Tuna noodle casserole recipe

By request, I'm posting the recipe for the casserole I made the other night. I made it again tonight because it's ridiculously easy and delicious! It doesn't require many ingredients, and the ones it does call for, I find I almost always have them on hand.

I'm not taking credit for this recipe! There are hundreds of other casseroles just like this one, but this is how I make it.

Tuna Noodle Casserole 
Could probably serve four people, definitely feeds two :)

• Your favorite type of noodles, or whatever you have handy
• 2 cans tuna, drained
• 1 can of peas, or green beans, or corn, or any vegetable you like! I've tried bell peppers but they get soggy. I think broccoli and cauliflower would be delicious! 
• 1 can of cream of something-soup. I've used Cream of Potato and Cream of Mushroom: both were good but I think I prefer Mushroom.
• Grated cheese- any kind would be delicious! I usually use cheddar because that's what we have.
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil noodles. It takes about five-six minutes for my oven to heat up, so I wait to turn it on until the noodles are are about four minutes from being done.

2. Turn oven to 400 degrees F.

3. Meanwhile, spray casserole pan with non-stick spray. I think my pan is 8x8". Mix tuna and your choice of vegetable(s) in casserole pan. Break apart tuna chunks. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. Drain noodles and return to pan. Pour Cream of Soup into the noodles, plus one can of water. Mix together well.

5. Pour noodles/soup mixture into casserole pan, and mix well with tuna and veggies. Top with shredded cheese and if you like, crushed chips, cereal, etc.

6. Bake for 20 minutes.

That's it!


If you make it, I'd love to hear about it! I am by no means a great cook, but I do enjoy simple food that tastes great :)

Hope you all have a great evening!


 

Some progress

Last night I started my journal:

I love Moleskins, especially these gridded ones! I've been using them for the past five or six years -for note taking, as an agenda, and for creative writing. Without having read the Happiness Project or knowing much about it, I think it has been so successful for some people because it makes them summarize their day in just a few sentences, forcing them to think about the key moments of that day. Hopefully, we have more positive moments than negative, and so if you are always focusing on those moments you would be happier. This is probably how I'm going to focus my entries :)

Last night I made a tuna cheese casserole:

it just has tuna, peas, noodles, cream of potato soup, and shredded cheese! simple and delish

and decided why I like Christmas music so much: it's cheery and has so many good connotations. And from now on (I've decided) when it's gloomy and dark outside, I'm going to play my Christmas station on Pandora and feel cheery :) It worked like a charm yesterday!

Today we filled one of the planters with soil:

It's on our front steps, right outside of the door.

It's compost, soil, and peat moss. After I took this photo, we mixed it all together the best we could. This box will have peas, spinach, and marigolds. Right above the box (on the underside of the railing) is a wasp nest. I am torn about it; I want the bees to pollinate the vegetables and flowers, but I don't want to be so near to them, especially as Scott is allergic to them.

And I finally took a photo of our origami boxes! Cute, huh? We cheated and used staples to hold the tops down.

Today I also took a few photos of my more exciting stash yarn to upload on my Ravelry stash page. When I first joined Ravelry I didn't understand why anyone would want to take photos of yarn! (ridiculous, I know.) But after meeting Andi and drooling over her beautiful stashed yarn on Flickr, I've decided it's a great idea! It's nice to have a pictorial representation of the yarn and not just the written name. Of course, it didn't take long to photograph my exciting yarn because most of my stash is boring yarns :)

Hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing weekend! I'm off to knit some bunny legs.

Plants and things

This past week has been full of:

• Construction and planting:

It's recycled/ repurposed wood. I helped Scott build one, but he put together three by himself! He said it's his knitting.

• We've been constructing origami newspaper pots, pictures soon

• I turned the second heel on Scott's socks

• I am going to start a journal, writing only one line each day for several years (my take on the Happiness Project)

• We ate some delicious sushi at my favorite place, Sushi Nara:

California Maki is my absolute favorite! It had been waaay too long!

• I bought a new pair of shoes:
  

They're my first pair of Toms. They are extremely comfy - like wearing slippers all day! - they are PURPLE, and the company gives a pair of shoes to a child who needs them for every pair sold. 


