Take Two- Tuna Noodle-Casserole V2.0

I've shared this recipe before, or rather a previous version. I decided I'd love to have it again, since I'm not sure I'd even made it since I posted it long ago. It's based on a Mediterranean Tuna-Noodle Casserole from Everyday Food. When I tried out that recipe the first time I discovered that I just couldn't stand artichoke hearts. That lesson learned, I had to make a quick substitution and went with frozen peas. This time around I knew that peas were my go-to ingredient, but I also had some green beans that needed to be put to use. Also, I was able to pick up some whole grain egg noodles, which tasted great in this recipe- no big difference at all. I still haven't followed through on my idea of subbing white whole wheat in for the all purpose yet though. Maybe next time, because I think this recipe came out much better than the last. I think I've gotten better at working with flour and making a slight bechamel sauce too. The original Everyday Food recipe was a "Freeze It" feature, so it served 8. This recipe serves 4, but feel free to double up and tuck one in the freezer for a rainy day.

Tuna-Noodle Casserole
Recipe adapted from Everyday Food; Serves 4

2.5 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for baking dish
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 lb. whole grain egg noodles
1 red bell pepper, seeded and ribbed, thinly sliced
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2.5 cups 2% milk
2 6 ounce cans tuna, packed in olive oil, drained
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup chopped green beans
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil 8" square or shallow 2 quart baking dish. In a large pot of boiling slated water, cook the noodles until 2 minutes short of al dente; drain and return to pot.
• Meanwhile in a large pot, heat oil over medium. Ad bell peppers; season with salt and pepper. Cook until crisp-tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Gradually add mi8lk, stirring until smooth. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a simmer.
• Remove from heat; add mixture to noodles in the pot, along with tuna, peas, and green beans. Season with salt and pepper and toss. Transfer to baking dish and sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake until golden and bubbling, about 20 minutes.

My notes: My green beans were pretty crisp still, next time I might toss them in the pan with the noodles for a moment before draining just to soften them up a little. Other than that the crisp was a night extra texture. The original recipe called for whole milk, which might make a slight difference in the creaminess of your bechamel, but honestly I couldn't tell enough of a difference to make it worth it for me. I'm fine with saving a few calories instead, ha. Oh, and I just spray my baking dish with some cooking spray, works just as well and saves me a little of my more expensive olive oil.

If you want to freeze this recipe: Prepare through step 3; cool to room temperature. Cover tightly with aluminum foil, and freeze up to three months.
If you want to cook directly from the freezer bake it covered with foil, until center is warm, about 2 hours. Uncover, and bake until top is browned, about 20 minutes more. If you thaw it overnight in the refrigerator, the covered baking time is reduced to 30 minutes.

Five in the Freezer

You'll have to forgive me for not having anything yummy to show you just yet, I still have to upload pics I shot over the weekend. In the meantime though I thought I would share what I've been doing lately, which is emptying/restocking the freezer. We have meat we purchased in a small bulk amount and fish we received from some of Josh's dad's many successful trips to the river and the coast. I've been slowly cooking my way through the fish and trying to use the meat as efficiently as possible. Here is what I've made recently to restock the freezer for a rainy day, be it due to busy schedule or tight budget.

Meatloaf- My meatloaf recipe makes a loaf that serves six. Since there are just the two of us to feed in our house I molded my ingredients into three smaller loaves meant to make a single dinner for the both of us. Now, this does break my heart a little bit because I love meatloaf and this leaves no leftovers for the next day. But, on the other hand I have two ready to go loaves in the freezer, meaning I can eat meatloaf again soon and I get three portion-controlled meals out of my meat supply.

Vegetable Enchiladas- I love making these enchiladas because not only are they slightly healthier than your typical pan of mexican food, but they are delicious and takes so little effort or cost to have two trays worth. I use aluminum pans for my freezer batches and I always wrap it first in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil to protect it well from freezer burn. I made these enchiladas Friday for guests and stocked the freezer as the same time.

Red and Black Bean Pie- Another one of my favorite meatless meals, this recipe was a freezable feature in an issue of Everyday Food. This recipe could be especially great for families where a family member gets home late, or for a single guy or gal who doesn't have a lot of time to cook for themselves in the evening, as it can be made in ramekins for individual servings. I typically cook mine in a deep pie plate and put my freezer batch in a 8" square aluminum pan, wrapping as I described above.

