Church Potluck - Rachels Ray's Italian Tuna Casserole & Spiced Apple Cobbler

Brought these to our church's annual Thanksgiving Eve potluck and service. It was wonderful to hear testimonies of what God had done in everyone's lives this past year and also really fun to sample everyone's dishes and desserts!

I adapted Rachel Ray's Italian Tuna Casserole from her Express Lane Meals book. Super simple
- 1 box/bag frozen chopped spinach
- bow tie pasta
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or should I say EVOO)
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1 medium onion finely chopped (I use the food processor to finely chop)
- 5 garlic gloves (I estimate and use crushed garlic from the jar)
- 3 TBSP all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup white wine (TIP - check out the international isle for cheap cooking wine)
- 2 cups milk
- small shake of ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce (I went heavy on this and it was a bit spicy:)
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
- sprinkling of shredded Italian cheese blend (I added this for more flavor in the sauce)
- 2 6-ounce cans of white tuna in water
- 1 cup grated Parmigiana-Reggiano

Boil your pasta and start on the sauce. Melt butter in olive oil and then saute onions and garlic. When cooked, add the flour, cook for about a minute, add wine and then stock and then milk, whisking it all in. Season the sauce with hot sauce, Dijon, nutmeg and salt and pepper, add cheese if you like. Add the spinach and tuna.

Mix in the pasta, sprinkle with Parm and broil till browned.

Katie Lee Joel was on Rachel Ray and I made her Spiced Apple Cobbler with caramel sauce, minus the pumpkin ice cream.