Hope you have a lovely weekend!

(p.s. I vow to try and post more often than just once a week!)

Thank goodness it's the weekend!

One of the things on my to-do list is to make some of these newspaper starter pots:

                                                                 Source: lindycottagehill.blogspot.com via Jesse on Pinterest

I found this project on Pinterest awhile back and there's an AWESOME tutorial on how to make them. I think they are so cute and very practical.

We are (that is to say, Scott is) reading all about container gardening and we hope to grow a lot of delicious vegetables! About a week ago we planted tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, spinach, onions, and jalapeno peppers from seeds in trays; and the tomatoes, spinach, and broccoli have already sprouted! We have hopes of making our own salsa and canning it later this season :)

I do have a question for all of you though: how do you get rid of/prevent aphids? We had some windowsill cilantro and it was attacked by aphid-like bugs, it was very sad.

Happy Saturday!

An afghan in progress

A few months ago, I saw two gorgeous cabled throws on Pinterest. The cables were thick and just the right size. It'd be the perfect type of afghan to hunker down with in the middle of winter. And ever since, I can't get cabled, chunky throws from my mind!

                                                                Source: cleverbirdbanter.wordpress.com via Jesse on Pinterest

Aren't these dreamy??

                                                                    Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Jesse on Pinterest

I came very close to purchasing afghan amounts of yarn several times, but I could never do it. Maybe it was the price tag for all that bulky yarn. Maybe I didn't think I could commit. Maybe it was because JoAnns never had enough of one color to buy enough yarn at once.

In the end, I decided on Sweet Cream by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss; it's in a knit and crochet afghan book called 7-Day Afghans. It's my first knitted afghan and I was very anxious to cast on.

The yarn I chose is worsted weight Lion Brand Wool Ease in Dark Dusty Rose.

I only purchased six skeins; I'll most likely need more

While it's not a chunky, cabled throw, it does have faux cables created by k2tog and PSSO. And it's incredibly squishy.

It won't exactly be a warm, winter afghan, but it will be perfect for spring days and fall nights. Right now, the length covers my lap while I knit, and it keeps me pretty warm!

The most current status photo. This was almost two full skeins, and I am now on my third. I might try and take a progress photo whenever I start a new skein.

I'm not sure how someone could knit this afghan in only seven days (as the book title insists). It is worsted weight yarn on size US 10 1/2 needles, but you'd have to knit nonstop! I started April 7, it's been ten days, and I'm probably a third to a fourth of my way in. It is a fun pattern and fairly easy to memorize. There are twelve rows in each repeat, and half of those rows (on the wrong side) are the exact same. And the stitch markers are life savers!

I had better get to knitting :) Happy Tuesday!

Two Baldwins!

They are finally finished!

I really struggled through this. I've mentioned my dislike for the yarn already and that was truly the reason this project took as long as it did. Even with nickel-plated tips, the acrylic yarn still squeaked (which I hate!) and was difficult to knit with. Maybe it was working the yarn on US 6 needles that made such a tough fabric, but it's like iron!

But I couldn't be happier now that they are finished! And it felt so great to knit something that wasn't a monster, and not feel guilty!

Just the bodies

This one is for a two year old girl

and this is for her six year old sister!

I really do hope the girls enjoy these monsters! Even though I disliked the yarn, I still knit these with the girls in mind, and I hope a little of the love shows.

Woo hoo!

I am so excited to be announcing my first giveaway winners!! Thank you all for the support and for playing :) I had so much fun knitting these little sweaters, reading your comments about your favorite summer beverage, and now anticipating the winners using them!

Random.org chose two numbers this morning, and the winners are Hazel and Katiebee!! Congratulations! I will be sending you both emails.

Thanks again, to everyone!!

Hi friends, hope you all had a wonderful Easter and weekend :)

There's one more day left to enter my giveaway!

Knitting some monster bodies :) unfortunately the pink yarn pooled!

Hope everyone's week is going great... it's almost Friday, yay!

A Wee Giveaway!

Here it is! My first giveaway!

Fits a standard sized, 12 fluid oz. bottle

You could win one of these cute, hand-knit beverage sweaters!!

