Universal Casserole Recipe

Do you have those days that you have no clue what you'll make for dinner?  I'm having that today.  It seems like I've run out of ideas.  I stumbled across this very versatile recipe that you can use many different ingredients and substitute according to what you have.  I'm going to try this tonight with tuna, rice/pasta, canned mushrooms and whatever else I can find in my pantry. 

For the month of January, I'm trying to eat from our pantry.  If you saw my pantry, you'd think I had 10 kids.  Nope just one big kid (husband) and little one. ;)   I just can't pass up a good deal.  So now, it's time to use up all my "deals." 

Universal Casserole Dinner

1 cup Main Ingredient
1 cup Second Ingredient
1-2 cups starchy ingredient
1 ½ cups binder
¼ cup “goodie”
Seasonings
Topping


Main ingredient suggestions: tuna, cubed chicken, turkey, ham, seafood
Second ingredient suggestions: celery thinly sliced, mushrooms, peas, hard boiled eggs chopped
Starchy ingredient suggestions: potatoes thinly sliced, cooked noodles, cooked rice
Binder suggestions: cream sauce, sour cream, can of soup
“goodie” suggestions: pimiento, olives, almonds, water chestnuts
Topping suggestions: potato chips, cheese, bread crumbs

Instructions:

Mix your combination of ingredients, add ½ cup milk or stock if the mixture seems dry. Place in buttered casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.

If you think about common casseroles they follow this pattern. Think chicken, broccoli, rice and cream of chicken soup and almond sliced topped with cheese. If you don’t have rice use noodles. Out of cream of chicken soup, use mushroom soup. No bread crumbs in the pantry? Toast and crumble a bagel.