Tuna Casserole

Tuna Casserole

Being gluten & dairy free certainly makes life A LOT more difficult when it comes to meal time.  If you aren’t prepared or don’t have a lot of time on your hands meal planning can be really stressful.  When you are a busy parent, its hard to find the time to look up new recipes that actually taste good and aren’t complicated and time consuming.  Here’s a fairly quick family friendly meal that kids and parents will love.  You can add any veggies you like.  Next time, I might also add carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and baby spinach and will update the post it it turns out.

Ingredients

  •  4 Cups of brown rice pasta (fusilli or penne is best)
  • 2 Tbs of olive oil
  • 1 Cup of chopped sweet onion
  • 1/2 Cup frozen peas
  • 1/2 Cup of almond flour for the sauce
  • 3 Cups Vegan Soup Stock (more if needed)
  • 1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
  • 1 Tbs of guar gum or 3 Tbs of tapioca starch to thicken (or more if needed)
  • 2 Cans of flaked white tuna
  • 1/3 Cup of almond flour for topping
  • Seasoning to taste (salt, pepper, garlic powder)

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F
  2. Grease a 9″ x 13″ baking dish with olive oil
  3. Fill a large pot with water (preferably reverse osmosis water) and add a good amount of himalayan sea salt
  4. Once boiling, add pasta and cook until al dente (approximately 7 minutes)
  5. Once cooked, drain and rinse your pasta then evenly spread the pasta into your baking dish and set aside
  6. On medium heat, add 2 Tbs of olive oil to a large frying pan
  7. When the pan is hot, add the onion and cook until translucent
  8. Add broth, mayo, almond flour and guar gum to the sauce.  Stir until thickened.  If the sauce is too watery add more almond flour and a tiny bit of guar gum at a time until you reach your desired consistency
  9. Add drained tuna and peas
  10. Add seasoning to taste (as a reference, I used 1 Tsp of salt, a few cracks of fresh ground pepper and 1 Tbs of garlic powder)
  11. Pour sauce over the noodles ensuring your cover all of the pasta with the mixture otherwise it will dry out
  12. Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 of almond flour to the top of the casserole and drizzle with a bit of olive oil
  13. Bake for 30 minutes or until slightly browned on top