes only contained a sparse sprinkling of cheese.  Umm, excuse me, I thought Tuna Casserole was supposed to be a cheesy dish!  Why are these recipes telling me to skimp?  Not me.  No way.  I decided it was time to play mad scientist of the casserole community (ok, not really but I like that title) and make up a casserole recipe of my own.  It wasn’t a terribly ambitious undertaking.  It’s Tuna Casserole for crying out loud.  My two-year old could do it with relative ease.

Cheesy Tuna Casserole

My Recipe

2 cans of albacore tuna in water

1 can of cream of mushroom soup (cream of chicken will also work)

2 cups frozen chopped broccoli

2 Tblsp. butter (NOT margarine, you need real butter)

1-1/4 cup milk

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

6 slices American cheese

1-1/2 cups uncooked rice

Shredded cheese to top (about 1-1/2 cups)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook your rice.  You can use quick cooking or instant rice, but I use regular old rice that takes about 15 minutes to cook.  Because it’s cheaper and comes in bigger packages.  That’s not only economical, but keeps me from having to buy rice every time I go shopping.

In a large pot melt butter.  Add condensed soup and milk.   Stir to break up the soup.  Add salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.  Add frozen broccoli and heat through.  Drain tuna and add.  Add American cheese one slice at a time.

Beware!  This smells really freaking good.

Now add your cooked rice and stir to combine.  Pour into a casserole dish.

Sprinkle shredded cheese over the top.  Be as sparse or as liberal as you like.  I like the top pretty much covered.

Place in your oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Mmmmm.  Melted cheeeeeese.   Mmmmmmm.

Trust me on the addition of the American cheese.  It adds a very mild “cheese” flavor, but more importantly it adds a rich creamy flavor.  It’s just something extra.

I used rice instead of egg noodles….mostly because I had rice and not egg noodles.  Boy am I glad that it worked out that way.  This whole casserole was super creamy and smooth and was just so palate pleasing.  It really was very good and tasted much more interesting to me than a lot of the recipes that I looked at seemed.

I don’t have a final product picture because, well, it’s a casserole!  It basically just plopped on the plates and sat on the plates in a very un-pretty lump (delicious, but not pretty).  I do, however, have this picture:

Because I’d rather look at that than an overly thought out presentation of culinary mastery any day.  Also, I suck at pretty plating and I thought a picture of my beautiful family would be better!

I hope you try this recipe.  It’s easy, quick, and very economical.  It’s also a classic dish that anybody would appreciate at a potluck dinner.  Have a friend who just had a baby?  Make this for them.  You’ll be the best friend they have for like a year!  Enjoy!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

By Somer

My high school Spanish teacher gave me the recipe for this cheesy and creamy dish.  I like to make it both for only my husband and myself or for company.  If I make it for company, I am always asked for the recipe…it’s just that good.  This is not a dish that you would make on a busy week night, but don’t let that deter you.  It’s not difficult to make at all, it just has several steps.  They are all worth it.  You will need:

1 cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped green pepper

2 Tblsp. butter

2 cups cooked chicken

1 4-oz. can green chili peppers, rinsed, seeded and chopped

3 Tblsp. butter

¼ cup AP flour

1 tsp. ground coriander

¾ tsp. salt

2-1/2 cups chicken broth

1 cup dairy sour cream

1-1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (6 oz.)

12 6-inch tortillas

In a large saucepan cook onion and green pepper in the 2 Tblsp. butter until tender.  Combine the onion mixture in a bowl with the chopped chicken and green chili peppers; set aside.

*HINT*  I cook the chicken by boiling it and using the cooking liquid as the broth.  Use some chicken stock and a little water to cook your chicken for more richness and lots of flavor.

For the sauce, in the same saucepan, melt 3 Tblsp. butter.  Stir in the flour, coriander, and salt.  Stir in the chicken broth all at once; cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Cook and stir 1-2 minutes more.

This is what the butter and flour should look like when it is ready for the addition of the chicken broth.

Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and ½ cup of the cheese.  Stir ½ cup of the sauce into the chicken mixture.

Dip each tortilla into the remaining sauce to soften; fill each with about ¼ cup of the chicken mixture.  Roll up.  Arrange rolls in a 13x9x2-inch baking dish; pour remaining sauce over.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree F oven for about 25 minutes or until bubbly.  YIELD:  6 servings.

I use a bit more cheese than what the recipe calls for.  I buy a 1 pound brick of Monterey Jack and shred it all and use it all, so my version of this dish is cheesy to the extreme.  I’d have it no other way.  It’s not the prettiest dish, I’ll grant you that.  But that doesn’t matter…not in this case.

Cinco de Mayo is coming up and this (and a pitcher of margaritas) is a great dinner!  Enjoy, everybody!