Glub, glub rectangle

Well it's a damn good thing I didn't create a cooking blog like I originally considered because it would be a nearly blank blog. Mike & I aren't starving, I just haven't made a whole lot recently that would deserve a pic and a post.

This one is really for Tanya. I'm being a good girl and making my lunches for work more regularly this year. It's one of my 'school years resolutions' - hopefully I don't break it. So I made a tuna casserole last weekend, cut it into 8 portions and froze the individual portions. Easy peasy lunches. That's the key to me keeping this resolution, I have to make my lunches in advance because there's no way I'll be doing it in the morning, 6am sucks bad enough without adding an extra task to my morning routine. Anyways, Tanya is trying to behave herself and make her lunches too so I brought her in a sample of my casserole. UGH, why does the thought of me making a casserole make me feel ancient? It's the word, I don't like it. casserole. Maybe I should come up with a new word to replace that one, I don't even like the way it sounds in my head when I read it. Let's go with rectangle. A "glub glub rectangle" -- the modern woman's tuna casserole. There we go, problem solved.

Sorry, back to Tanya. She liked the rectangle and wants the recipe so here we are. I'm a dork and knew I would end up posting this so yes I took a picture of the rectangle and trust me when I say it tastes better than it looks. I'm posting the pic taken from the side because the one taken from above makes the rectangle look a bit like dog puke. Yum.

This is a weight watchers recipe - 6 points per serving if you cut it into 4 but I knock it down to 3 points for 8 servings. Small servings this way but for lunch it's perfect with a salad.


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup medium egg noodles
2 onions chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 green, red or yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
2/3 cup thawed frozen corn kernels (i use canned)
1 small can cream of mushroom soup
2 cans chunk light water packed tuna, drained and flaked
1/2 cup fat free milk (I use 1%)
2 tbsp parsley
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
3-4 drops hot red pepper sauce
2 slices whole wheat bread made into crumbs
4 tsp grated Parmesan
2 tomatoes, sliced (I don't use these when I'm freezing the rectangle-the tomatoes get mushy when thawed and heated and it's nasty)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350; spray a shallow 2qt. casserole with nonstick coking spray. Cook noodles according to pkg directions; drain.

2) Meanwhile, spray a large nonstick saucepan with nonstick cooking spray. Saute the onions and celery until tender crisp, about 2 minutes. Add bell pepper, mushrooms and corn. Cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes longer. Stir in the soup, tuna, milk, parsley, pepper and pepper sauce. Remove from the heat; stir in the noodles. Transfer to the casserole.

3) Sprinkle with the bread crumbs and cheese. Top with the tomatoes if you're using them. Bake until crumbs are golden brown and crisp, 15-20 minutes.