Feeding My Family: "Something From Nothing"

One of my biggest food influences growing up was my grandmother, who we called "Mema". She was from the South, and was raised during a time when you didn't throw anything away, you found a use or reuse for everything and there were usually a lot of mouths to feed. As a child, when my family unexpectedly stayed for dinner, I can remember her fretting that there was nothing to feed us. Yet she would flit around the kitchen, pulling out containers of this and baggies of that. A lot of times, she would send my grandpa to the basement to bring up a couple of jars of whatever she'd canned from the garden in the previous summer. From almost nothing, she could make an amazing meal.

Gathered around Mema's table, that's 1980's me to the right!

Salty cornbread baked in a cast iron pan, dripping with butter and honey, slices of her "good toast" with homemade strawberry jam -- really sweet and syrupy but with whole berries in it, soup that started with a jar of tomatoes she put up, to which she added ground beef with green beans and corn from the garden... and don't even get me started on her sandwiches! She would squirrel away her sandwich fixings way in the back of the fridge, and when it was time to make a sandwich, she'd bring out slices of country ham, really sharp cheddar cheese and crisp iceberg lettuce, and she always managed to have a ripe tomato on the counter ready for slicing. Her sandwiches were always topped of with Miracle Whip, and were always on white toast.

I am not comparing myself to her by any means! To do so would be presumptuous, as I can only hope to be half the woman she was. But what I will say is that just by watching her as a child, I took away a lot of her values and ideas about food and family. One of those values is to try not to waste anything. So when I get a chance to use up leftovers in the fridge and make something new, I get all giddy inside.

I usually clean out our fridge of anything old on Thursdays to make room for the more special weekend meals. I was wondering what to feed my family tonight since we were on our own for dinner.  In the fridge, I had some left over mac and cheese, which was made from leftover bechamel from another meal. I had about 3 or 4 cups left but no meat and really no fresh vegetables available.

So tonight, my leftover mac and cheese became an ooey-gooey tuna noodle casserole, and it only took me about 5 minutes to put it together! Gotta love that.

In a large pot, dump in 3-4 cups of leftover macaroni and cheese, and put it over medium heat. Add 1 cup milk, 1/2 a cup of shredded cheese (I used a low-fat cheddar blend), and a teaspoon of garlic powder. If you have more time (which I didn't), you can also sauté some minced onion and chopped red pepper, carrots, celery or other vegetables and add it to the pot. Then add 2 drained cans of tuna and heat everything until it's hot. Check for seasoning, and add salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from heat and stir in half a bag of frozen baby garden peas. Pour into a greased glass casserole dish or pie plate and top with a 1/2 cup of bread crumbs (I used panko). Bake for about 25 minutes until crispy and golden on the top, and serve! Your kids will love it and you won't have to spend too much time cooking.

YUM!  Dig in!