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Proteins that don’t fit into the other category.

Tuna Noodle Casserole with Parmesan Base

Ingredients:

2 cups egg noodles

2 cup milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 stick butter

2 oz cream cheese

1 cup peas

1 cup parmesan cheese grated

1 can albacore tunafish drained

(Optional: instead of 1 cup peas, you can do 1/2 cup of peas and a 1/2 cup of diced carrots)

Makes two servings.

First off, I have to admit that I had an absolute love for Betty Crocker’s classic tuna noodle growing up. It was my favorite food that I always got on my birthday, and was easy for me to make myself as a teenager. Then, after years of this addiction, they changed their recipe. I was pretty sad about that, and turned to hard copies and virtual copies of tuna noodle recipes to get that same flavor. However, I quickly realized that practically every recipe I ran into called for cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup. This never created the same taste as I remembered my favorite meal having. Thus, my own version of what I thought a tuna noodle casserole should taste like. I think the secret is in making an alfredo sauce instead of using the condensed soup route (not that that is a bad thing, but it wasn’t the flavor I was looking for).

Tuna Noodle Base

To start this recipe, we begin with the milk, heavy cream, butter, and cream cheese in a sauce pan. Bring to almost a light boil while whisking to help dissolve the cream cheese.

Noodles, peas, and tuna fish

Once the cream cheese is blended and the liquid contents are almost to a boil, add the egg noodles, peas, and tuna fish. Cook until your noodles are el dente by covering the saucepan with a lid, and turning the heat down to simmer for about 10-15 minutes.

Lastly, remove the saucepan from the heat and add the parmesan cheese. Use your whisk to mix in the cheese. It is important to not add the parmesan cheese too early because the cheese will curd instead of being a smooth texture. You may get tuna fish, noodles, and peas in the whisk while doing this. That is okay. You can give your whisk a tap on the side of your saucepan and they will fall right out of your whisk.

Added in the parmesan

Now, it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. If you’d like, you can sprinkle a little more parmesan on your portion of tuna noodle casserole before serving.

Enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed my version of a classical tasting Betty Crocker tuna noodle. 🙂

Homemade Pork and Beans

Pork and Beans is a well established part in the American diet which has evolved from a simple dish composed of salt pork, cooked beans and pepper to what is, according to the 1975 Better Homes and Garden Heritage Cookbook, the very first convenience food after it became widely available canned. It is also known as a ‘cowboy’ dish, mentioned in the song ‘The Old Chisholm Trail’ with the words ‘Oh, it’s bacon and beans most every day. I’d as soon be a-eatin’ prairie hay.’

Here is my recipe for Homemade Pork and Beans, made from scratch. I think you will like this one – especially for the upcoming cold days of winter.

HOMEMADE PORK AND BEANS

Ingredients
2 c Cannellini Beans (White Kidney Beans), dry
1 t Baking Soda
6 c Water

2 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

½ lb. Fatback, cubed

1 Bell Pepper, Green chopped
1 med. Onion, yellow chopped
2 cloves Garlic, minced
3 cans Tomato paste (6 oz.)
¾ c Brown sugar
3 T Molasses
3 T Maple syrup
3 t Mustard, dry
¼ c Vinegar, cider
¼ t Liquid smoke

1 T Salt, Kosher

Instructions
Pick through beans to remove any bad beans and debris. Rinse and place the beans in a bowl with 6 cups water, or enough water to cover them completely. Add 1 teaspoon baking soda (this helps to soften the bean skin), stir and allow to soak 6-8 hours or overnight. Presoaking helps lessen the cooking time, but is not necessary to make these beans.

After soaking, rinse beans and place in pot. Cover the beans to one inch above the level of the beans and add two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Cook on high until boiling. Many recipes instruct you to skim the white foam from the beans, but this is not necessary and actually removes the water soluble protein provided by the beans for this dish. Once they have come to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer while preparing and adding the rest of the ingredients.

After adding the rest of the ingredients (except salt) continue simmering (but not boiling) for 60 to 90 minutes, or until the mixture thickens and the beans are tender. Check the pot regularly to make sure the beans have enough water so they don’t dry out. Add salt at the end of the cooking process as it hinders the absorption of water by the beans.

Roasted Chickpea Snacks

Holiday time is party time and party time means snacks. Although I appreciate Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans) and have used them in a number of dishes over the years including Hummus, I had never tried them roasted before. In my repertoire of snacks are a number of variations using peanuts, almonds, pecans, etc. and now I have added roasted Chickpeas to the mix. They are lower in fat than nuts and have a significant amount of insoluble fiber which is good for the digestive system.

People in some parts of the world eat Chickpeas every day. Not only are they a healthier snack option for you and your guests, they just might be a great conversation starter. More information about the health benefits of Chickpeas can be found on the World’s Healthiest Foods website.

Here’s how I made these:

The main ingredient in this snack is the Chickpeas themselves, which must be cooked in order to change their physical composition into a crunchy snack. You could use canned Chickpeas, but I preferred to make them freshly prepared from dried. My favorite place in Houston for purchasing dried legumes is a place on Westheimer called Phoenicia.

I took two cups of dried Chickpeas, placed them in a pot, covered them with water and brought to a boil. Then I turned down the fire and simmered for three hours, until they were tender. Next I drained them, spread them out on oven sheets and baked them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes to get them dry enough to accept the coatings (stirring every 10 minutes). This produced about five cups of cooked oven dried Chickpeas.

Then I added them to the following recipes:

ROASTED CHICKPEAS – HUMMUS

Ingredients
1 c Chickpeas, cooked and oven dried

1 T Tahini
1 T Olive oil
1 t Garlic powder
1/2 t Salt, Kosher

Instructions
Mix coating ingredients in a bowl, add Chickpeas and stir to coat. Spread in one layer on an oven pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes, until crispy. Be careful not to let them burn.

ROASTED CHICKPEAS – SPICY

Ingredients
1 c Chickpeas, cooked and oven dried

1 T Olive oil
2 t Chili powder
1 t Garlic powder
1 t Red pepper (Cayenne)
1 t Louisiana Habanero Hot Sauce
1/2 t Cumin
1/2 t Paprika
1/2 t Salt, Kosher

ROASTED CHICKPEAS – WASABI

Ingredients
1 c Chickpeas, cooked and oven dried

1 t Wasabi paste
1 t Peanut Oil
1 t Soy Sauce

ROASTED CHICKPEAS – SRIRACHA

Ingredients
1 c Chickpeas, cooked and oven dried

2 t Sriracha sauce
1 ½ t Peanut Oil
1 t Rice Vinegar
½ t Kosher salt
½ t Red Pepper
¼ t Garlic powder

These recipes provide you with several options for different tasting Chickpea snacks depending on your personal preferences and those of your guests. Roasted Chickpeas lend themselves to a variety of seasoning combinations. We at Lukewarm Legumes will be experimenting with different flavoring blends for this snack in our Test Kitchens and will be posting our findings right here, so stay tuned.

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