Tuna Casserole

Nothing tastes as good as a family favorite recipe from your childhood. I hope to share with you some of my most memorable recipes from my youth on the blog in the future. Just the thought of these brings back memories of happiness and sitting around the kitchen table as a family.

Today's installment will feature my mom's tuna casserole. This is super easy to put together and can be altered easily too. We always had this on a school night as it comes together so quickly and we all loved it.

TUNA CASSEROLE-6 servings 

1 box Mac n Cheese (if you don't like the packaged stuff, feel free to make your own favorite recipe. 

Milk and butter that the box requires. 

1 can condensed cream of ? (I use mushroom but celery or chicken works too)

1 can white albacore tuna, drained

1/4 cup milk

1 cup frozen broccoli or peas

1 can mushrooms (fresh works too)

1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Make Mac n Cheese according to box but undercook noodles by a few minutes. (They will cook the rest of the way in the oven.)

Add remaining ingredients except cheese and mix together. Spread out in glass 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle cheese over the top and bake for 10-15 minutes or until bubbly. 

Consider putting corn flakes over the top for crunch.

So simple to put together and tastes delicious! Now where is my dance leotard and ballet shoes and my brother needs to find his soccer cleats and ball.......such happy memories! 

Nutrition per serving:

198 calories

5 g fat

29 g carbs

11 g protein

2 g dietary fiber

Pin-It Tuesday: Crockpot Mac N Cheese

I have had a craving for mac n cheese for quite some time. Not the Kraft or Easy Mac variety, but good, wholesome homemade mac n cheese. So of course, I looked to my Pinterest boards and found a crockpot version from Six Sisters' Stuff, who ran the Build Your Blog Conference I attended in Salt Lake City.

Because of their awesome reputation, I knew this was going to taste great and went for it.

I gathered all my ingredients and recently read grating the cheese instead of buying shredded in a bag actually makes the cheese melt better. I bought a Wisconsin cheese from Star-Dairy and shredded it all on my mom's new grater.

 I then melted the cheese with butter and turned it into a great sauce.

While the sauce is melting together, I boiled the noodles. Cook them for a few minutes less than the box says. I used whole wheat noodles for the fiber. 

 Look at that cheese sauce - delicious!

I then added the noodles and the rest of the ingredients to the crockpot. And then I added my secret ingredient, (well secret to my family), chili powder for a little bite.

 Then basically after a few stirs, the crockpot will do the rest of the work for me for two hours.

 And then the final product - creamy, gooey, heavenly-scented mac n cheese! I could have added a bit more chili powder as it wasn't too apparent, but I didn't want to overdo it.

We served this up with bun-ess turkey burgers to get some protein. It was a great meal on a cold January day. It had a creaminess that the box varities just can't provide. And it was so simple. You must try this recipe!