Tuna Casserole

Hello! How was everyone's weekend? If you're from the east chances are you spent a lot of time shoveling off your car! Talk about snow! We ended up spending our entire weekend inside with the family, which turned out to be really nice. Of course, it was also nice to get out of the house this morning and back to the gym!

Ever since we've been home from our Christmas vacation I've been working hard to use up a lot of the food that's been sitting in our deep freezer and pantry. For some reason this has lead me to making quite a few classic meals that I grew up on. Maybe it's convenient to what we have, or maybe I'm just a bit homesick, but either way it's been really enjoyable for the whole family. My "meat and potatoes" husband is especially enjoying it.

I'm not a huge tuna casserole fan, but I really love this recipe. I think because it's not too gloppy or creamy and it's got a great tangy flavor. I actually found this in a diabetic cookbook that I received as a gift after being diagnosed with gestational diabetes when I was pregnant. I think what really makes this recipe is the mustard and just the right amount of sour cream and mayo that holds it all together well, but still gives it shape. If you are at all a fan of tuna casserole, give this a try!

Tuna Casserole
Adapted from The Type 2 Diabetes Cookbook

Ingredients

2 cans water-packed tuna
6 ounces uncooked egg noodles
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup thawed green peas
2/3 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup lowfat mayo
3 teaspoons prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
dash Worcestershire, optional
dash hot sauce, optional
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions

1. Drain and flake tuna, set aside.

2. Cook and drain noodles according to directions.

3. Preheat oven to 350, combine noodles with tuna, celery, green onions and peas. Blend all remaining ingredients, except the cheese. Pour into a greased 2 quart casserole pan and top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serves 5: Serving size is 1 cup

Per Serving: 350cal, 15g fat, 18g prot, 20g carb

Points per Serving: (The recipe didn't have fiber, so I'm going to guess 2g fiber) 8points

Chicken and Rice Casserole

I know that casseroles, especially ones like these, aren't exactly the trendiest meals right now, but how can I possibly turn my back on a dish that loved so much growing up. Not only that, but you can't deny the total deliciousness and simplicity that you get when you make this casserole. It calls for pretty much everything you already have in your cupboard, it take about five minutes to throw together, and I've yet to meet someone that doesn't like this combo of chicken and rice. My kids especially LOVE it. When you make this, try really hard to use chicken thighs, not breasts. I have made this with chicken breasts before, and it's not even close to as good as it is with chicken thighs. Since I have small children, I'll cut the chicken up before baking it, but I prefer it when the chicken thighs are cooked whole. And there is my two cents, ENJOY!

Chicken and Rice Casserole

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds chicken thighs
1 cup dry rice
2 chicken bullion cubes
2 cups water
1 package onion soup mix
1 tablespoon paprika (I just eyeball it)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 soup can full of water (can you tell this is a family recipe!)

Directions

Butter bottom of 9x13 casserole pan. Arrange dry rice at bottom of pan, lay chicken on top and sprinkle with paprika. Dissolve bullion in water and pour over chicken. Sprinkle soup mix over chicken and rice. Mix mushroom soup with 1/2 can water and pour over all. Cover and bake one hour at 350. Uncover and bake 30 more minutes at same temperature.

Kathy, a friend from Three on Food, was nice enough to offer me this really cool award. Thanks so much Kathy!! It's called the Premio Meme award, and with it I'm supposed to list seven things about my personality. Then I'm supposed to pick seven bloggers to pass this award to. It's hard to pick out attributes of my own personality, but I'll do my best, here goes!

1. Positive. Of course we all have down days, or go through experiences that are difficult, but overall I try my hardest to always look on the bright side of any situation. Life is just better that way!

2. Adventurous. Not in the crazy extreme sports kind of way, but I like to put myself out there every once and a while and do something a little scary and unfamiliar. I just ran a 5K on Saturday, something I NEVER thought I'd do, and loved it!

3. Bossy. I'm the oldest of five siblings, so I bossed them a TON growing up. Now I have a husband and two kids to boss, although that side of me is mellowing out quite a bit.

4. Friendly. I really love meeting people and making new friends, so I consider myself pretty outgoing.

5. Restless. I definitely enjoy quiet time, and I really look forward to my evenings after the kids are in bed, but I have to have something to do. It's hard for me to just sit, even if I'm watching a movie, I almost always have to be doing something else to keep my hands busy, otherwise I get bored! It drives my husband crazy and it kind of drives me crazy too. I blame my dad, he's restless too.

6. Curious. I really enjoy learning new things and getting educated whenever I can. I've been out of school for a while while so my husband can finish dental school, but I really look forward to continuing my education when he's finished.

7. Loving. My family and friends are so important to me and I love them with every sugar-soaked cell in my body. I don't know where I'd be without them!

So there you have it! I'd like to pass this award on to the following:

1. Donna, from My Tasty Treasures
2. Jennifer at Bread plus Butter
3. Heidi at Tried and True Cooking with Heidi
4. Coleen at Coleen's Recipes
5. MaryBeth and Dunkin Cooking the Semi-Homemade Way
6. Dar at Girlichef
7. Ingrid at 3 B's, Baseball, Baking and Books

All of these are fantastic blogs that should be visited often. Happy Wednesday everyone!