Friday night is usually Kids Night at our house. What that means is, I try to make them something kid friendly that I know they like. Kids love having a night that they feel is their own!
Although we love pizza here, rarely do I make them pizza ONLY because they have pizza at school at least once a week, sometimes twice. That’s every single week! Enough with the pizza already…
Which brings me to this quick and easy meal, perfect for the kids. Basically, one night I needed something quick and easy and went with what we had in the cupboard. Now my kids love this one every time I make it! This dish is also very good with canned salmon if you have salmon lovers at your house.
I used these basic ingredients, although for the shredded cheese I just go with whatever I have on hand. You can’t see it well, but this time around I used Kraft Triple Cheddar.
Here it is hot & bubbly right out of the oven. Personally I prefer Panko bread crumbs on top, but the kids love the goldfish. 🙂 Oh, tonight I didn’t add the peas, because the kids had a fruit instead of a vegetable.
Tonight’s meal for Kids Night – Macaroni & Cheese with Tuna, Mandarin Oranges, and a piece of Wheat Baguette.
Macarnoi & Cheese with Tuna
Ingredients:
1 Box of Macaroni & Cheese (7.25 oz.), any brand will do
1 can ( 5 oz.) tuna, drained – we like the solid white, or like I said you could use canned salmon if you prefer
1 cup frozen peas, or other vegetable (optional)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup reduced-fat milk (1% or 2%)
* Small Amount of Extra Cheese
* Extra Cheddar Goldfish or Seasoned Dry Breadcrumbs
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Microwave peas for enough time to defrost them. They don’t need to be hot, just make sure they are no longer frozen in the middle.
3. Cook the pasta from the macaroni & cheese according to the package instructions. Drain as usual; return to same pot pasta was cooked in. Stir in the drained can of tuna and 1 cup of peas, add 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup (2%) reduced-fat milk and packet of cheese sauce mix. Stir until butter and sauce mix are melted and there are no lumps. I always add extra milk to macaroni & cheese because that’s the way we like it here. Be careful here, add the milk 1 Tablespoon at a time, until creamy.
4. You can either serve the Macaroni & Cheese immediately OR give it a few special touches. If you want to add a little extra love spoon the mixture into a baking dish, sprinkle with a few handfuls of cheddar goldfish and just a handful or two of cheese.
5. Bake for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees, or until nice and bubbly. It shouldn’t take any more than 10 minutes for it to get nice and bubbly.
Makes 4 servings.
I would love to know what you guys think of this one. If you get a chance please send me an email, or post a comment.
