Hi friends, I hope your week is going well so far! The other night Casey and I looked at each other and started that dialog I always dread… “What do you want for dinner”, “I don’t know, what do you want?”, “Nothing sounds good to me”, “Me either – should we order pizza?”. On these particular nights, we always want to order something terrible for us because it’s easier than actually trying to think of something, but we know we should just suck it up and eat healthy, spend no money and make something with what we have in the pantry. So, I’ve got a great little recipe to share with you today – and I’m proud to say that it was completely made up of foods we already had in the house (no grocery store trip required!) It made plenty for the two of us + leftovers and Dane even loved it. You could literally sub any of the protein and veggies for other things, so use your imagination!
What you need:
- Protein of some kind. We had grilled turkey breast that was shredded in the fridge. You could use ground beef, chicken, tuna or really anything
- Veggies: We had half a bunch of leftover asparagus in the crisper. You could literally use anything here – fresh, frozen or from a can
- Noodles: We used two partially used bags of egg noodles
- 2 cans cream of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken would work too!) I almost always have these in our pantry, they are the perfect started for sauces, casseroles and so much more
- 1 large scoop (3/4 cup) sour cream
- 1 cup shredded cheese – we had cheddar in the fridge
- 1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- S+P to taste
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray your baking dish – I used a 15×10 glass Pyrex. While the oven is preheating get a big pot of water boiling to get your pasta cooked, no need to fully finish cooking it because you’ll be putting it in the oven to finish. I would cook it just a few minutes short of the package directions. Chop your protein and veggies into roughly the same size pieces so they cook evenly. Add protein, veggies, noodles (make sure they’re cooled down), mushroom soup, sour cream, 1/2 cheese (leave 1/2 reserved), Worcestershire sauce, spices and salt and pepper to a big bowl and stir to combine everything. I taste the mixture at this point to see if it needs anything spice-wise. Next up, add everything to your baking dish and top with the remaining cheese. Bake your casserole for approximately 40 minutes and make sure to let it sit for about 15 minutes before cutting into it so it has time to set.
Though this was a completely thrown together meal – we both agreed it was delicious, easy and cost effective. Anything with cream of mushroom soup isn’t exactly healthy – but it was a great solution when we were in food limbo. Casseroles are totally a WI comfort food and I have quite a few more recipes just like this that we make throughout the colder months. In fact, before Dane was born we spent a Sunday afternoon making freezer meals out of recipes like this one. They last for a long time, thaw out easily and make for a quick weeknight dinner when you’re too tired to cook!
Happy pantry rummaging!
Staying Martha 