Tasty Tuna Casserole

Here's another recipe from my much loved Quinoa 365 cookbook:

Tasty Tuna Casserole
2 cups water
1 cup quinoa
3tbsp butter
3/4 cup finely diced celery
3/4 cup finely diced white onion
2 cups chopped white button mushrooms
1/2tsp minced fresh garlic
2 cups milk
1/4 cup quinoa flour
1/4tsp salt
pinch ground pepper
two cans flaked light tuna, drained
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions (the one ingredient I forgot to purchase!)

Bring the water & quinoa to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Turn the head off and leave the covered saucepan on the burner for another 6 minutes. Fluff with a fork and allow the quinoa to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly spray cooking oil in a 3.5L casserole dish.

Melt 1tbsp of the butter in a large saucepan. Saute the white onion and celery until the onion becomes translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the mushrooms and garlic and continue to saute until the vegetables are tender, another 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Combine the remaining 2tbsp butter, milk, flour, salt & pepper in a medium saucepan. Cook on medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Add the quinoa to the vegetable mixture in the large saucepan, along with the sauce, tuna, peas & 1 cup of the cheese. Stir to combine well and pour the mixture into the casserole dish. Top with the remaining 1/4cup of cheese and green onion. Place on the center rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes, until bubbling hot.

MY REVIEW: This recipe dirties a whole lot of dishes so be prepared! It's also fast paced and you might require assistance getting things out of the fridge and chopped if you're not ready. In the end, it was worth it. I've been craving tuna casserole for quite a while now and this was delicious AND nutritious.

JASON'S REVIEW: It's the casserole that keeps on giving.

Chicken Pot Pie with Potato Topping

We had some leftover potatoes, peas, broccoli, yellow beans and corn. I wanted to make something like a chicken pot pie but minus the biscuit topping because we already had 2 little buns. I improvised and this is what I came up with:

mixed cooked veggies
1can cream of chicken soup
some cooked chicken pieces (we had some baggies leftover from the last time we made a huge chicken)
some canned corn
spoonful of low fat sour cream

So I mixed the chicken, soup and veggies together and put it in a casserole dish. Then in a separate container, mashed the potato, corn and sour cream together. Spoon the potato mixture on top of the chicken mixture in the casserole dish. Put it in the oven for about half an hour at 400 until it starts to bubble and the top browns a bit. Voila!

MY REVIEW: This was great! Will make again next time there's lots of left-over veggies in the fridge. This is something that will never be the same twice.

JASON'S REVIEW: It was all my favorite left-overs in one tasty dish

Broccoli Cheddar Casserole

I am out for the count with a back injury but I managed to make this pretty simple casserole tonight with a recipe I got from a friend at work:

2 bunches of broccoli (i used one as I halved the recipe)
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (again, just 1 can!)
brown rice - 3-5 servings, cooked (i used a little bag of uncle bens wild rice with roasted garlic)
500g sharp cheddar cheese (i used maybe a cup.. probably less)

Layer in deep casserole dish - rice, broccoli, mushroom soup & cheese - 2 or 3 layers. Bake 45 mins - 1 hour @ 350 degrees.

MY REVIEW: It was good... very little effort required. I wish I made more for lunches though.

JASON'S REVIEW: It was "effin" delicious.

The past week has been busssssy. I did take a few pics. Jason made this lovely meal for me one night last week. He didn't want me to put a picture up but I thought it was good:


Then one night, Jason requested brussel sprouts and asparagus with cheese sauce. Normally I would never make cheese sauce but I had been to the gym everyday last week and was prepared to cook and eat cheese sauce on my veggies. So I get home and put the veggies in the steamer...




....and get out the ingredients for the sauce..... except i can't find the cheese because Jason had ate it ALL about an hour prior to his request for cheese sauce. I ended up making swiss cheese sauce (which I hate) for him and eating the veggies as is. Not too tasty - I won't lie.




Anyways, the night after, I mixed the leftover sauce with some tomato sauce to make a PINK sauce for Jason's pasta (he wants to eat lots and lots of pasta before his race Saturday). I was feeling generous so I picked up these Italian PORK sausages at the store and was going to cut them up and throw them in his pasta for a treat. Keep in mind, I have never made pork and in the (almost) 2 years we've lived together, neither has Jason. I guess it was a little much for his system because it really upset his stomach. Looks like we're sticking with the chicken only diet! Seems to work well for us.

So if there's nothing else in the next few days, be sure to check back THURSDAY because I'll be making some Valentines Day treats.