Comfort Food

I'm eating leftover tuna noodle casserole for lunch. For some reason, I had this intense craving for this dish so I made it for supper last night.

Growing up, this was a staple in the repertoire. Canned tuna. A can of Cream of Mushroom Soup. A soup can of milk. Egg noodles. 350 for 45 minutes. Serve. This was enough to serve the 6 of us with vegetables on the side. I used to make it years ago, a lot, because there were two meals from this. I can't remember the last time I made it. It has to be more than 10 years ago.

I don't know what triggered this longing for something of my youth. It's been the last 2 weeks that the urge to make this has been the strongest. I can't stand cream of fungus soup (My grandmother put it in everything.) so I use the low fat cream of chicken soup and a half can of milk. I also don't add as many noodles as I remember my mother adding, but everything else is the same. I made it last night with rotini pasta. I nuked frozen peas and carrots and made tapioca pudding and it was a perfect meal for a brutally cold night.

Plus, I have leftovers and my kitchen was warm for a couple hours while the casserole baked. I now have a craving for scalloped ham and potatoes and Pam was talking about porcupine meatballs which is a Christmas dinner staple at her house. I want to bake snickerdoodles and maybe make some sugar cookies in heart shapes. Nothing like starting the year in retro mode.

Maybe it's part of a whole change in view. I want to retreat from some portions of my hectic life and go back to a simpler time. Part of that mindset is recreating those foods I remember with fondness. A small benefit to this is that what I crave made enough to feed the third battalion. Leftovers for lunch keep me out of the fast food joints spending money I don't need to spend when I have a box of chicken breasts in the freezer. I just need to buy the occasional item to go with the main course. It makes me more financially sound, too. This is pure win.

Now, can I keep it up for the entire month?

Beverage: Lapsang Souchong tea

Deb