1. Blue cable

2. Blue & green stripes

3. Grass green cable

4. More stripes

I love these beverage sweaters! From the knitting standpoint, they are quick and easy to knit up, and a wonderful space to play with color and texture. And from the drinking standpoint, I use them all the time. In the summertime, they absorb beer sweat and I like to think they keep the beer chilled longer. I use them in the winter too, because the bottle is cold!

Beverage sweaters are knit with 100% wool and must be hand washed.

Two ways to enter! 
ETA: You can double your chances of winning, by entering TWICE! Here's how: 

1. Leave a comment on this blog entry, answering the question What is your favorite summer beverage? Make sure to leave your name and an email address I can reach you at if you win.


2. Visit my Facebook knitting page, Oocha Knits and follow the directions to enter there.

I will use the Random Number Generator and choose four winners, two from this blog and two from my Facebook page. Winners will be announced Wednesday, April 11th. 

Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

<3

(I couldn't resist. A little Hunger Games obsessed here).

It must be giveaway season!

I think everyone is a little more hopeful when spring comes along. I know I look forward to the lengthening days and daffodils blooming. It's hard to be grumpy when the sun is shining, which is probably why there are so many giveaways happening! I just wanted to share a few that I know about:

*Andi from My Sister's Knitter has a great yarny package giveaway to celebrate her blog's two year anniversary!
*Tanis Fiber Arts has a yarn palette giveaway with some very pretty colors!

And I want to share an iPhone app from Gina House that is free to download, called Sleepy Eyes. It is awesome! It's clear that a lot of time and love went into its creation, and it's super easy to navigate. There are many original and free patterns (by Gina) that are downloadable through the app. I've had Gina's Amanda Hat in my Ravelry favorites for awhile and since it's one of the patterns you can download in the app, it will make knitting on the go so much easier. Gina had a giveaway for her app a little while back, and I was one of the winners!

My package arrived the other day and it totally made my day!

Yarn close up!

Thank you Gina! I am so excited to use this yarn! I just have to find the perfect project for it.

That's it from me today, I am putting the finishing touches on my own giveaway! Now I have to clean the spare bedroom and look for my good scissors :)

Happy Crafterday!

Psst!

I am very excited to be planning my first giveaway! I have been wanting to do this for some time now and finally have my ducks in a row :) Details will be available soon, but for now, a sneak peek of what you could win:

Baldwin III

Remember my friend who asked for this monster for her nephew:

She wants two more for her boyfriend's nieces! They are two and six years old, and they each picked out color yarns they like the best. And of course, they both picked Red Heart.

Normally I have nothing against Red Heart or acrylic yarn. In fact, it's what I've primarily use to crochet my afghans. It's so durable, there are plenty of colors, and it's what my grandma used. But acrylic on wood needles? Blech. I had knit my friend's first Baldwin (with Red Heart) on my Knit Picks Harmony's, and it was tortuous. It squeaked, it stuck, and I swore never again.

And so I cried a little when my friend came over with two skeins of Red Heart. But since it's for the children, I went out and bought some double pointed aluminum needles. They worked great until I had to join feet with legs...and I caved and switched to the circular. But it's the same thing, sticking and squeaking, and I'm throwing in the towel.

I just put my Knit Picks order in for a set of US 6 nickel plated tips. Gosh, I hope they arrive soon!

Round Ripple

I started this afghan sometime late last year, and stuffed it away in order to finish Christmas knitting. This weekend I felt like crocheting and pulled it out. The pattern is Lyn's Round Ripple and here is where I'm at now:

There are a few reasons why I love this pattern (this is my third time crocheting it!). Since you begin in the middle and work your way out in rounds, you only need to chain a few stitches to get going. One thing that really deters me from crocheting a rectangular afghan is chaining all those stitches!

This is also a great stash buster. I think I will only need three one-pound skeins of yarn, and they're all from my stash. Two are the Caron One Pounds and the variegated is JoAnn's Sensations, the Rainbow type. I think it's a neat way to play with colors.

And one of the last reasons why this pattern rocks is you can stop whenever! It could easily be a nice lap blanket or a huge queen sized afghan.

Hope you all have a relaxing Sunday afternoon :)