A Warm, Hearty Meal

Today I woke up to a gloomy, wet morning, the kind where you just wanna stay cuddled up, all warm and cozy in bed and not do a damn thing for the rest of the day. Suffice to say, whilst I didn't quite make it to my yoga class as I'd intended, I was pretty productive, running some errands in town and squeezing in some baking for the poochies (a post on this will come soon). I also made dinner, which was a really quick and simple affair, with tasty results!

My first taste of a tuna noodle casserole came pretty late in the day, whilst my family and I were on vacation in Vancouver about two years ago. After four years of studying there and many meals at my aunt's place, she never once made her tuna casserole. But she pulled it out one evening when I finally made it back for a visit, saying she was too tired and couldn't be bothered to make anything fancy. Man! I loved it. It was so simple, but so yummy. I just couldn't get enough of it. So anyways... I decided to try and make it for myself tonight, seeing as today wasn't quite as warm as it usually gets in these parts. I don't have her recipe for it, but I saw this, and I thought it looked pretty darn tasty, so I gave it a go. I changed things a bit here and there to make things easier for myself; it's really up to you to tweak it as you see fit.Oops... didn't see the Roasted Garlic bit when I picked it up at the supermarket. Oh wells.The casserole is ready to be bunged in the oven.

Tuna Noodle Casserole
Ingredients:
8 oz. penne (I didn't have any egg noodles), cooked until al dente
1 can tuna, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup (mine had roasted garlic, I didn't realize this till I'd already plonked it in)
½ cup milk
1 cup frozen peas, cooked
½ cup or more grated cheddar cheese (I used a mix of red and white cheddar)
½ cup dried breadcrumbs
1 knob of butter, melted
freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Mix the first 6 ingredients together until well combined. I found that it's easier to mix the soup in with the milk before pouring it into the pasta/tuna/pea mix.
3. Spread mixture into a greased casserole dish. Mix together melted butter and breadcrumbs, then sprinkle over the top, followed by the cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes, and then serve piping hot.
There's nothing quite like a warm, hearty meal with which to end the day. Yum yum.