Frugal Old Fashioned Recipe

 

Last night I made a recipe Mark has been requesting for a long time - it is one his mom always made. 

This was my first time making it so I was not sure how it would turn out but he LOVED it. It had all the happy childhood memory flavors he remembered. ~smile~

It sounds like a crazy thing to make but it is honestly really good and super frugal so a win win!

It is Tuna in Gravy on Mashed Potatoes. Here is the recipe as my Mother in Law told it to me. It helps to picture a wee little German lady with a heavy accent as you read this. hee!hee!

Tuna in Gravy

Brown half an onion in a generous piece of butter. Once onions are brown - they really do need to be brown to get the right flavor. Stir in a can of drained tuna.

Mix 2 packets of beef boullion (she always used Bovril.) with half a cup of hot water. Stir into the tuna and onions.

Boil. Mix some cornstarch and water and stir in to thicken. I used a shake of Veloutine instead.

When thick serve over mashed potatoes.

Note - I doubled this recipe for my hubby and I and we had some left over for lunch today.

 

According to Mark's request I needed to make the mashed potatoes the same way she did. I apparently succeeded because there were lots of mmmmm's coming from him at dinner!

My Mother in Law's Mashed Potatoes

Peel and cut potatoes in small cubes. Boil in very salty water. I mean she used to take the box of salt and pour from that generously. I on the other hand could not bring my self to do that but I did put some big shakes of salt in from the salt shaker.

Once they are very soft, drain and mash with a 1/4 lb.or more of butter and a splash or 2 of half and half. Stir with the potato masher until they are a whipped consistency add more half and half if needed to get a whipped texture.

Mound on a plate and create a well in the center and fill with gravy. My mother in law was famous for saying the gravy is where all the goodness is. Everything she made had gravy ~smile~

Note -it is quite a bit of butter considering it was not a big pot of potatoes, but maybe butter is also where all the goodness is! haha!

So that is it! A very easy and very frugal meal that made my hubby very happy. ~smile~

Happy Saturday!

Blessings,

Liisa