Tuna Noodle Casserole ToTry

Posted on by June 21, 2024

From Southern Living here. Skip the canned soup and make a fresher version of classic tuna noodle casserole. By Jessica Harlan | Updated on May 5, 2024
6/21/24, 9:28 AM southernliving.com/tuna-noodle-casserole-7113556

Ingredients

  • Cooking spray
  • 8 oz. wide egg noodles
  • 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
  • 1 small yellow onion, diced
  • 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp. black pepper
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided
  • 2 (5 oz. each) cans chunk light tuna, drained
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 16 butter crackers, such as Ritz (about half a sleeve)
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a 2-quart glass or ceramic baking dish; set aside.
  2. Cook the egg noodles to al dente, according to package directions. Drain and keep warm.
  3. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan or deep skillet over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. When it foams, add the onion and cook
  4. until softened, stirring frequently, about 4 minutes.
  5. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture has a nutty smell. Slowly whisk the milk in, a little at a time, to avoid lumps. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook until thickened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat.
  6. Stir the Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper into the milk mixture. Add 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and stir until the cheese is melted. Stir in the tuna and frozen peas, then add the cooked noodles, stirring to make sure the noodles are completely coated with the sauce.
  7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish, and bake for 15 minutes.
  8. While the casserole is cooking, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in the microwave. In a medium bowl, crush the crackers with a wooden spoon or a potato masher. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and the garlic powder to the crushed crackers. Drizzle the mixture with the melted butter and toss to coat.
  9. Remove the casserole from the oven and sprinkle with the cracker mixture, then bake for an additional 5 to 7 minutes, until the topping is browned. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

Posted on by June 25, 2024

 6/21/2024 – Recipe below turned out good made with chips. Inspired by the one at Southern Living Test Kitchen.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
  • 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
  • 1 (10.5-oz.) can cream of chicken soup
  • 1 (10.5-oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 (10-oz.) can Rotel diced tomato and green chiles
  • 1 tsp. chili powder
  • 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
  • 2 pinches garlic powder
  • 2 pinches ground black pepper
  • 12 corn tortillas, torn into 1-inch pieces or restaurant-style unflavored chips
  • 2 cups grated Cheddar cheese

Directions

  1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, sauté bell pepper and onion 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in chicken and the next 7 ingredients; remove from heat.
  2. Layer one-third of the corn tortillas in the bottom of a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Top with one-third of the chicken mixture and 2/3 cup cheese. Repeat layers twice.
  3. Bake at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes.

Greek Potato Salad

Posted on by June 13, 2024

6/13/2024 – This was the second time Mary made this great salad that was inspired by the recipe here. Mary says it is the best potato salad she has ever had.

Ingredients

For the Potato Salad:

  • 3 pounds small yellow potatoes, scrubbed
  • 1 tablespoon salt. [This time put in 2 heaping spoonfuls with the little wooden spoon on the kosher salt container. The final prep was salty enough.]
  • ½ cup chopped red onions or shallots
  • 3 green onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
  • ½ cup chopped Italian parsley leaves – Left out as did not have on hand.
  • ½ cup chopped dill or one 0.75 oz. container of dill from Publix with stems removed
  • ½ cup Kalamata olives, halved

For the Vinaigrette:

  • ¼ cup red wine vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1 ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Next time try at least double.
  • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the (unpeeled) potatoes and one tablespoon of salt. Reduce the heat to maintain an active simmer. Simmer the potatoes until they are fork-tender when poked, about 15-20 minutes (the time will depend on their size). If the potatoes vary in size, remove in batches, starting with the smallest, until they are all cooked through.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, while still whisking, until all ingredients are well combined.
  3. Gently drain the cooked potatoes and set aside until just cool enough to handle.
  4. Cut the potatoes into 1 to 1½-inch cubes, and place them in a large bowl.
  5. Add the red and green onions, parsley, dill, and olives. Whisk the vinaigrette one more time, then pour it over the potatoes. Gently toss to combine. Adjust the seasoning if necessary.
  6. Serve while still slightly warm or at room temperature.

Refrigerator Bread & Butter Pickles***

Posted on by December 5, 2024

6/5/2019 – The recipe below was inspired by the “Easy Sweet and Spicy Bread and Butter Pickles” recipe at PinchAndSwirl.com. We liked it a lot and will make it again.

6/12/2024 – Made this recipe and found the pickles to be GREAT on 7/17/2024. Six months later on 12/5/2024 we opened a quart and found the pickles to still be GREAT.

