Today is Martin Luther King Junior Day and before I move on to my smart-ass anecdotes and recipes I wanted to say some things. If you have been around for a while, or know me in any way, I hope that you already know my heart is for racial justice. My heart is for those made in the image of God, but have not been treated as such. I hope you and I share the same heart for our brothers and sisters, and if you are just starting to see the world as it is I want to encourage you to keep learning. Keep listening. Do not turn away because of the discomfort. Sit in that discomfort for a while, and then get up and do the work.
Below are some of the voices I have been learning from lately. Check out their work, give them a follow, spend your dollars.
- Austin Channing Brown
- Morgan Harper Nichols
- Danielle Coke
- Black Liturgies
- Latasha Morrison
- The Loveland Foundation
- Equal Justice Initiative
Back to the regularly scheduled food based nonsense
Today is January 18. My children have only had 2 days of virtual school since December 18. While there isn’t too much difference between virtual school and no virtual school, they are still home all day every day. The lack of even the smallest routine is starting to make me lose it. While I know it’s not true, I feel that I cannot do what I need to do unless they are busy (aka not in the same room as me). I’ve barely been meal planning, my grocery shopping has been random and usually last minute when I realize that I have nothing in the fridge or freezer. I guess the silver lining is that I’ve gotten creative with using whatever I can find in the pantry!
Dinner Using What You Have In Less Than 30 Minutes? Yes Please!
One of my go-to pantry meals is my Pesto Tuna Casserole. I’m pretty sure it is based on a recipe my parents made years ago when they did the South Beach diet, so I’ll give credit where credit is due. I don’t follow that diet or “lifestyle” but it is delicious so I still eat it. Chances are you have these ingredients, or something like them, to be able to throw this together too. Bonus: It takes less than 30 minutes and my kids love it! It’s also a great way to use up random veggies in your fridge (a la a hash or frittata).
Pesto Tuna Casserole is so simple as is but it is also really easy to change based on what you like or what you have on hand. You could make it as simple as tuna, pesto, and beans or add in some wilted greens. I’ve even switched it up and made a TexMex Version. I swapped pesto for salsa, cannellini beans for black beans, and mozzarella for cheddar. Also YUM! Give it a try and let me know what you think!
Pesto Tuna Casserole
Ingredients
- 3 cans of tuna drained
- 1 can cannellini beans (or another white bean) drained and rinsed
- 1/3 cup pesto
- 1 shallot, diced diced
- 1 jarred roasted red pepper diced
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 cup Italian blend shredded cheese or just shredded mozzarella
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Optional: any other veggies in the fridge that need to be used or sound delicious to you. I’ve added wilted spinach/arugula. You could also add bread crumbs to the topping if that sounds good to you!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- In a skillet, saute the shallot or onion with some olive oil for about 2-3 minutes or until softened.
- While the shallot is cooking, combine tuna and pesto in a medium mixing bowl. Flake the tuna and get the pesto well combined.
- Add beans, red pepper, Italian seasoning, and shallot (once it is done cooking). Gently fold everything together so that the beans don’t mash.
- Transfer everything into a small/medium baking dish, oven-safe skillet, pie plate. Really whatever you want. I used 4 largeish ramekins for photo purposes.
- Top with cheese.
- Bake for 15 minutes until cheese is melty and bubbly
- Enjoy your super easy, healthy, and delicious dinner!
Find more Meat+Fish recipes HERE
