The cassorole

I found myself craving tuna casserole.  Food isn't very appealing to me these days; so when I had a craving I thought I should see it through.  My mother in law offered to watch Aubrey so I could run out to the store but instead I thought I should use what I had in the house.  As I reached for noodles all I had was pappardelle and not very much of it and I was all out of mushroom soup mix; this actually forced me to make the sauce from scratch which is actually much tastier anyways! 

To stretch the noodles I used onion, mushrooms and red pepper as filler. 

I got my noodles cooking and while that was happening I sautéed the onions, mushrooms and red pepper; really carmelizing them and getting rid of all the water.  

I seasoned them salt and pepper.  I put all this garnish in a big bowl.  Once the noodles were done I drained them and added them to the bowl along with a drained can of tuna.  

Now for the sauce; using the same pot I cooked the noodles in I melted about 3 tbsp of butter and mixed in 3 tbsp of flour.  I cooked this until combined and then added  2 cups of milk and seasoned with salt and pepper.  

I realized I had about a 1/4 cup of whipping cream in the fridge to use up; so I added that in.

Once this came to a low boil and thickened slightly I whisked in 1&1/2 cups of cheese.  I used a mixture that was pre-shredded. 

 I tasted this to make sure it was seasoned how I like and then I poured this over everything and gently made sure everything was coated with the sauce and mixed thoroughly.  

I poured this in a small baking dish, topped with cheese and baked for 35 minutes at 375F convection.

I share this to show the simplicity of making a cream sauce; you could do any type of casserole with this base. I'm sure flour, butter and milk are pretty much staples in people's cupboards and refrigerators so have fun experimenting and don't be intimidated!!! 

And who says you can't eat dinner at a quarter to four in the afternoon?!