Recipe W.O.W. Re-DO #1: Tuna Casserole

Well, since I started my blog a week ago, I've been flooded with wild, crazy, and random blog post ideas! Of course I have no time or capacity to act on 90% of them. But, we'll keep stabbing at this bogging thing until we get a good rhythm going. One of my avid interests is cooking, and especially natural, whole-foods-with-a-gourmet-twist cooking. Those who know me may say several things about my cooking (most of it not to my face, I'm sure!), but I'm pretty sure that no one would say that it's boring. I love to squeeze out my creative juices in the kitchen. Maybe because we all have to eat, and so with such little time for "creative outlets", I figure I can kill two birds with one stone! Or at least roast one and deep fry the other... ;)

Actually, one of our family jokes is that you better eat plenty if you like what you eat at Debra's house, because it may never be repeated! I'm seriously that eccentric. I think one year when my cooking interest was really exploding, I would try up to 5 new recipes each week, and not repeat anything for months! Weird, I know. I would ask Scott, "What should I make for the missionaries this Friday? I can't make something new; I want to make sure that I know is going to be good.", and he would sit there, dumbfounded, trying to think of anything that I had made twice in the last 6 months! We would laugh and laugh.

4 children later, I've calmed down quite a bit. We certainly have our fair share of pizza (whole wheat crust from TJ's of course) and mac n' cheese (always organic!), and we even have seasons of true crisis when you may see a hotdog gracing my table (those are dark days...) but overall I really try to keep things at a certain baseline, 'healthful' (to coin a Rachel Ray term) standard.

Anyway, I've decided to started a regular post, a series, if you will of recipes that I'm developing, surprises in the kitchen, and generally all-natural, whole-foods, family friendly eating. I'll call it: "Recipe W.O.W. Re-DO". Now let me explain the strange title briefly (don't worry I'm bound to elaborate lots on this later). The acronym W.O.W. stands for "Word of Wisdom" of course, which I have dedicated a lifetime to the detailed study and adoption of, especially the DO's, which get pretty well ignored by those who profess to live this law. So lately I've been trying to overhaul classic, beloved comfort foods and family recipes to take out the ingredients that are more in the terrestrial and telestial arena. So that's where the "Re-DO" part comes in. Not all of my entries will be recipe make-overs, but here's where I'll start.

So this week my kids had their ortho appts, and of course by dinnertime that night neither of them can chew anything that grows above or below the ground in their near-natural form. After searching all 5 medicine cabinets for the Advil (we don't use it that often, I guess) and distributing it, I decided to take it easy on the raw foods and go to a comfort dish. Joshua is a HUGE tuna fan, so I decided to make tuna casserole, with all the comfort, and non of the condensed soup, bottles or powders. Here's my Re-DO:
Tuna Casserole
(Don't worry about exact amounts, I never do!)

Olive Oil

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

2-3 chopped green onions (with all the white and most of the green)

1 clove garlic, minced

2 carrots, sliced

2 cups frozen peas

1/2 cup chopped roasted red bell pepper (I use bottled now, you can get it at Costco or TJ's)

2 6 oz. cans tuna (now, I used some really yummy chunk packed in olive oil, which gives it all kinds of flavor, but use what you like)

3 cups dry corkscrew-style pasta (I used a multi-colored one from TJ's), or egg noodles (white noodles, you say? How can that be healthy? Cook it very firm, and use high quality pasta, and the glycemic index is almost the same as wheat pasta, without the cardboard! Then add nutrient rich ingredients to the rest of the dish.)

1/2 cup milk (I use whole raw organic, but of course that's another blog post altogether...)

1/2 cups Best Foods mayo (be generous, and add more if you want it creamier)

1/2 cup organic sour cream (same note as for the mayo)

1/2 cup grated parmesano romano cheese (please use fresh and grate it fine... it is totally worth it! Grate a lot ahead and keep it in your fridge)

1 cup homemade Italian bread cubes/crumbs (whenever we are at the end of a good crusty french or whole grain loaf, I cube the bread small, and lay it out on a cookie sheet for a few days until it's dry. Then store it in a sealed container or baggie and oila! You've got homemade bread crumbs without all the MSG and whatever else they like to throw in it. If you want fine crumbs, just throw the cubes in your food processor.)

2 tsp brown mustard? (I actually didn't put it in this time, but I think I will next time. It will give it a little bite, which would cut through the creaminess some)

Preheat oven to 350 deg. Spray your 2 quart deep casserole. Bring a large pot of SALTED water to boil, and toss in noodles. Cook al dente; very firm. Drain. In a skillet, drizzle a bit of olive oil, add green onions, garlic, carrots, peas, and bell pepper. Season with s & p and cook down. Add the drained tuna and stir to combine. In a mixing bowl, combine sour cream, mayo, mustard, milk, and more s& p (taste this sauce, it should be a little salty, or the noodles will absorb everything in the oven and you will have a bland dish).Combine pasta, veggies, and sauce; transfer to casserole dish. In a small bowl (or the empty skillet!) combine the grated parm and bread crumbs. Sprinkle on top. Bake for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. YUM!!

Sorry for the long post... but let me just say, that there were no left overs!