Tuna Asparagus Casserole

I like comfort food.  Do you?  Good.  Now some people may wrinkle their nose at this one because of traumatic childhood experiences but this brings back memories of Tuna Helper from back in the day.  I lived on that stuff when I was a kid and when we were first married.  Much to the Mr's lament I would dump a can of peas in it because that's how I liked it when I was little.  I still giggle thinking of him shoveling them into his noodle hole just trying to get them over with.  Now he doesn't mind peas so much but will still eat them first to get them over with but not with the same look of disgust or trauma.  

I was craving some tuna casserole big time and remembered I had some no yolks fine noodles still sitting in a mason jar waiting to be used.  So I whipped up this pea-less bad boy...

See that, I still snuck some green veggies in there but the kind the Mr will happily eat.  This isn't just a spring dish when asparagus is in season either, oh no it's not, this uses frozen asparagus so you can whip them together any time.   Interested?  Even if you said no, let's pretend you are and get to it.  :-)

Tuna Asparagus Casserole
(Makes 3 servings)

3 cups Manischewitz No Yolks Fine Egg Noodles
3/4 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup skim milk
1 can tuna in water (drained and rinsed three times)
24 frozen asparagus spears, snapped into pieces
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup Ian's Whole Wheat Panko
4 tsp Trader Joe's grated parmesan and romano blend cheese


In a sauce pan, bring water to a boil and add the pasta cooking as directed.

In another saucepan on low heat add the skim milk and as it heats up, make a slurry with the water and cornstarch and add it to the milk stirring constantly.

Snap the frozen asparagus into pieces.

Just before you're ready to bring the sauce together and the pasta is cooked, bring the heat down to low and add the asparagus to the pasta and give a quick stir.

Add the cheese to the milk and stir over medium heat.

Add nutmeg, pepper, garlic powder and thyme and stir in.

Open, wash and drain tuna fish.

Add to the noodles and give a good stir.

When the sauce has come together, add it to the noodles.

Stir together then in a small bowl combine the panko and parmesan romano cheese.  Decide if you'd like to transfer this to a dish, sprinkle the panko on top and bake it until brown or sprinkle it on top of each serving on the plate.

Enjoy!

Nutritional Information per serving:  Calories 333  Total Fat 8g  Sat Fat Cholesterol 41mg  Sodium  344mg  Potassium 63mg  Total Carbs 41g  Fiber 3g  Protein 25g  Vitamin A 13%  Vitamin C 13%  Calcium 35%  Iron 11%

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