No hoodies necessary today – I was sweating harder than Rod Blagojevich in the hot seat during my 4 mile run after work! Nothing a shower cold enough to make me squeak ‘eek!’ couldn’t fix. 
Tonight I channeled my inner mom and made a comforting, classic Tuna Noodle Casserole for dinner!
My Mom, bless her heart, had dinner on the table for my Dad, brothers and me at 5:30 every single night of the week when I was growing up.
Her specialties included heart warming dishes like spaghetti & meat sauce, homemade mac & cheese, enchiladas and tacos.
So, ok, she never actually made tuna noodle casserole for us, but the homey dish reminds me of her and makes me feel like I’m taking care of my little two-person family when I make it!
I used my tangy Tuna Noodle Casserole recipe which combines zippy dijon mustard, savory chicken broth and fresh zucchini, to create a creamy sauce – devoid of the typical cream of XYZ, you find in most classic casserole dishes.
Be sure to use tuna packed in WATER for this dish,
but splurge on the crushed saltines quickly sautéed in butter and garlic powder for the crunchy casserole topping!
Food hoodie!
Paired with a sliced apple for some freshness.
Can you dig it?
Not to dine and ditch, but I’m off to search for my apron. I’m getting my bake on tonight! 
See ya!
~~~~~
Did you grow up sitting down to dinner every night, or did you grab dinner here & there? What did you like or dislike about it?
Growing up, I remember sometimes getting annoyed that we had to sit down and eat dinner together every. single. night. with the tv off, etc. A lot of my friends were allowed to eat dinner in front of the tv, whenever they wanted, and I was really jealous! Now I can see how important it was for us as a family to come together and know I’ll do the same thing when Ben and I have children – someday!
We always had a sit-down dinner….and I grew up with my dad raising my 3 sisters and me.
He sure was quite the Superdad!!!
I think about 4-5 nights we sat down, and the other ones we either went out or sat in front of the tv. It was a nice mix!
My dad always (and still does) work Monday and Wednesday nights till 9pm, so our family tried for Tuesday/Thursday family dinners (and of course weekend too, until us girls hit the stage where we were ‘too cool’ for the family sit down dinners). I’m so glad my parents instilled those values though too!
We ALWAYS ate together as a family too! My dad often got home late and I ate dinner at 8 or even 9 as a kid, but we always ate together. Now I am SO glad we did that. My family is amazing.
Can you believe I’ve never had Tuna Noodle Cassarole? My family is a big fan of tuna too…I wonder why we never had it. We always had dinner together as a family.
omg. exactly what you said. dinner together every night. i was always jealous of my friends who got to eat in front of the tv on the couch. i didn’t understand why we all HAD TO eat at the table together. (that and my mom made me drink milk EVERYDAY! hated that too!)
Dinner (or supper as my family called it because I grew up on a farm) was on the table at 5:30 p.m. sharp, and we always sat down together as a family. We did watch the evening news but still talked about our day–we’re a multi-tasking family.
Until the age of about 14 we all had to sit at the table, no TV, no distractions and just eat but once I got to that age we were allowed to make our own dinner if we wanted at different times. I felt a bit bad for my parents when it was just them eating because they looks a bit lonely without us! But I loved the freedom it allowed me.
We always sat down to dinner too! Except on the very rare occasion we ate dinner with the TV on. I want to do the same when I have kids – dinner, all together, with the TV off!!!
Dinner as a family was a nightly occurence. My mom did not want us eating infront of the TV and she thought and still does that a family should sit down for 45minutes – 1hour each day to talk about there days and what is to come while enjoying good food. I know that when I was young I resented that time, but now that my family has split different directions because of work schedules and school, I miss that family dinner time.
My mom was a crock-pot sort of cooker, and if not her my dad always made Oriental at least once a week!
I love tuna, just never had it in a casserole!
A Minnesota girl cant pass up her casserole! Although we prefer it as “hot dish” Looks good
Growing up we ALWAYS sat down for dinner, but as we got older that stopped happening. I think at the time I was glad, but now I wish we had done it more often.
Happy Wednesday!
xo-Molly
http://www.givinganythingbutup.wordpress.com
There’s nothing as comforting as casserole! My grandma used to make this great bake with rotisserie chicken, green beans, bread crumbs and cream of mushroom soup! Mm…tastes like childhood.
I grew up eating supper at the table with my parents most nights. I too found it slightly annoying, but now I plan to do the same once I have children.
Another thing was that I wasn’t allowed to make phone calls during “supper time”i.e. between 5-7:00-in case others were eating with there families. I still think this way…especially when my husband’s family calls during “supper time”-don’t they know we’re eating!;)
You read my mind! I was craving my mom’s tuna noodle casserole today, but decided against it because my ‘little family’ is just me and I couldn’t justify the whole ordeal. BUT now that I saw yours, I’m going to have to just bite the bullet tomorrow and enjoy tuna noodle for a week!