Continue reading →

Squash Casserole to Freeze

Posted on by September 5, 2024

6/11/2024 – We have been giving away yellow squash but it still has accumulated and must be used. Mary found on Southern Living’s website an Easy Squash Casserole. We had 4.5 lbs. of squash so we added 50% to all the quantities below. This dished was thawed and heated normally. It was very good.

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs. yellow squash from the garden, sliced
  • 5 Tbsp. butter, divided
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 cup (4 oz.) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp. sugar – Original recipe calls for 2 tsp.
  • 1 tsp. salt. Used kosher so should have used 2 tsp.
  • For topping some day when thawed – round buttery crackers, crushed

Directions

  1. Cook squash in boiling water until slightly tender–not limp.
  2. Drain well and spread on baking sheets to let steam and dry out some. [The original recipe cautions against excess moisture in the final dish and calls for drying the individual pieces. They steamed off enough moisture IMHO.]
  3. Melt butter in the enameled cast iron stock pot over medium-high heat; add onion, and sauté until translucent.
  4. Remove pot from heat; stir in squash, cheese, and next 4 ingredients.
  5. Put into containers with tight lids to freeze.
  6. Some Day
    • Thaw
    • Make cracker topping
    • Stir together melted butter and crushed crackers; sprinkle evenly over top of casserole.
    • Bake at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes or until set.

The 4.5 lbs made only 4 small casserole dishes that were 4×4 inches to 6×6 inches in size.

Creole Marinara with Roasted Vegetables

Posted on by September 5, 2024

6/11/2024 – This is an experiment of roasting the veggies, including the tomatoes, rather than the usual boiling water to remove skins, sauteing veggies, and a long simmer. The roasted veggies in the Italian Marinera turned out great and the process is much easier than boiling, peeling, sauteing, etc. This experiment turned out great. The four half-sheets of mix yielded 6 quarts of rich, flavorful, chunky marinara sauce.

We will also have the drippings/juice to make our new tomato basil soup. After Mary added fresh tomatoes, onion, and diced carrots she had 1.5 quarts of fantastic soup.

Ingredients per half-sheet pan:

  • 1 Bell Pepper
  • 1 ~3-inch diameter onion
  • 3 stalks of celery
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • Tomatoes from our garden to fill the sheet as in the photos
  • EV Olive Oil
  • Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
  • 2 heaping Tbsp Kit’s creole seasoning

The Process

  1. Trim the tomatoes of interior and exterior blemishes and ugly spots. Did not peal.
  2. chop the celery into 2 to 3-inch sticks
  3. cut the onion into quarters, operating each into multi-layer pieces
  4. chop the bell peppers into 1-inch slices then cut them in half
  5. cut the garlic cloves in half
  6. drizzle on the EVOO
  7. shake on black pepper and salt like putting it on a steak to grill
  8. shake on the creole seasoning using a spoon from the quart “stockpile” jar
  9. using your hands mix and turn until the oil is coating all the pieces and the spices are evenly mixed
  10. rotate tomatoes to skin-side up as much as possible
  11. put into the preheated oven set to roast
  12. roast until there are some black charred tips; about 30 minutes
  13. ladle with a slotted spoon into the food processor
  14. chop in the food processor to a rough chunky consistency
  15. fill plastic freezer containers and tighten the lid
  16. When cooled to room temperature put into the freezer.

Note – We saved the “juice” from the tomatoes and other veggies to make a tomato soup that great. We got 1.5 qt. from these four sheet pans.

Oven Roasted Marinara

Posted on by July 3, 2025

6/8/2024 – This was much the same as we made two years ago when we had a good tomato crop. But this was inspired by Suzy Karadsheh’s recipe here. It turned out great. The real surprise was the tomato soup made with the drippings from these trays and the tray from the Mediterranean Salsa also made today. The soup recipe is here.

7/3/2025 – Again this produced a great pre-dish. Only things different: 1) Let the tray cool before blending and 2) froze it in pints rather that quarts as a quart left us with a lot of left overs. This year we did not have enough drippings to make soup.

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds Better Boy tomatoes from our garden, quartered
  • 2 yellow onions, small 2½-inch, halved and sliced into ¼-inch half moons
  • 10 large garlic cloves, chopped into large pieces
  • About 2 T granulated garlic
  • 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch long sticks at least ½-inch thick
  • 2 teaspoons of our homemade Mediterranean seasoning
  • Red pepper flakes – several large pinches per sheet pan
  • Kosher salt
  • Black pepper
  • Extra virgin olive oil

The above made two full trays.

