Tuna Porcupines

Jason had requested a "casserole" for dinner sometime this week. He is extremely specific and detailed with his requests - I know. 

In search of a casserole that would satisfy his matured palette, I brought out my Jean Pare "Main Courses" cookbook:

As I do with most of the Company's Coming cookbooks, I headed straight for the chicken section. No sense looking at the beef or seafood section I figured! HOWEVER - on my way to poultry, I stumbled upon a tuna recipe. Tuna is one of the few fishy things Jason will eat so I was intrigued. This particular tuna recipe was for Tuna Porcupines. Having all the ingredients on hand, I decided to give it a shot.

Ingredients
(I'll write it as it appears in the book but I did double everything for lunches)

7oz (1 tin) flaked tuna, drained
1/2cup long grain rice
1/2cup chopped onion  (I felt creative and used half chopped onion, half celery)
salt
pepper
1 egg, fork beaten

10oz condensed cream of mushroom soup
2/3cup water

Directions
Mix first 6 ingredients together in bowl. Shape into about 14 balls. Place in 9x9inch greased baking dish.

Stir soup and water together well. Pour over balls. Cover. Bake in 350F for about 1 hour until rice is cooked.

To go with this meal, I made some individual salads. One thing I've been using lately in salads is sunflower seeds. You just need a little sprinkle and it adds a nice crunch.

Newman's own salad dressing was on sale today at Safeway so we each picked one out. Jason stuck with a classic Italian and I went for the Sesame Thai (which I can't find a picture of):

The Sesame Thai was SO good and I'm excited to use it more than just salads. It's also a "lightened up" version so it's very low in fat and calories.

MY REVIEW: This was very good and VERY easy. The only thing I would do different is really drain the tuna. It wasn't a huge deal but I had to squeeze my porcupines like a sponge to get them to stick before putting them in the baking dish.


JASON'S REVIEW: The tuna balls were hearty and I couldn't think of a better meal to load up on protein and satiate my craving for amazing culinary creations (I declined his first review due to repetition and he came up with this one. Impressive!).

On another note, we finally bottled our wine yesterday. We had 2 batches of wine that were supposed to be done in time for Christmas but these kits were both expired (we found out after the fact) and they were taking a long time clearing. Sadly, one batch went down the drain. We did, however, manage to salvage 28 bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon.  As our printer is out of ink and we were REALLY sick of looking at this wine on the counter, we got creative with the labels:

Not the fanciest labels I've ever made, but it gets the job done.

Porcupine Meatballs & Green Beans

In honor of seeing my first live porcupine yesterday during an evening ski, I made porcupine meatballs tonight! To accompany it - some green beans. Both recipes I found on Recipe Zaar and followed to a tee:

MEATBALLS
3/4 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup white rice, uncooked
1/4 onion, diced
1-1 1/2 garlic cloves (forgot this! would have been good though)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (10 1/2 ounce) can Campbell's condensed tomato soup

Mix everything together except tomato soup and form into meatballs. Place in casserole dish and pour tomato soup over the meatballs. Bake at 350 oven for 1 1/2 hours.


BEANS
1 (1 lb) bag frozen green beans (I just made 2 servings...)
2 tablespoons butter (margarine and probably more like 1tbsp)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs (don't need that much)
1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning mix garlic salt

Microwave beans according to package directions and drain. Melt butter in a large skillet, add onions and sautee over medium low heat until they begin to yellow. Add bread crumbs and seasonings and saute 1 minute. Add green beans and saute 3 to 4 minutes.

MY REVIEW: Loved both of them and will make again. Both very easy. Did not resemble porcupine.

JASON'S REVIEW: It brought me back to the porcupines that mom used to make.