Crocktober: Crock Pot Tuna Noodle Casserole

To me, the word "casserole" loosely translates to "food you eat after a funeral." I can't fully explain this. I've only been to two funerals ever, and there were no casseroles at either. (Italians prefer Bloody Marys). I think it might have something to do with a rather hilarious book I read sometime in junior high entitled "Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies' Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral," by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays. (Keep in mind, this book is also full of recipes that perfectly fit the title.) I guess that's quite appropriate, since casseroles are a rather comforting food. But just to be clear, nobody died. I just felt like making casserole.

It seems to me that a lot of tuna noodle casserole recipes call for something crunchy - crumbled chips, or crackers, or crispy fried onions - but I went with melty Swiss cheese instead. But you could always crumble something crunchy on top right before you serve it.

This recipe is perfect for a 2-quart crock, and makes about 3 entree-sized servings. I layered my ingredients in the order below, but I think as long as you've got half of the noodles on top and half on the bottom, it will work out fine. You could also mix everything together, but I think layers are kind of fun. Of course, the layers turned out to be a total bust in the serving process, but anybody who has ever made a casserole in their lives probably could have told me that they would be. Oh well.

Compared to many of the recipes I've shared with you all this Crocktober, this one cooks in no time at all, and would make a yummy lunch on a cold day.

Ingredients:

3 cups egg noodles, uncooked

2 cans tuna, drained

1 10 3/4 oz. can condensed cream of mushroom soup (reduced sodium)

3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed

1/4 large onion, chopped

2 tablespoons milk

Grated Swiss cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Cook noodles according to package directions and drain, reserving a couple tablespoons of the water. Add the milk and condensed soup and mix in with the noodles.

2. Spray your crock, and spoon in about half of the noodle mixture, covering the bottom of the crock as evenly as possible. Layer in half of the onion, then the tuna, then the other half of the onion and the peas. Add the rest of the noodle mixture on top.

3. Cook on low for about 2-3 hours or high for about 2. (This is really just to heat it through. As soon as it's hot and you're hungry, it's time to eat). If you're using Swiss, add it about 20 minutes before serving.

So, I'm not really sure how I feel about this. Overall it was yummy, and with the peas I at least felt like I was pretending to have a green vegetable with dinner, but the onions were a little "fresh" for my taste. In the future I think I might quickly sautee them for just a couple of minutes before adding them to the crock. I can't complain about the flavor though. That part gets high points. I don't think this is going to go into my menu rotation, really, but I feel it's a classic, and I'm sure I'll be making it again someday. Hopefully not for a funeral.

Quote of the Day: I refuse to believe that trading recipes is silly. Tuna fish casserole is at least as real as corporate stock. ~ Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

Crocktober: Chicken Breast with Swiss Cheese & Cranberry Stuffing

For a lot of people, when they think of crock pots, they think of a variety of weird canned goods bubbling away mysteriously in some big clunky ceramic jobber. Hopefully if you read this blog you already know that there is a huge variety of things you can cook in a crock pot. But sometimes the best solution to the question of "what sort of sauce will I cook this chicken in?" is one of those old-timey canned products. I did use low-sodium cream of celery, so I only feel slightly goofy about it. And can I just say, I had no idea that there were so many "condensed cream of xfood" options. The soup aisle was like one epiphany after another. Some were better than others. Cream of mushroom! Useful! Cream of... Shrimp? As a fan of seafood and an even bigger fan of any food that is not disgusting, I want to die.

This came out golden and juicy and deeelicious.

Ingredients:

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed

2 tablespoons milk

1-2 tablespoon(s) butter, melted

1 10 3/4 oz. can condensed cream of celery soup (reduced sodium if possible; you could also use cream of chicken or mushroom)

1 cup whole wheat croutons (I made mine; if you make your own, you'll need about three slices of bread)

1/4 cup dried cranberries (I used Craisins infused with 100% pomegranate juice) 

1/4 cup chicken or veggie broth

1/4 cup Swiss cheese, shredded (or to your taste)

Salt and pepper

Cooking spray

Directions:

1. Spray or lightly oil your crock pot insert, and place chicken inside. Pour in broth, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with Swiss cheese.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine soup and milk, and pour mixture over chicken as evenly as possible.

3. Mix breadcrumbs with dried cranberries and add to crock.

4. Pour melted butter over everything, cover, and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4ish. (Check the temperature of the chicken to be sure). An hour or so before it is expected to finish, stir stuffing and leave lid off for last hour of cooking to reduce, on high heat. (In my 2-quart crock pot, mine cooked for 2 hours covered, and one hour uncovered, on high the whole time).

This isn't too much to look at, but it's super yummy.

