{"id":7250,"date":"2019-01-13T17:49:07","date_gmt":"2019-01-13T17:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.burnedatthesteak.com\/blog\/?p=7250"},"modified":"2019-02-18T18:07:49","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T18:07:49","slug":"single-mom-chronicles-jan-13th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.burnedatthesteak.com\/blog\/2019\/01\/13\/single-mom-chronicles-jan-13th\/","title":{"rendered":"Single Mom Chronicles Jan. 13th 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

January was always the tightest month for me. It was the recovering from Christmas month. While most folks were nursing hangovers, I was playing a shell game with utility bills. Some Januaries were worse than others in previous years. January was all about my carefully preserved precious leftovers, canned fish, and meatless meals as a single parent.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Luckily for me, my kid loved my tuna noodle casserole. In better Januaries, I made it with cream and two cans of tuna. Or one large one. In leaner years, it was one small can of tuna and a canned cream of celery soup. Yes, cream of celery. Not cream of mushroom. Ew. I discovered making this small switch made tuna noodle casserole night go from horrifying to glorious in getting my kid to eat it. And it’s how I got him to eat peas.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Sure, it’s cliche. But it’s a tasty cliche and the whole thing cost me about five or six bucks. Everything that goes in it is about a dollar each. Ish. Since I was only cooking for two, there was always at least two servings leftover that my kid would toss in the microwave the next day. And that’s after eating two giant helpings on the night I made it!<\/p>\r\n

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Hubs was introduced to my budget version of this dish while we were dating. Hey, we can’t all be culinary masters of the universe all the time. Luckily, Hubs wasn’t the boojie type, although he loves it when I make boojie food, too. Since we’ve been married, I’ve made a lot less tuna noodle casseroles. So when I DO make it, everyone is like, “Yayyy!!!” I mean, you can’t beat that kind of enthusiasm for such a cliche old timey dish.<\/p>\r\n

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I’ve experimented over the years. With cheese, with no cheese. With bread cubes, with bread crumbs. With white wine…because why not?! Peas or no peas. And on and on. I’ve never researched a recipe for the old school casserole, so for fun I consulted The Googles.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Wow. People are putting all kinds of things on top from corn flakes to crackers to chips. Just eat the chips! Most all of the recipes included copious amount of cheddar cheese. I’ve never been a fan of the cheese fish combo, especially cheddar. But that’s just me and my weirdness. Like, I don’t wake up and think, “I’d sure like to have some canned tuna drowning in cheddar cheese with some corn flakes on top!” That’s not a thing. Oh, and some peas. No.<\/p>\r\n

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I have come to settle on a few must haves regardless of whether or not I do an upscale version. Yes, you can actually upscale a tuna noodle casserole. You can even merge the two versions! I posted both recipes. Because gurrrrlllll….some Januaries are just leaner than others. For reals. Big love to all the single parents out there. January is almost over! Breathe!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Tuna Noodle Casserole On A Budget<\/h2>\n
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Ingredients<\/h3>