tuna casserole

To make sauce:

Melt 1/2 stick of butter in saucepan over low heat.

Slowly add about 1/4 cup flour to melted butter, stirring constantly.

When the butter and flour mixture thickens, gradually add 2 cups milk.

Stir over low heat until sauce is thick and creamy.

Add 4 ounces grated cheddar cheese.


Add 12 ounces drained canned tuna packed in water.

To prepare noodles:

Boil a pot of water and cook pasta according to package directions.

Drain cooked pasta and add cheese and tuna sauce.
Mix thoroughly and serve warm

sauteed cucumbers in butter sauce

Cucumber saute ingredients:

oil
1 cucumber, sliced
lemon juice

Slice cucumber.
Saute in oil.
Splash lemon juice across the bottom of the skillet.
Simmer until cucumber slices tender.

Sauce:

Melt 1 and 1/2 sticks butter

Throw in:
2 tablespoons lemon pepper
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons salt

Stir to mix.

Both the cucumber saute and the butter sauce go well over a pot of cooked pasta!

Swedish meatballs

Serves 6.

For meatballs, mix together:

1.5 pounds lean ground beef
1 cup rolled oats
1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon cardamon
salt and pepper to taste
moisten with a little milk, if mixture too dry
(Optional: add 1/2 chopped white onion for zestier flavor)

Shape mixture into small balls.

Brown meatballs in large skillet.

Add 1 quart water and simmer meatballs.

To make brown gravy:

When water is reduced and meatballs cooked thoroughly, reduce heat and add 3 cups milk to skillet.

Continue cooking at low temperature. While stirring sauce, sprinkle in 3/4 cup flour as thickener.

Stir as sauce thickens.

Serve meatballs with sauce over egg noodles. (Prepare noodles according to package directions.)

Bon appetit!

***

Review:

Everyone liked this recipe.

3 forks for bland, but good

wagon wheel beef soup

This was a spur-of-the-moment lunch item one recent October day . . .

Serves four.

Heat a large can Campbell's Vegetable Beef Soup, per directions on the can.

In a separate saucepan, prepare 1 package wagon wheel pasta according to the directions on the package. (We tried the mini wagon wheels by Barilla. The pasta size matched the soup very well.)

When the pasta is cooked, drain thoroughly.

Add to the hot Vegetable Beef soup and stir thoroughly.

Top with generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Serve and enjoy!

***

Review:

Rating: 4 forks
My diners loved the recipe.

Chili spaghetti

Chili spaghetti is a hearty entree for a hungry crowd. It is also a great way to use up leftover chili from the previous day.

Chili may be made with or without meat. When I use meat, I use 1 pound lowfat ground meat for every 4 servings.

In a large stove-top pot, brown the ground meat with onion and sweet peppers, both red and green if you like. (If you are making vegetarian chili, simply omit the meat.)

When the ingredients are sufficiently sauteed, add your favorite canned chili beans to the browned, ground meat (or the sauteed onion and sweet peppers, for vegetarian chili). Add canned diced tomatoes or tomato sauce. Canned sweet corn or hominy is good to add, too.

Season to taste with salt, pepper, and chili powder.

Before serving, cook pasta per package directions. Drain pasta and mix with the heated chili.

Serve onto shallow bowl plates with Parmesan or cheddar cheese topping.
chili spaghetti makes a great entree for meals with diners arriving throughout the evening.

Serving suggestion:

Great with hot corn bread!

Ramen bok choy

Okay, a success! After yesterday's abject failure, I tried bok choy (three servings) again. This time, I stir fried chopped fresh bok choy in canola oil with:

6 largish fresh white mushrooms
6 chopped strips of turkey bacon
1 handful of roasted sunflower seeds
a quick dusting of garlic powder
an even quicker dusting of powdered ginger

Meanwhile I cooked three individual serving size packages of ramen noodles in boiling water for about three minutes. I drained the ramen noodles, and divided them among three shallow bowls.

I reheated the stir-fried mixture, added three eggs, and stirred the eggs (plus cooked ingredients) until the eggs were totally cooked. Then spooned the hot stir-fry mixture over the ramen noodles.

For color and complementary flavor, I accompanied the stir-fry with fresh plums.

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Review:

My diners had the option of further seasoning their stir-fry with soy sauce, fresh ground black pepper, or with the powdered seasoning pre-packaged with the ramen noodles.

• The soy-sauce-seasoning diner said the dish was excellent! He figured out the "crunchy things" were sunflower seeds and commented favorably on them.

• The other diners opted for some of the ramen noodle pre-packaged seasoning as an additional flavoring, as well as a bit of fresh ground pepper. They agreed that the ramen noodles were too dry -- perhaps too well-drained before the stir fry was added.