Almost Instant Turkey Casserole

The other day we were rushing about for whatever reason I do not even recall now, and I had to come up with a good, quick meal for the boys that was healthy and easy to throw together. A few days before this I'd made turkey noodle soup for them, and there was still a half jar (about 250ml) of canned turkey in the fridge that was left over from it, so I wanted to use it up whatever I did. It was canned up at Christmas just passed, from the leftovers. While thinking about that fact, I recalled that I'd also canned up a fantastic turkey organ gravy. I put two-and-two together and a great idea popped into my head.

So I dug through the cupboard and came out with a few different forms of pasta - whole wheat penne, whole wheat rotini, and some regular elbow macaroni. Combined it was about two and a half cups. It was only in hindsight after I'd had them all in the post of boiling water, when I realised I should have cooked the whole wheat ones for about 5 minutes before adding the non whole wheat elbow macaroni. So I cooked it all about 13 minutes and the elbows were a little overdone, and the rest of it a little underdone. No big deal, really.

As the pasta was coming to the end of its cooking time I put the (250ml) jar of gravy and the rest of the chicken into the microwave for about two-and-a-half minutes to heat it up. When the pasta was done I drained it, mixed in the turkey and gravy, and voila! Almost instant casserole that I did not even have to bake.

The boys being both in a bit of a picky stage were oddly enough skeptical to try it, even after being reminded that they both absolutely loved both the turkey and the gravy at Christmas when they were both made. But after 10 minutes of badgering we finally got them to put a spoonful in their mouths, and once the first one was in there was no stopping them and they both quickly polished off their helpings.

Mission accomplished!