Thanks for the motivation!!
We always ate dinner together as a family with the TV off, which was nice, except when my sister and I would finish eating about 20 minutes before my parents and we always had to sit and wait for them to finish! Whenever my dad went out of town, we were “allowed” to watch TV during dinner…usually we watched Fraiser and Seinfield
Love that you called it a Food Hoodie! Too cute!
I love comforting foods like that!!! But i’ve never had tuna noodle casserole.
Tuna noodle!!! That’s my favorite recipe from your page (so far). I couldn’t get enough of it the two times I made it. I think I need to make it again. The time has come!
As for dinners growing up, it was here and there. Sometimes we would sit down, sometimes we would go out, and sometimes we would all do our own thing (depending on my age at the time). My family wasn’t very healthy with meals, so that would be what I disliked about it. But growing up I didn’t realize how bad the food was, so back then I wasn’t complaining.
We had dinner together every night. My family does the same now. If we happen to have a once in a blue moon situation where the kids eat before us they don’t like it! They say, “come on and sit down with us!” Growing up we only splurged on a night out at a restaurant when my sis and I were in high school and my parents had a little more spending cash. My husband and I are really old school in a lot of things that we do with our kids. I honestly think it’s something that’s really lacking with society right now. Let’s hope more families plan and eat meals together soon!
There were some nights when my family and I sat down to dinner together but most of the time everyone was running in different directions making it a treat for us to even be in the same room at the same time
Love your recipes as always!
I had a huge family growing up and it was IMPOSSIBLE to sit down with everyone all the time. But with me and my girl, it is at the table as soon as dinner is ready, and yes, NO TV! It is the best time to sit and listen to eachother and really bond. I would not have it any other way. It really is key to being a WHOLE family no matter how few there are!
We always, EVERY Night sat down to a home cooked meal, no TV, no sofa, dining table and sociable for us, it was a great way to bring us up, i’ll definately be installing that into our family life when we have kids. x
When I was a kid, we ate at the table. My dad was away a lot—either with the Navy or, later in civilian life, on business trips—and when he was gone, my mother would let me read a book over dinner. But when Dad was home, I had to put the book away. At the time, I resented the different sets of rules.
Sometime in my adolescence, we began eating in the living room, on TV trays. My mother would eat her breakfast and lunch at the kitchen table, but dinners were eaten in the living room. Now it’s just my father (Mom passed away last spring), and I couldn’t tell you the last time he ate at the kitchen table.
Teh husband and I have always had good intentions about eating at the kitchen table and not in front of the television, but until we bought this house last fall, we were never very good at sticking with it. Something about letting the kitchen table get cluttered up with crap. *blush* But our only TV set is down in the basement (think “man cave”), so it’s been easier to establish a routine of eating dinner upstairs at the kitchen table. We’ve broken the rule in the worst of the summer heat, though, as our basement stays much cooler than the rest of the house, and escaping to the basement allows us to live with keeping the thermostat a bit higher than either of us (but especially he) would prefer.
We sat down to dinner as a family every night growing up. The only time it was hard was when both my sister and I were in high school with evening commitments. But Mom still had dinner ready for us and would sit with us until we were done. I’ll definitely be doing the same with my kids.
We always sat at the dinner table (unless there were 3 sporting events we were a part of going on) and the t.v. was off. We started doing “high-low” – everyone had to say the high of their day and the low. I used to think it was dorky – now Big Guy and I do the same thing. No t.v. during dinner. Just catching up and enjoying a meal together.
We ALWAYS sat down for dinner. Every day.
same feelings. EVERY night, dinner together, no tv. then, grrrrr. but now, THANK YOU MOM! you don’t talk with each other the same when you are eating while watching tv! so important for families these days to disconnect and connect w/ each other!
We always grew up eating dinner around the table together. It was nice, because you didn’t feel the rush that I do now that I am older and on the run. We always had a nice dinner and time to pray together before the meal… I love childhood memories
have you ever tried solid white tuna instead of chunk light tuna? i find its SO much better and not nearly as ‘fishy’ tasting
we ate dinner together most nights but it got hard when my sis & i had activities in the evening. i’m so grateful for that now. and my husband and i do the same thing… though sometimes we do cuddle on the couch with dinner and a movie or tv show… but that’s the exception, not the rule.
My family was apparently one of the odd ones. When I was really, really young we sat at the dinner table. But when I was about 7 or so, my parents had a restaurant, so I was usually at a sitter’s house part of the afternoon/evening…..Then I had to help in the restaurant at about 9 years old, so we ate whatever we wanted, when we got hungry….. My mother is a terrible cook, (dad was the chef in our family), so the few times we didn’t have a restaurant, and she cooked it was miserable! Canned corned beef hash anyone? It’s like dog food…. We really just never had the ability as a family to sit down, with my parents work and as we got older, we just ate out of the restaurant mostly….. My family eats together mostly, but it’s in front of the television (husband likes to watch tv, during dinner).