Casseroles: A Tightwad's Friend

My normal standby for odd leftovers is soup. But, I've found that my soup is not always received well by the toddler and Big Daddy doesn't like soup leftovers for lunch.

So, what do I do with instant milk that needs to be used up, a cup and a half of leftover rice and a handful of asparagus from Sunday nights dinner? Look up the universal casserole in the Complete Tightwad Gazette of course.

I had no cream soup so I mixed up some instant milk, some dried tvp (for protein and thickener), a sprinkle of spike seasoning and veggie broth powder, and an egg.

I threw the rice, the asparagus, a handful of frozen peas, 1/4 of frozen onion, and 1/4 cup of frozen veggie crumbles in a greased Pyrex pan. I sprinkled some fresh and some dried Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper over the mix and then poured on the milk mixture and stirred it together gently. I topped it with plain and Italian bread crumbs and a handful of french fried onions from an unopened can I found in the pantry. I think the onions are leftover from last Thanksgiving but it didn't have an expiration date on it so I think we're safe.

I also mixed up a batch of biscuits from the scratch whole wheat 'bisquik' I made a few weeks ago. They are cut into cute little circles on top of the stove awaiting their turn in the oven.

I debated the possibility of mixing up a cake since I do have a cake mix but, I didn't feel like being splurgy with the oil. I hate to waste the hot oven though. It's one of those times when I wished I had a jiffy cake mix but I don't buy those anymore. I wonder if I should google a scratch recipe for jiffy cake mix. I love making just a small cake for my family so we have a treat without making a huge cake.