Mother's Day: Tuna Casserole

Mother's Day has been a particularly difficult holiday for me once my Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, a year after my Dad passed away. At 30, most of my friends my age were getting married and starting families. I was trying to meander this new normal, spending an endless amount of time checking on my Mom at night, taking her places, and going to doctors appointments with her and my sister.  Once she was moved into an assisted living facility, she went downhill pretty quickly. When she no longer knew who I was, I made the decision to move out of state. 

To top this off, Kathy was six and a half years older than I was and played a mothering role in my life. In ninth grade a kid pulled a knife on the bus because I sat in "his spot." Kathy went to the school, spoke with the principal and got the courtesy busing stop taken off my roof. My senior year of college, sprinklers were being installed in the dorms over winter break and the doors were left open, creating a new, warm environment for animals to take shelter. A family of squirrels had taken up residence on my floor and made an appearance in my room one early morning. Kathy called the dean and told her this was unacceptable; I was then moved back to an apartment for the remainder of the semester. Having siblings who watch out for you is priceless.

When I moved to North Carolina, I lived with a former college roommate and her family for about a year.  I had fallen in love with her two sons, Connor & Brayden, and helped care for them regularly as the family went through some difficult health situations. After I moved out on my own in North Carolina, I continued to have the boys over and played a regular role in their lives. However, during the pandemic, their mother and I had a falling out and I haven't seen them since. 

I have also struggled with not my having my own children. I have a habit of putting others' needs above my own, and I knew while I was traveling for CSLP and with the boys in my life, there wasn't really a way to make the dream a reality. I have always wanted to foster, it just hasn't happened.

With Kathy's passing, this year was more difficult than previous years and I was missing my Mom more. I had decided that this year I would cook something to honor my Mom. When I was little, my Mom would make tuna casserole that she would make for lunch. From the time I can remember, she had me help in the kitchen. For this recipe, I remember crushing the potato chips up from a young age. As I got older, she would have me stir the white sauce on the stove until it thickened while she would shake the can of parsley into the pot, eyeballing how much was needed. I haven't eaten this in about twenty years- I never made it on my own after I moved out of my parent's house. My Mom found this recipe when she was thirteen; she was in charge of getting dinner started after her father had passed away. She knew this recipe from memory.  I have never had tuna casserole with noodles and that seems to be the most popular recipe out there. There was also no cream of mushroom soup involved either. My Mom used cream of mushroom soup for one recipe only, and it was not with tuna. While my librarian skills failed me initially in trying to find the original recipe, I was able to recreate it.

I found a recipe that used cream of mushroom soup in lieu of the white sauce with parsley. So, I tried to put the recipe together based on memory and my current cooking knowledge and made white sauce replacing the cream of mushroom soup. It tasted exactly like I remembered!  I watched The Man With One Red Shoe- typical Tom Hanks physical comedy movie, one of Mom's favorites, from the eighties and paid her an excellent tribute this Mother's Day.

Ingredients:
One bag wise potato chips
4-5 tbsp parsley flakes
2.5 cups of milk
2 cans tuna, drained and flaked with a fork
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
4 tsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder 


Instructions:
1. Create a small hole in the top of the potato chip bag to release the air. Using a rolling pin, crush the chips in the bag. Set aside.
2. Drain the tuna and put in a bowl. Flake it with a fork to break up the chunks. Set aside.


3. In a pot on the stove, create a roux by melting the butter then adding the onion & garlic powders, and the flour. Turn on the burner and add the milk to the roux. As you are stirring, add the parsley and chopped onion. Continue stirring until the sauce has thickened.


4. In a greased 8x8 casserole dish, layer the three prepared ingredients in this order: potato chips, tuna and sauce, with the top layer being the remaining potato chips.
5. Bake in a 350 over for 35 minutes. 




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