Tuna Noodle Casserole

Tuna Noodle Casserole is one of my favorite casseroles. I used to make it a lot because it was so easy and it tasted great. I loved the crunchy topping of toasted breadcrumbs and butter and the oozing cheese baked inside the noodles. Who couldn’t love that? Well, Michael for one. He is such a picky eater. And while I don’t dictate my food according what he likes (if I did, I’d be eating pizza and hot dogs every day!), I haven’t really made this casserole for years because it’s a lot of work to make a meal for just one person.

On Sunday I had a friend coming over to do some video work with me. My friend Kat was going to help me get my KATU news interview from January off the DVR and onto a disc that I could post here and share with other people. I was so glad she offered to help! She got her degree in video editing so I knew she’d be good at it. I offered to make us lunch and decided I’d do a tuna casserole.
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Sunday morning I slept in and then went swimming in the pool to stretch out my mega sore muscles from weight lifting. I hurried home and then started cooking so that I’d have the casserole in the oven before Kat came over.

I had my own tuna casserole recipe but I went to the internets to find a lower calorie version. The above recipe is what I found. Around 300 calories a serving is okay by me. I was also looking forward to having a lot of leftovers for lunches during the work week. I did not have Mrs. Dash’s seasoning and I left out the mushrooms but for the most part I followed the recipe.

It was really easy to do. I halved the recipe and it still made a TON of food, so keep that in mind when making this dish. I cooked the past and then mixed it all together with the rest of the creamy ingredients. I also added some shredded cheese to the mixture, even though the recipe din’t call for that so my version is probably a little higher in calories.

I also used the crumbs from the crouton bag to top the casserole with some crunchiness. And I was glad I added that–it really made the recipe even better.

The verdict of the recipe: it was really good but it needed more tuna. Halving the recipe I only used one can of tuna and it really needed two. I also would mix all of the recipe’s cheese in the dish instead of using it just on top because the casserole needed a “glue” to hold it all together.

I kid you not when I say HALF of the recipe makes a massive amount of food. I have no idea how the recipe’s creators calculated their servings because not only did Kat and I have a big serving each for lunch, I had leftovers for four days worth of lunches!

Kat is going to work on the video clips and I hope that soon I will have something to share with you guys. 🙂

QUESTION: What’s your favorite casserole recipe?