You can use this recipe as a guide and substitute or add asparagus and different seasoning. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table Tuna Casserole/or Turkey ============== Source: My Own I am not a big fan of casseroles but I do like this one.Substitute leftover turkey for the tuna. 8 Tablespoons butter 1/4 all purpose flour 2 1/2 cups milk or mixture of milk and cream 2 garlic cloves 2 cans white tuna, well drained 1 cup mushrooms sliced 1/2 cup chopped green onions 1/2 cup chopped celery 1 tablespoon fresh thyme 8 ounces penne (or use pasta shape of your choice) 1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs saute in butter 3 Tablespoons parmesan cheese . Put water on to boil and cook pasta. Do not overcook pasta as it will cook again in the oven. Heat milk in microwave with whole garlic cloves. Make a roux with 4 tablespoons butter and 1/4 cup flour. Add milk or cream and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for a few minutes and remove garlic cloves. Saute mushrooms, onions and celery in butter or margarine until tender. Add the thyme. Stir this mixture into the cream sauce. Add well drained pasta to sauce and stir in tuna. Leave tuna in fair size pieces. Place in buttered casserole dish and sprinkle with breadcrumbs to which you have added the parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until crumbs are golden in a 350°F oven.

Ruthanna hit the nail on the head. Heat-and-eat and ready-to-eat foods work best. I teach cooking/nutrition classes at our local Food Bank, and more often than not, it's the children in the family who do the "cooking". Depending on the economy, it's mainly substance abusers and the learning disabled folks who frequent the food bank, not necessarily people who are down on their luck. Food preparation is not a priority for most of the folks. Having something to eat, is. Many have only a few pans or a skillet, and most depend on a hot plate or a small microwave for food preparation. Many live in a cheap hotel room, not a house, and don't always have a refrigerator. Beans of all varieties are plentiful at the food bank, but many people don't like them, have no knowledge of how to prepare them, or an inclination to cook something that takes so long, and will give them back to the food bank if they find them in their bags. I've had some luck teaching a class on how to "cook" beans and rice in a Thermos bottle using boiling water, but had to provide the Thermos bottles. Tortillas and cans of refried beans seem to work better than beans they need to cook, plus it's a complete protein (grain/legume). We mill beans into bean flour so they can make "instant" refried beans (cooking bean flour and water for a few minutes), and this has worked well for many of the folks. I base many recipes on USDA commodity foods. Those are foods people may commonly get free and need recipes and help using. -Grainlady

This is my version of the tuna casserole I make we love it. Tuna Casserole,Spiced UP 12 oz. Pack egg noodles 1large can Tuna drained(12oz) 1can sweet peas or cut up asparagus(cooked and drained) 1 small green pepper finely chopped 1cup grated Colby jack cheese 1cup grated Colby jack cheese 1cup chopped fresh mushrooms ý tsp salt 1/3tsp pepper 1/2tsp Cajun seasoning ( like Tonys) 1can mushroom or celery cream of soup 1/3 cup milk 2slices pepper jack cheese shredded Boil noodles for 5 mins then let sit in hot water an additional 5 mins then drain and put in large mixing bowl Add to mixing bowl all ingredients except one cup of grated cheese. Mix well. In a 2 ý qt casserole or a 13x9 that has been sprayed with pam pour in the ingredients from the mixing bowl. Top with the additional cup of cheese. Bake at 325 for 30 mins or so till nice and bubbly and the cheese is well melted. This makes a lot! Feeds easily 4 to 6. If you do it in a 2 ý qt dish it will be very full! *optional chopped celery

We are all triangles, lol. Such an interesting observation about the internet and forums. I know eyes probably roll at most of my posts, but someone somewhere might use my non-recipe jumble way of cooking or use a hint since we cut out most sugars and salts a long time ago. Mentioning pharmacists Barb...i've done the same. I wandered into a pharmacist in the city....seems to be one on every NYC block...two young girls behind the counter, young meaning younger, probably early thirties. This was a couple years ago, but i decided to ask about a possible urinary tract infection and we ended up chatting for 20 minutes. They were so helpful and suggested a non-invasive over the counter thing to try first before seeing my primary care as i just had no time...they were a fantastic wealth of information. And made me promise to seek doctor help if it was not solved in a few days. Researching on our own is just good knowledge to have along with your primary care office. We really are responsible for our own basic needs at home and to eat as healthy as we can. It is difficult to start making changes to a dish that is so familiar but i feel pretty shitty after eating comfort food. DH made red-eye gravy, scratch biscuits, the day after a party. With leftovers after i made a de-salted roasted ham NewYears day...we ate tiny portions and it was a treat, then felt crappy all day. We just don't eat that way anymore. (it was delish going in!) Not had tuna casserole since my my mother made it when i was a kid. Loaded with wasted calories. Lots of ways to replace that with vegetables and still be creamy and filling. I've been making a no-mayo nicoise tuna salad for years. Even better, With your prep bowls...6 or 8 soup bowls near your chopping block...chop a half red onion, or white, a half red pepper, a couple ribs of celery, some green onion...pull some peas, limas, spinach, out of the freezer,,,,(i buy the bags over the rectangle cube boxes from the freezer section). Any good veg choices you like...) in the bags you can just take a handful, then wrap it back up with a rubber band. A veg in each bowl, the frozen as well and they start to thaw a bit. Some olives if you like them, capers if you have them. A half a chopped apple and some lemon zest with a 1/4 juice...grate a couple cups of cauliflower. Or chop. Even chopped mushrooms. Saute your onions and celery, grated carrot, garlic...whatever you want and place in the bottom of a casserole, add all other veg and layer with tuna and cooked rice pasta or regular egg noodles but use a 1/4 portion. Just replace all that pasta with 3/4 veg. Cauliflower is such a great pasta/rice replacement. We use non-fat greek yogurt mixed with cottage cheese, feta, or a slice of goat cheese...we like all of those and usually have them on hand. I use a bit of water but skim milk is a good choice for some moisture. And egg stirred in is good but not necessary. I always have citrus ice cubes frozen with some herbs. a couple of those on top...cover and bake...then cover off near the end of oven cooking to get a nice bubbly light brown top. Browning a bit adds flavor. Packed with lots of veggie you can eat a bit more. The rest of the fresh chopped veg and apple/lemon/herb, olives etc goes into a fresh tuna salad for the next day or two. Cucumber and avocado is super on that salad. You then have a crisper drawer of leftover veg not cut up for another few meals at the end of the week. Half a red pepper, half and onion, etc. My veggie lasagna and Shipwreck pie, both are 75% veg and keep winning cooking contests. Because they are baked casserole dishes they have all the elements of comfort food without the high starches and empty calories though very filling and comforting...and we don't feel shitty the next day.