Putting a Spin on the Family Casserole

How many people grew up in a family where frugality and home cooking went together hand in hand? Where the weekly casserole contained some type of condensed soup or the meatloaf consisted of the weeks leftovers. Jell-o salads seemed to be at every potluck and the coffee brewing in the kitchen was Folgers from the big red can.

Growing up with a mother who was raised Mennonite was both a culinary dream and nightmare. I grew up with a large garden eating fresh vegetables, homemade pies, cookies, bread with current jelly, cinnamon rolls, and of course the Mennonite staple; casseroles. We never had TV dinners or any type of convenience food, except perhaps the occasional frozen pizza and lunch meat for sandwiches. My father seemed to step-up the diversity by preparing slightly more exotic dishes such as spaghetti, still with home canned tomatoes, or tacos with homemade salsa or hot sauce. However, all this home cooked goodness lacked a few things. Ethnic foods were unknown to me. Hummus, pesto, nori rolls, and curries, all foods I take for granted now, were not introduced to me until around college. I never even had a bagel until I was like 18.

Today, I try to blend the simplicity of the foods I grew up with, but still mix in a variety of cultures and other foods. I buy a variety of grains in bulk-couscous, millet, barley, rice,etc to use for the breads I bake. My morning oatmeal varies from cinnamon raisin to banana walnut to apricot with maple syrup, instead of only the honey and raisin I grew up with. There are a couple types of seaweed in my cupboard and miso in my refrigerator.

But sometimes I get a craving for one of my mothers traditional meals. One that often appeared on the dinner table was tuna and noodle casserole, homemade chunky applesauce, and garden peas. Well over the years I have slowly adopted the tuna casserole to blend with my own eating habits. It no longer contains condensed cream of mushroom soup, but instead Amy's or Imagine's soup-or my own if I'm extra ambitious. The noodles are a good quality egg noodle. The mushrooms are fresh-usually portabella or crimini. Instead of the saltine crackers mixed with butter for the crispy topping I use crushed kettle chips. And the result: A childhood comfort food to fit my new taste buds.

Tuna and Noodle Casserole

8-10 oz of Egg Noodles
2 Small cans of Tuna (not drained)
16 oz of Mushroom Soup
1 stalk of celery
1-2 C of mushrooms
1 C shredded cheese (optional) I prefer cheddar or Gouda
1 C crushed kettle chips (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

*Cook noodles, drain, and place in a casserole dish
*saute celery and mushrooms just until the mushrooms begin to release their juices
*Add celery and mushrooms, undrained tuna, soup, and cheese if using to the noodles and mix together (If it seems to dry add some more soup, milk, broth, or even water
*add salt and pepper
*Bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes, remove and add chips to the top
*Bake for another 15 minutes
*Serve with chunky applesauce and peas-oh wait that's just me

Some of the new ingredients
Adding the contents

I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets a hankering for a food from his childhood. What foods do you often think about from your childhood-good or bad?