Comforting Tuna Casserole

As a Southern girl, I love comfort food. My husband and I have lived most of our lives in the South so we grew up with awesome dishes like casseroles, real barbecue, fried chicken, fried catfish, grits, and corn bread. In reality, I never took a liking to either grits or cornbread, but my husband loves all of the above.

Today's post is about a casserole. No, not green bean casserole, mind you. I won't post that recipe until closer to the holidays along with my infamous sausage balls recipe. I present to you...... tuna casserole!

As usual, I've made variations of this tuna casserole through the years so there is no definite recipe. The one I made last night was as close to the original as I hoped to get.



Here are the ingredients you'll need:

- 1/2 cup (or more) of grated cheddar (or cheese of your choice)
- 2 ribs of diced celery
- 1/2 of a medium onion -diced
- 2 cloves of garlic - minced
- 1/3 cup of chopped chives (optional)
- 1 cup of bread crumbs
- 1 can of cream of celery condensed soup
- 1/2 cup of milk (not pictured)
- 1 can of tuna - drained and separated with fork
- 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 cups of egg noodles
- 1/4 teaspoon of each: paprika, basil, parsley, and no-salt seasoning (optional for the no-salt season)
- Dash of salt for the pasta water
- Dash of pepper to taste

After you've gathered your supplies, put a large pot of water onto the stove and set heat to high to boil for the egg noodle. (DON'T put the noodles in the water yet!) Salt the water. While you are waiting for the water to boil, wash and peel the celery ribs and dice both the celery and onion. Mince the garlic cloves. Set aside and place into prep bowls.

Chop up the chives (I just use sharp kitchen scissors) and set aside in prep bowl.

Drain and flake the tuna with a fork.

At this point my water was boiling so I put my egg noodles into the boiling water and let it cook with the lid off for about 7-9 minutes or until tender. Preheat your oven to 350°F and get your casserole/baking dish out.

Put the can of cream of celery soup, onions, chives, celery, garlic, and tuna in the casserole dish and mix together.

Add the paprika, basil, parsley, no-salt seasoning, pepper, and milk. Mix!

At this point, the noodles are done and I drain and rinse the noodles and put into the casserole dish with the shredded cheese. Mix together thoroughly.

After it is thoroughly mixed, mix your bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese together in a separate bowl and then pour on top of the casserole mixture.

You may top with more shredded cheese and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes have passed, it should look like this:

Yum! Time to eat!

I hope you enjoyed today's post! Enjoy your comfort foods and if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment! Thanks for reading!