This weekend I looked to my trusty Betty Crocker Cookbook for a recipe. This cookbook is very dear to my heart because my mom has one very similar that she has used my entire life. I would look through it for hours while she would be cooking or baking and dream about all the amazing food we could make. Last Christmas, she bought me one of my own and I love it! I haven’t made many recipes with it, but I’m already loving the ones I have tried.

I went with the Tuna-Pasta Casserole because I had almost all of the ingredients, it seemed easy enough, and it sounded like something that would reheat fairly easily.

Here are the ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups uncooked medium pasta shells or elbow macaroni (3 to 4 oz)
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup shredded sharp process American or cheddar cheese (4 oz)
• 2 cups broccoli flowerets, cooked until crisp-tender and drained*
• 2 cans (6 oz each) tuna in water, drained

Crumb Topping**

• 2/3 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted

*1 cup uncooked frozen (thawed) green peas can be substituted for the broccoli.
**2/3 cup crushed potato chips can be substituted for the Crumb Topping.
Serves 6

The only thing I did differently was leaving out the broccoli because I didn’t have any. The only thing I had to buy was the bread crumbs, which store well and can be used in many things.

Here are the directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook and drain pasta as directed on package.
3. Meanwhile, in 1 1/2-quart saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Stir in flower and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly; remove from heat. Gradually stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in cheese until melted.
4. Stir in pasta, broccoli and tuna; mix well. Spoon into ungreased 2-quart casserole. Cover and bake about 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

5. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix topping ingredients. Sprinkle topping over casserole. Bake uncovered about 5 minutes longer or until topping is toasted.

And there you have it. This recipe claims to serve 6, but it did not make nearly as much as last week’s Belly Buster. This still should last me all week because I will be going out with my roommates one night and with San and his friends another. I tried it last night and offered a bite to my roommate, who is a very picky eater, and she really loved it – so much in fact that she said I need to offer her cooking lessons (ha! She just doesn’t know how easy it is to make these kinds of casseroles). I think this would be a definite family-pleaser and is easy enough to make at night or make and reheat for later.

Did you have any good eats this weekend? Please spill!

This post is a part of Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.