Tuna Noodle Casserole College Style

his tuna noodle casserole is everything a college student needs. Cheap for their budget, quick for their studies, and starchy and salty for their hangovers. And you can pretty much do it all in your microwave.

I love meals like these. I do a little cheer on the inside when I see a 25cent package of ramen turn into a something full of flavor. And that's what this tuna noodle casserole is made of. Amazing right? And don't turn your nose because you don't like the the noodles cost less than a bar of candy. I think that ramen noodles are the best noodles to use because they are so moist. They really cling onto the soup.

I got the idea from an article on NPR about ramen noodles, which had some good ideas similar to these. Although the stewardess in the story with this recipe put mayo in hers instead of cream of mushroom, I was told to use mushroom soup to make it more like the original recipe. But unlike the original, this recipe only needs a little bit of work.

Here's What You Need

1 package of shrimp or chicken ramen

1/4 cup peas and/or corn

1/2 cup cream of mushroom soup

1 can of tuna

Here's What You Do

Cook ramen according to directions

Heat up vegetables

Cook soup according to directions

When ramen noodles are ready, put the flavor packet in the pot, then drain the water.

In a seperate bowl, mix all the ingredients together while hot.

Garnish with Franks Red Hot and garlic salt, or just salt and pepper.

Friendship Sandwich

This sandwich is made of recipes I adopted from two friends, and I decided to bring them together, and call this a friendship sandwich!

The tuna recipe I got from Felicia, and it's the most sound, healthy tuna I've ever had. It's for definitely a recipe for veggie lovers.

The spread I took from Liz, who told me about a liking she has for cream cheese and olives, which I was thinking about all day after she told me.

Both of these things were on my mind and I decided to turn them into a sandwich, because sammiches are just so good.

Felicia's Tuna Salad

Here's What You Need

1 can of tuna

5 leaves romaine lettuce

5 baby gherkin dills/2 medium dills/1 large dill pickles

1/2 stalk celery

1 forkful of mayonnaise

couple dashes of garlic salt and lemon pepper

*4 rings banana peppers/pepperocinis [optional]

*mustard [optional]

Here's What You Do

Drain your tuna so there's no water at all.

Mix the forkful of mayonnaise into the tuna. Don't worry, it's supposed to be relatively dry. If you think it is too dry, add just a little, but the key to this recipe is the crunch. If using, put a squirt of mustard.

Shred the lettuce to a quarter inch length and toss in with the tuna.

Slice the pickles and the celery into small chunks. Not too thick, and not too thin, and not chopped fine either. Throw into the tuna.

If using, chop the banana peppers real small.

Put a bit of both garlic salt and lemon pepper into the mix.

Stir until well mixed.

Liz's Olive & Cream Cheese Spread

Here's What You Need

1/4 cup fat free cream cheese

~5-6 green olives with pimentos

1 clove garlic

black pepper

Here's What You Do

Chop olives finely.

Break garlic clove by smashing the flat end of a large blade over it and chopping into small pieces.

Put both ingredients into cream cheese until well mixed. Sprinkle with black pepper

Assembly

Here's What You Need

Piece of French bread, however hungry you are, cut sub style

Felicia's Tuna Salad

Liz's Olive & Cream Cheese

Here's What You Do

Toast the bread in a toaster or an oven until slightly crispy and really warm. Spread dip on one side, and fill with tuna salad.

Put This In Your Mouth... and you'll have to watch for garlic breath after, but it's totally worth it.

Asparagus Sandwich

Like most of my original recipes, this sandwich was born out of a need for substance, and empty fridge, and a need to cook up some vegetables that threatened to go bad.

I have never been a huge asparagus fan, especially since my grandmother overdosed me with it last summer. But Don loves it, and Thanksgiving was nearing, which meant that I wouldn't be eating for a while afterwards. So I decided to do something with it. I figured that anything tastes good heated up in some oil, and I was right. But this sandwich definitely doesn't taste like the oil is the only thing making it taste good.

Here's What You Need

1/3 French Bread, Cut Sub-Style*

About 5 Fresh Asparagus Spears

3 Medium Leaves Romaine Lettuce, Shredded

3 Thin Slices Tomato-Basil White Cheddar Cheese [Cabot Vermont Brand]**

Lemon Juice

Olive Oil

Pepper

Garlic Salt

Here's What You Do

Take out most of the breading in the bread on the thicker side with a spoon and throw it out. Make sure you leave some, you don't want to make it all crust, you just want to make room for the fillings.

Cut off the woody parts of your asparagus spears. You can determine what those are by bending the asparagus at the bending point. You'll know it when you feel it.

Heat up some olive oil in a small pan. While you're doing that, put the slices of cheese on the side you DIDN'T remove bread from, and put it in the oven at about 300 F temperature. Throw your asparagus in the pan and stir it around for three minutes. Don't let them sit, you won't get the same effect! Sprinkle on a healthy amount of lemon while you're doing this.

Take your asparagus off and throw in your lettuce immediately. Don't even wash the pan or let it cool Stir the lettuce in the pan for about one minute. You'll want it to get a little wilted, but not badly.

By the time you're done doing the asparagus, your bread should be ready, but that depends on your oven and your preference. You're going to want the bread to be toasted, and your cheese to be melted.

Fill the "spooned out" side of the bread with the asparagus, then add your lettuce. Top with garlic salt and pepper. I really recommend using a lot of pepper, and that's coming from someone who isn't exactly a fan of pepper [I'm more of a salty gal].

Put this in your mouth and eat it hot!

*Sub-style: basically, the way they cut your bread at Subway--across the side, leaving enough bread connected at the opposite side for it to stay together.

**Cabot Vermont Brand Cheese: This is one of those expensive cheeses you find in that delicious looking cheese display by the deli. If you can't find that brand, anything similar will suffice. If you can't afford that cheese [which I couldn't, it was bought for me], then any other kind of white cheese will do.

Put This In Your Mouth!

This cooking blog is for those of you who love to cook, and love to eat delicious and different foods, but are limited by either your knowledge, talent, or kitchen. Cooking can be fun and liberating, which I have found. And there's no better way to eat what you want if you're cooking it. Many people, especially at the college age, look at the kitchen as a place where their mom's make their lunches and find it daunting. It really isn't! It's probably the best craft area, and it's available in any home [unless of course, you're dorming].

The food you will see on this blog will always be something different, and it will be tried and true and DELICIOUS! You will most likely see things you've never seen before, or never heard of trying, but trust me, you're gonna want to. I'll give you tips, and more in-depth instructions because, hey, I don't have a page limit like cookbooks. And my meals will always be simple. When you're dealing with a kitchenette, you don't really have space for a lot of utensils. You don't need them! All you need is a rumbling stomach, and a craving for something special.

I am creating this blog so I can share my cooking with the world, because it has turned into a passion of mine, and it's something that needs to be shared by people other than Don. And I need somewhere other than my personal blog [www.according-to-jenny.blogspot.com] to put these recipes, because I have so many of them, they'll just end up clogging the entire blog. I want to thank Don for thinking of the name, and Dave Randles for thinking of the tagline, and everyone who voted on it, and everyone who reads it.

Put This In Your Mouth and Enjoy!