 I have to admit, I messed this up a little. Not a lot, but I did. I forgot about the Swiss until the stuffing was in the crock, so I mixed it in with the breadcrumbs and cranberries instead of cheesing the chicken. This definitely changed things a bit, since I meant for the chicken to be cheesy rather than the stuffing, but I'm definitely not arguing with cheesy stuffing. It melted so completely that you just got sort of the "essence" of it without it be actually cheesy, which I consider a happy accident. 

This dish is definitely not the healthiest thing I've ever made, but it's super yummy and has a lot of homemade appeal. The recipe I've shared will definitely make more than one serving of stuffing. I seem to keep doing that. Oh well. 

Quote of the Day: Stupidity is the devil. Look in the eye of a chicken and you'll know. It's the most horrifying, nightmarish and cannibalistic creature in the world. ~ Werner Herzog (German film producer, director)

Crocktober: Crock Pot Zucchini Boats with White Bean, Swiss, Tomato and Herb Stuffing

I hear tell of fabled round zucchinis that one can buy at certain places, but since I was unable to find the round variety I just hollowed out your average medium-size zucchini and made a stuffing with white beans, tomato, and parsley. The advantage of using your typical zucchini is that if you cut these into smallish pieces, they would made super cute appetizers.

I don't know what my fascination lately is with stuffing food into other food. Maybe it's just that it's fun to do, cute to look at, or simply convenient. Whatever the motivation may be, stuffing food into other food works marvelously well in the crock pot. Also I (obviously) enjoy crocking things that most people might not think were crockable. This dish cooks much faster than your all-day crock-potters - about 3 hours on low - so it might be better suited as a weekend meal. Of course, like most crock pot recipes, you could also make this in the oven, but that would not be in keeping with the Crocktober theme and therefore I could not tell you about it until potentially much, much later. So I made in a crock pot, and so should you.

This recipe will be easier if you are using a larger crock than my 2-quarter, just in terms of surface area. If you have a bigger one, use that. I stacked mine, which was okay too.

 Obviously a can of beans, plus tomato and onion and pine nuts and all of this can't fit in the shell of one zucchini, but the leftover payout of this recipe - or really, the stuffing that doesn't fit - is a yummy bean salad. Things could be worse. But if you're not into that, I'd halve the stuffing recipe. And if you're making these to be cut up as appetizers, I'd cut down the bean-to-other-stuff ratio, upping the veggies and herbs. If you're serving them this way you might skip the cooking altogether, since of course cooking makes the shells softer.

Ingredients:

I zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise, scooped out to leave about a 1/4 inch shell

1 tomato, chopped and seeded

1 15.5 oz. can white beans, thoroughly rinsed and drained (I literally used "white beans," but you could use cannellini beans or chickpeas, roughly chopped since they're big)

2 tablespoons fresh parsley or basil, finely chopped, packed (I used parsley)

2 tablespoons onion, minced

1 (small) clove garlic, minced or pressed

1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese (optional)

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted (about 2 oz.)

Salt and pepper

Nonstick cooking spray

Balsamic vinegar (optional)

Olive oil

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine tomato, beans, onion, pine nuts, parsley, about a tablespoon of olive oil, plenty of salt and pepper, and Swiss cheese, if you're using it.

2. Spray or lightly oil your crock pot insert. Be sure that your zucchini will fit in the crock. If the boats need to be shortened, it is much simpler to do so at this point than to do it after stuffing.
3. Spoon stuffing into the zucchini "boats," packing slightly, and rest them inside the crock. Cook on low for 2-3 hours.

4. Carefully remove from crock and serve. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar if desired.

A note about hollowing out the squash: It may seem like the best way to do this is to just take a spoon and scoop straight down the length of it, but it seems to me that there's a more effective way that is less likely to lead to dreaded Squash Breakage. Take a large spoon - like a soup spoon, not like a "Little Dipper" spoon - and take off just a thin strip from all the way down the pulpy section. Then, using the same spoon or a teaspoon, position the scooper parallel to the edge of the "boat" and scoop starting at the edge and moving toward the center. You can smooth it out afterward, but trying to take it all out at once will probably not work out very well.

Making this stuffing would have been a lot faster if I had my food processor here rather than in Western Massachusetts. If you've got one, mince the garlic and onion with the parsley, salt and pepper and oil, then add the tomato (halved and guts scooped out), and finally the nuts and beans, which you can chop or not chop.

About 2 hours in, I realized that these were not as cheesy as I would have liked, so I sprinkled more on top to melt in the remaining cooking time, which worked out fine. Obviously it didn't take a whole hour for the cheese to melt, so you could do this at the last minute if you wanted to. It's not pictured, but I did end up adding Balsamic, which I think was a good call.

These were tasty! Just the right amount of richness, with the Swiss cheese and pine nuts, and very satisfying. Next spring and summer I think I'll be making the no-cook version on the regular.

Quote of the Day: Vulgarity is the garlic in the salad of life. ~ Cyril Connolly