Good Ol' Fashioned Tuna Noodle Casserole

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  This recipe I'm about to post is about as far from turkey as you can get.  But we're all pretty sick of that stuff by now, right?  Hope you all got your fill of the good stuff this weekend.  Here's a good make-more-to-store weeknight dish, inspired by my cousin Kate's recent blog post which covered the tuna-noodle situation.  Can't go wrong!  I added leeks, mushrooms and nutmeg to give it a nice wintery feel.  And although you don't necessarily need to be as careful as I'm being, I cut back on fat by using skim milk and low-fat cream cheese.  Enjoy!

Tuna Noodle Casserole
Makes 8 servings (6 points each)

8 oz. whole wheat wide noodles
2 tsp. butter
2 leeks, halved lengthwise, cleaned, and sliced thin
1 lb. cremini mushrooms, cleaned, destemmed and chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 3/4 cups fat free milk
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup lowfat cream cheese
zest from one lemon
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 5-oz. cans albacore tuna in water, drained and flaked
salt and white pepper to taste
1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add salt and noodles and continue cooking, covered, according to package instructions.  Drain, toss with a bit of pasta water to prevent sticking, and set aside in a large bowl.

Preheat oven to 375F degrees and lightly grease a 2 quart baking dish.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the leeks, mushrooms, and carrots and cook until slightly softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the flour and cook another 1 minute.  Stir in the milk, mustard, cream cheese, lemon zest, and nutmeg.  Stir and simmer 10-15 minutes, until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.

Add the sauce and the tuna to the pasta and combine.  Taste and season to your liking with salt and white pepper.  Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and sprinkle the top with the bread crumbs.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the contents are bubbling and the top is golden.  Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes before serving.  Will keep up to 5 days covered in the refrigerator.

Soup's on!

Sometimes my home-kitchen explorations leave me feeling much like the little rat from the Pixar flick "Ratatouille": bedazzled by the perfect pairing of certain foods. Take, for instance, the fragrant marriages of carrots and ginger, and onion and cumin...
And meld that with earthy lentils and sweet dried apricots:
Put it all together in a soup pot with some chicken stock, and you've got yourself some really delicious soup, blended till silky smooth and easy to store and reheat on a cold winter day.
Turkish Apricot & Lentil Soup (adapted from 101cookbooks)
Makes about 6 cups

- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger (or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger)
- 1-1/2 cups red lentils, rinsed
- 5 cups chicken stock (or water)
- 6 oz. dried Turkish apricots, chopped
- salt to taste

1. Sweat the onion and carrot in oil over medium heat, about 10 minutes. Add the cumin and ginger, lower heat to medium-low, and cover for 10 more minutes.
2. Add the lentils and chicken stock. Simmer for about 20 minutes, until the lentils fall apart and the flavors and come together. Add salt to taste.
3. Remove from heat, stir in the apricots, and adjust seasoning. Also, you can add more liquid here if necessary.
4. Once cooled a bit, puree in a blender until totally smooth. Serve hot with some toasted baguette, or let cool and store in containers, up to 3 months in the freezer.

Happy fall! Welcome back, soup season...