Author Archives: fborfw

Lynn’s Recipes: Kevin’s Tuna Pasta Shell Casserole

We’ve been collecting up recipes for foods we’ve featured in the strip, or in the calendars we’ve published over the years (see the whole series here). Some of these recipes belong to Lynn’s family, but here’s one contributed by our Sunday colourist and graphic designer, Kevin:

Instructions

2 cups pasta shells
1 can tuna (5 or 6oz) broken up
1 10oz can of mushroom soup
A couple of good handfuls of peas
A small onion diced
¼ tsp (or a small amount in the palm of your hand) of onion powder, pepper, and seasoning salt.
Shredded marble or cheddar cheese
Plain potato chips

How to make it

Boil shells until they are 2/3rds cooked. In a casserole dish, mix together drained pasta, mushroom soup, tuna, peas, onion, and spices. Add cheese to the top of the mixture (till you can’t see anything cheese!)
Bake in oven at 350° for 15 minutes with the lid on. Remove lid and add a layer of crushed potato chips (about 1/8 inch thick over cheese). Bake for another 30 min, until the chips start to toast and turn brown.
Let casserole cool for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
This is a great way to get kids to eat peas! The shells do the work for you… by hiding the pea within the shell.

Cheapie Weenie Casserole

We’ve been collecting recipes from Lynn’s family’s collection, for your enjoyment. This one is a nice, quick family dinner!

You can find the whole recipe series here. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

1 package of cheap hotdog weiners sliced lengthwise and then in half
1 can condensed tomato soup (don’t add water)
Left over mashed spuds (4 cups oughta do)
Cheese – old cheddar is yummy!

Instructions

  1. Mix together weenies and soup.
  2. Place in the bottom of a medium sized casserole dish.
  3. Spread potatoes evenly over wieners.
  4. Cover with grated cheese (slices melt up fine too!)
  5. Bake in oven at 350° until soup is bubbling around the potato topping (45 minutes).

We usually serve this with green peas.

Lynn’s Split Pea and Ham Soup

We’ve been collecting recipes from Lynn’s family’s collection, for your enjoyment.

You can find the whole recipe series here. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of green or yellow split peas (soaked for about 2 hrs and then rinsed)
  • 8 cups of ham stock or chicken stock or a combo of both (you can also use water flavoured with bouillon)
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil (or butter)
  • 1 celery stalk (including leaves) chopped
  • 3 medium carrots chopped
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • A couple of handfuls of cooked ham, chopped (or about 2 cups)
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp parsley
  • ½ tsp marjoram
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Salt and pepper
  • (I like to use Montreal steak spice!)

Instructions

  1. In a large pot add peas and soup stock. Bring to a boil over medium heat and reduce to a simmer for about 15 minutes until peas are tender (if peas have not been soaked, simmer for about 1 ½ hours).
  2. Sauté celery, carrots, onion and garlic in oil until veggies are tender.
  3. Add cooked veg, ham, thyme, parsley, marjoram, and bay leaves to soup. Return to simmer  for about ½ hour (peas should be falling apart at this point).
  4. Add salt, pepper, and bouillon to taste.

Gramma Buns

We’ve been collecting recipes from Lynn’s family’s collection, for your enjoyment.

You can find the whole recipe series here. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

2 tbsp. yeast
1 ¼ cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 egg
½ cup margarine, softened
1 tsp salt
¼ cup white sugar
4 cups flour

Instructions

The easiest way to mix this dough is with a breadmaker but you could also use a standing kitchen mixer or you could do it all by hand if you’re brave enough.

  1. Add yeast to the warm water along with a teaspoon of sugar to the bottom of your breadmaker pan and stir to dissolve (breadmaker yeast and granulated yeasts do not need to be pre-soaked and can be added dry).
  2. Place the rest of the ingredients in the bread maker pan. Set for the dough cycle and start. It may be necessary to add a little extra water or flour in the first few minutes to adjust the consistency of the dough. It should form a pliable, but not sticky, ball as it mixes.
  3. Once the cycle is complete, remove the pan full of dough from the machine.
  4. Grease two small sheets or one large one.
  5. Punch the dough down and give it a brief kneading. Cut pieces the size of ping pong balls from the dough. Shape these into balls, stretching the top until it is smooth and round. Place on a greased baking sheet, two inches apart. Cover with a clean tea towel, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour in most kitchens). Bake 24 minutes in a preheated 350° oven, or until the tops are golden brown. Brush tops lightly with melted margarine while hot.

These freeze well. Be sure to wait until they are fully cooled before bagging for the freezer, or the crust may end up soggy.

Sandy’s Simple Strawberry Almond Pie

We’ve been collecting recipes from Lynn’s family’s collection, for your enjoyment.

You can find the whole recipe series here. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup melted butter
1 tbsp. granulated sugar (or brown sugar is yummy too!)
1 container (250g) of light or regular cream cheese at room temperature
¼ cup sugar
½ tsp of vanilla
½ – 1 tsp of almond extract or amaretto (depending on how much you like almond flavour!)
4 cups (or more) of fresh, sliced strawberries (yummy with fresh raspberries, too!)
¼ cup seedless strawberry jam
sliced almonds for garnish

Instructions

  1. Mix together graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar and pat, evenly into a lightly greased pie plate.
  2. Bake at 10 min. at 350°. Or, you can cheat, and use a pre-made graham cracker pie crust.
  3. Cream together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and almond extract. Once pie crust has cooled, gently spread mixture over bottom of crust.
  4. Make a pretty arrangement with the strawberries on the top of the filling. Mix jam until it is smooth and drizzle over berries.
  5. Garnish around the edge with sliced almonds.
  6. Place pie in fridge for about four hours before serving.