Healthy Individual Tuna & Cheese Casseroles
What I learned living as a bachelorette for 10 days. (1) The house stays a lot cleaner when only one person is living in it, and the trash and dishes are much more manageable. Surprise, surprise. (2) More importantly, if left to my own devices, I would probably live solely off desserts and breakfast food. I ate way too much ice cream, granola bars, fruit smoothies, and oatmeal. I had to exhibit a modicum of self control when shopping at Trader Joe’s not to buy a bunch of frozen waffles to add to the mix because I really needed to add some protein to my diet instead of living solely off of carbs with a little fat mixed in.
To combat all of that sugar, I made myself some healthy tuna and cheese casseroles in ramekins to create individual portions. I froze the unbaked leftovers and pulled them out over the course of the week for an easy dinner.
I remember seeing a recipe in one of Rocco DiSpirito's cookbooks for tuna casserole that I figured would be easy to turn into individually baked dishes, and I figured Dustin wouldn't mind too much missing out on this dinner. Canned tuna and casseroles really aren't his things.
For a healthy version of a traditionally creamy and calorie heavy dish, I was pretty pleased with the results.
Healthy Individual Tuna & Cheese Casseroles
yields 6 servings
- 8 ounces whole wheat fusilli pasta
- 1 1/4 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 cup fat free Greek yogurt
- 1 cup fat free sour cream
- 10 ounces tuna packed in water, drained
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- salt, to taste
- pepper, to taste
- 1 cup bread crumbs (I used Italian style)
- Preheat the oven to 400º. Spray 6 ramekins with nonstick cooking spray.
- Bring large pot of water to boil, and cook the pasta until al dente (9 minutes in the case of my pasta). Drain and cool.
- Combine the cheese, yogurt, sour cream, tuna, peas, and spices in a medium sized bowl. Add in pasta and coat with sauce.
- Portion out between the ramekins and sprinkle breadcrumbs on top.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes (depending on whether or not they are frozen) or until breadcrumbs are browned on top. Broil for a minute or two if desired.
(3) Bonnie and I are much happier when our boy is home.