False Alarm Vegetable Chili- This is a recipe I came across very early in our attempt to start eating a bit healthier. I normally halve this recipe when I cook it since it's actually meant to feed a firehouse! But since I've been stocking the freezer up lately I decided to pull out my big stock pot and make a full batch. In fact, I just made it last night. We both had a hearty dinner, with enough for lunch leftovers, and two approximately 4 cup containers in the freezer. Each one of those should feed us a dinner and lunch again.

Bread- One of these things is not like the others, you might be saying to yourself. And you're perfectly right. Bread is hardly a recipe, nor is it a meal in and of itself to be popped out of the freezer for a fast dinner. However freezing bread is one of my favorite tricks for making sure I get my monies worth, and being able to whip something up at home instead of running out to grab fast food. I like the fresh and yummy breads I can get at Central Market. But the idea of eating an entire loaf of sourdough before it turns into a science experiment or letting it go to waste and throwing dough (both literally and figuratively) into the trash definitely doesn't appeal to me. So I experimented with freezing the bread and had great results. I pair slices of bread and wrap them in plastic wrap, then foil and then place the little packages in large freezer bags. I like to keep challah for making french toast, sourdough for grilled cheese, toast, or croutons and this week I bought some yummy rosemary bread to do some fun stuff with. When I unwrap slices to use I keep the plastic wrap and foil paired together in a drawer. Then when I buy my next loaf I can reuse it, which helps cut down on waste and save money.

Twice As Nice

Since I am now officially on Christmas Vacation (YES!!!) I thought I would go ahead and post about tonight's dinner. Tomorrow will be filled with laundry, gift wrapping, and more cooking, so best to get it done before I forget. Tonight's meal is another one made in duplicate for the new mommy & daddy. For some reason last night I kept dreaming about this dish. That has never happened to me before, but I actually had several dreams through the course of the night that involved Spinach Lasagna. Every time I awoke from a dream I'd think to myself, "Oh yeah, I'm making Spinach Lasagna tomorrow night." When I got up this morning it was to the point that I was almost feeling hesitant about the evening's meal. It seemed like dreaming about lasagna couldn't be a good thing. Opposite to all foreboding the meal came together very easily. I was a little low on cheese, so I put together the dish for the freezer first. Wouldn't want to stiff the new parents on mozzarella. I had enough cheese in the end, as you know lasagna is so overly cheesy it wasn't a real problem being just a smidge low on it. This was really so easy I'm wondering why I hadn't been making two at a time all along, and saving myself twice the effort for two meals. Obviously this is isn't the first time that I've posted about the Spinach Lasagna, but this being such a fast, easy and healthy recipe I figured it definitely worth re-posting at this most hectic and indulgent time of year.

Spinach Lasagna
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 8












4 cups (32 oz.) whole-milk ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
Salt and fresh ground pepper
2 10 oz. packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove excess moisture
6 cups store-bought or homemade tomato sauce
12 no-boil lasagna noodles
1 lb. (4 cups) fontina cheese, shredded

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together ricotta cheese, eggs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add spinach, and stir well to combine.
• Spread a small bit of tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish or dishes. Arrange a layer of lasagna noodles on top. Spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture over the noodles, followed by 1/3 of the remaining sauce; sprinkle with 1/3 of the grated cheese. Repeat to make two more layers, ending with cheese. If freezing, cover tightly with plastic wrap. Before baking, defrost in the refrigerator overnight.
• Cover with aluminum foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil; continue baking until top is golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Let cool slightly before serving.

My notes: I always use part-skim ricotta, mozzarella in place of the fontina, and top it off with a little parmesan for good measure. I've been using aluminum 8" square pans for all the freezer goodies I've been packing, and with this recipe it was a little shallow, and a little weak. If using one of these yourself to freeze your second batch then I would suggest that you go a little thinner with your sauce. In my written directions to the couple I also suggested putting it on a baking sheet to cook, in case of any spill over. It was also a little harder to wrap the plastic wrap all the way around the pan, since it was very full and a little weighty, but I managed. Just an fyi to be careful. Or use something better than a slightly shallow aluminum pan, ha. Also, each 8" pan should serve four, but I can easily get 6 servings out of it.