Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

OK I'm going to admit something here - I love tuna casserole made with canned cream of mushroom soup (GASP). It might be the nostalgia. When I was a kid my friend Debbie's mother used to make this. The first time I had it over her house, I came home and begged my mother to get the recipe. Then I would constantly ask my Mom to make it. The original was made with egg noodles. I've since adapted it to use pasta and changed a few other things but it still tastes good or is that the nostalgia talking?? Tuna Casserole (adapted from Lois Janeczko) 1 onion, chopped olive oil salt 3 sprigs thyme 1/2 c white wine 2 cans tuna (used to be 6oz but no any more) 2 can cream of mushrooms soup (concentrate 10 oz) 1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese 1 t dried thyme 1 lb pasta, spirals (or some other pasta that will "catch" the sauce) parsley Cook pasta until very al dente (you want it pretty firm because it will continue to cook in the oven). In a skillet add onion, oliv...

I was looking for a quick cook pasta recipe and came across this one in The Silver Spoon. It's one of those recipes that you basically always have the ingredients on hand. I always hate when a recipe calls for some weirdo amount of pasta like this one - 12oz. What's up with that? What am I doing with the other 6 oz? I always make the full pound of pasta.  Otherwise you would end up with a hodgepodge of pasta sitting around. Doesn't make sense. But I digress... Spaghetti with Tuna (Adapted from The Silver Spoon ) 3 T olive oil 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 can tuna, packed in oil, drained and flaked* 3 T tomato paste** 4T water 1lb spaghetti salt/pepper Fresh Parsley chopped Heat the oil in a skillet and cook the garlic. Do not let the garlic brown. Add the tuna and mix well.  Stir the water into the tomato paste (you may need to add a little more water - you want a loose pudding-like consistency). Cook over low heat for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile cook spaghetti in ...

Never thought I would cook pasta in a pressure cooker, until I stumbled onto this recipe . I just got home at 3:30 am from a marathon delayed flight from Aruba and wanted to have a nice home cooked Sunday meal. I really wasn't in the mood for something that took too much time.  This was the perfect recipe. But before I go into that, let me allay your fears of pressure cookers. I grew up being totally petrified of pressure cookers (thanks Mom). My Mom had one of those old ones where the little ever-threatening thing on top jiggled back and forth-taunting me with every jiggle. That thing could blow at any time.  If she was cooking in that beast, we stayed clear of the kitchen. This is yet another of the fears that she instilled into us as kids. (Since this was a sibling/Mom vacation we also discovered other foibles that she instilled in us - fear of hotel carpets, bedspreads etc and having basically a comment about everything. A few Christmases ago we discovered that all thre...