Skinny Tuna Noodle Hot Dish

...or for my non-Midwestern friends, it can also be known as Skinny Tuna Noodle Casserole.

This recipe was adapted from Gina's Skinny Recipes. I did not do my own calorie count and I made some of my own modifications to the recipe but I would assume that it would come in close to her calculations, which for a serving size of 1/6 of the dish, there were 318 calories.

The taste was great; I overcooked the noodles a little, which I adjusted the recipe below to help you avoid overcooking the noodles, but it was still delicious and provided me with lunches for the rest of the week (about 6 servings). This dish did require being a good multi-tasker (multiple things cooking at once) but it wasn't too complicated.

Skinny Tuna Noodle Hot Dish

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of extra-wide egg noodles (8-10 ounces depending on how noodle-y you want the dish to be)
• 1 tbsp of butter (I used "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" spray for this)
• 1 medium white or yellow onion (chopped or minced)
• 3 tbsp of flour
• 1 3/4 cup of chicken broth
• 1 cup of milk (I used skim)
• 1 bag of mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, beans -- you could also get a mix with broccoli)
• 10 oz of mushrooms (optional - I didn't make mine with these because I'm not a mushroom-fan)
• 2 cans of tuna
• 1 cup of reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
• Butter spray (I used "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" spray actually)
• 2 tbsp of parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Chop or mince the onion.
2. Start microwaving your frozen mixed vegetables (if you got fresh ones instead, wash and chop them).
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
4. Cook the noodles according to the directions but make sure to undercook them by 1-2 minutes from whatever the package says.
5. While the noodles are cooking, melt the 1 tbsp of butter in a large deep skillet.
6. After the butter is melted, add the onions to the skillet; cooking on medium until they are soft (about 5 minutes).
7. After the onions are soft, add in the flour and stir well with the skillet on medium-low heat.
8. Next, add the chicken broth to the skillet, whisking it in and slowly turning up the heat to medium.
9. Then add milk and bring to a boil. 
10. When noodles finish cooking (probably around this time), drain them, rinse them with cold water, and set them aside for now.
11. After the skillet mixtures is boiling, add the mixed vegetables (and mushrooms if you chose to include them) to the mixture and simmer on medium for about 6-7 minutes. Feel free to add salt and pepper to taste. The sauce should start to thicken a little.
12. Next, add the tuna to the mixture and cook for about another minute. 
13. Remove from heat and add in the sharp cheddar cheese. Mix it well until the cheese has melted.
14. Now add the noodles to the mixture and mix until the noodles are evenly coated. 
15. Lightly spray a 9x12 casserole dish with the butter spray. 
16. Pour the noodle mixture from the skillet into the casserole dish.
17. Spray the top with a little more butter spray.
18. Cook for 20-25 minutes.

The skillet mixture after Step 11.

The skillet after Step 14 - the noodles have been added.

The Hot Dish before cooking

The Hot Dish after cooking