Cream Cheese | Dolly Domestic

Well, talk about a let down for the last day. No shopping. No eating out. We had great, big sandwiches (with the slice ham and rolls from Sam’s yesterday) for dinner. Everyone was sort of doing his or her own thing so dinner was a non-event today. Andy and I ate together, my other son was hanging out with friends. Mike ate later (finishing off the last of the shredded beef). Normally we all eat at the table together — every night. Always have. I know my boys don’t realize it yet, but it’s a tradition they’ll likely miss at some point in their lives.

While I didn’t put much effort into the meal, I did manage to use up a bunch of cream cheese and eggs and made a cheesecake. Big sucker, too! With a nice fresh strawberry topping. I had to do something with those strawberries I splurged on before they went to waste. Plus, I made use of 2 pounds of cream cheese (I still have three 8-oz. packages).

A late afternoon trip to the bookstore to look over college directories with my 17 year old prompted a treat at the Starbucks. Cost: $6.24. It was a nice treat, and not all that expensive, but considering it cost about 3 time what I spent making dinner… Well, you get the picture.

Dinner tonight was a tuna casserole. The tuna was free with coupons a few months back, and the pasta was probably 5 cents after triple coupons. I served the casserole with canned green beans. Sort of ridiculous, since I have beans growing in the back yard, but we didn’t get home until about 6:30 and had to rush out back and help my husband lift and position a wall for the workshop he’s building. I know some people don’t like canned green beans, but we do, and in fact *I* prefer them over frozen green beans (unless I’m the one who froze them).

Here’s the tuna casserole recipe:

Tuna Casserole

1 cup elbow macaroni (I used spirals)
3 oz cream cheese
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup milk
1 Tbsp prepared mustard
1 can Tuna, Light, Canned in Water — drained (or 1 pouch)
1 Tbsp. Onion — chopped
1 2-oz. jar chopped pimento — drained (optional)
1 4-oz. can mushroom pieces — drained (optional)
Potato chips — crushed

Cook macaroni according to package directions and drain. Soften cream cheese and blend in cream of mushroom soup, using electric beater or wire whisk. Stir in milk and mustard until blended. Add in drained tuna, pimento (optional), onion and mushrooms (optional). Fold in cooked macaroni. Spray a 1 1/2 qt. covered casserole dish with cooking spray and transfer tuna mixture to casserole dish. Top with crushed potato chips and cover. Bake at 375 degerees F for 20 minutes. Remove lid and bake for 5 more minutes.

Recipe Notes My family LOVES this recipe. I don’t usually have chips so I use crushed saltines.