Tea Room Recipe #33 - Miss Addie's Tea Room and B&B (Muskogee, OK)

I love to come across casserole recipes in tea room cookbooks. Why? Because I know they'll typically be something simple, delicious, and suitable for both the afternoon and evening mealtimes. This week, I was drawn to a tuna casserole recipe I found in a sweet little 1998 cookbook from a tea room in Oklahoma.

Miss Addie's, you'll be pleased to know, is still around, and today it's a café and pub, according to their website. Best of all, they still offer the tea room cookbook for any of you who might want a copy! (Go here for ordering information.)

This casserole was super easy to whip up, and I adjusted the recipe below by using a 12-ounce box of noodles, two (5-ounce) cans of tuna, and a bit more of all the veggies. That way, I got two 9x9-inch casseroles, one for now and one for later. I used whole wheat pasta, and this was quite a delicious lunch dish, especially with those crunchy almonds and the cheesy soup mix. Yum!

Tuna Noodle Casserole

6 ounces ziti noodles
7 ounces of canned tuna, drained
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup green pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
1/4 cup chopped pimientos
1 teaspoon salt
1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 cup milk
1 cup shredded Velveeta (I used shredded Cheddar)
1/2 cup toasted almond slices

Cook noodles according to package directions and drain. In small saucepan, sauté the celery, onion and green pepper in butter. In a large mixing bowl, combine noodles, tuna, mayonnaise, vegetables and salt. In a sauce pan, blend soup and milk over medium heat. Add cheese and combine until melted. Add soup mixture to tuna/vegetable mixture and combine. Pour into a 13 x 9-inch casserole dish, top with almonds, and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.