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 450°F.
  • In two half-sheet pans, add the tomatoes, onions, garlic, and carrots. Sprinkle on the Italian seasoning, granulated garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Drizzle a generous amount of olive oil (about 3 tablespoons) all over the vegetables and toss to coat. Spread the vegetables well so that they are in one single layer.
  • Cook on the middle rack of the heated oven for about 35 to 45 minutes, or until the tomatoes have fully collapsed and the veggies have gained some color and charred in some parts.
  • Use tongs to transfer the tomatoes and the vegetables to the large bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade. Pulse until the carrots are about the right size.
  • Pour the juices left in the pan into a pot for tomato soup here.

Mary’s Creole Marinara, 2026

Posted on by July 3, 2026

7/3/2026

Ingredients and the Process

Tomato preparation involve putting fresh, ripe tomatoes from the garden into boilling water in the large SS canning pot. After about 4-5 minutes, and when most of the skins had split, the basket was removed and put on a baking sheet to finish draining. They were moved into a large plastic bowl and small baking sheet to cool a bit. Mary cleaned about half before Tom helped with pulling the hot skin then trimming the often grubby stem end. Mary finished trimming and chopping them. Once they were all trimmed, they were scooped out of the juice that has acculuated and put into the Blue enameled stock pot to wait for the veggies to be sautéed. The liquid was saved to make tomato soup that is in a seperate post this date

The veggies, i.e. the Trinity, was added to the skinned, chopped tomatoes shown in the photos. See photos for the veggie quantities that were:

  • 4 medium vadilia onions from the sacks bought from Randy Eckhoff for the Civitan Club’s fundraiser.
  • 4 average and 4 small carrots, diced,
  • Cachet of fresh thyme and fresh rosemary from the Herb Bed, picked minutes before adding.
  • chopped fresh tomatoes from the garden,

The onions, celery, and bell peppers, were sauteed in a No. 10 and No. 11 cast iron pans until the edges were softening. During that process Mary seasoned both skillets with 2 rounded soup spoons of Kit’s Creole Seasoning.

While the veggies were sauteing, the tomatoes in the Blue Enameled stock pot were heated, Once hot she added two heaping soup spoons of Kit’s Creole Seasoning and stirred it in.

Added the sauteed Trinity and mixed it in. Returned it to a very slow simmer and left uncovered for 4 hours.

The “finished” cook, ready for thawing and reheating, had a bit of a bite from the spice but just right for us. the veggies were a bit crunchy that will be good when reheated.

Mary’s Mediterranean Salsa

Posted on by June 12, 2024

5/31/2024 – This preparation follows the one on 1/5/2022 but with four major differences: sweet onions; Iberia peppers; fresh basil; and Greek oregano. The roasted flavor was subtle but enough. On 6/8/2024 we made another tray as it is very good salsa. That day we also made trays of marinara and combined the juices from the three trays to make a “to-die-for” tomato soup here.

Ingredients and the Process

  1. Cleaned and put on a 1/2 baking sheet pan that was full:
    1. Tomatoes, Better Boys, from the garden. None were fully ripe.
    2. Vidalia Onions – 3 medium ones cut into quarters and arranged among the tomatoes
    3. Garlic – An average pod
    4. Peppers – 4 Iberia Hybrid Cayenne Peppers, at the green stage, fresh from the garden, stemmed and arranged among the other items, instead of jalapenos or serranos. The Iberias on the heat scale are like the mildest Jalapenos. They did not add much heat to this salsa.
  2. Drizzled olive oil over it and sprinkled on salt and pepper
  3. Roasted under the broiler set on high until there were some blackened tops
  4. What filled the sheet also filled the food processor up to the top of the blade’s housing.
  5. Added:
    1. 2 tsp of cumin
    2. 2 tsp of Greek oregano
    3. the juice of a lemon
    4. double handful of fresh basil from the garden. Basil in image above is about one handful as half the sheet pan is in the processor.
  6. In the food processor, pulsed it to a salsa consistency. Combined the two batches and stirred to blend out any differences in the batches.
  7. Made a little more than 2 quarts.
Note the amount of basil

Classic Remoulade Sauce to try

Posted on by June 7, 2024

5/24/2024 – From https://www.acouplecooks.com/remoulade-sauce/

  • 2 tablespoons drained capers
  • 2 tablespoons chopped dill pickles
  • 1 green onion, finely chopped
  • ¾ cup mayonnaise (or vegan mayonnaise)
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon dried tarragon (optional)
  • 1 pinch salt 
  • Black pepper, to taste
  • For the Cajun style: Replace tarragon with 1½ to 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning and ½ teaspoon hot sauce
  1. Finely chop the capers and pickles. Finely chop the green onion (white and green portions). 
  2. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. 

Yield: 1 cup