MAMA'S NOODLE CASSEROLE
Or as we at home called it

"GLOP"

My mother always used to make this dish when large numbers of people were expected to show up for dinner. In the early days I can remember my mother and grandmother standing in the kitchen and making noodles for this dish. It has a fine creamy texture on the tongue that is not easy to forget as it keeps calling you back to it.

Ingredients

1 pkg egg noodles, one pound size
1 lb hamburger
1/2 onion
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
6 fresh mushrooms, cut up (may use freeze-dried if you
can't get the fresh, or leave out if you don't have them)
1/2 cup fresh or frozen green peas
1 cup bread crumbs
1 pkg cream cheese, 8 ounce size (we used to use what is
called farmers cheese.), You may use low fat, if you
like but stay away from the no-fat for this recipe.
2 can cream of mushroom soup (We used to make a seasoned
white sauce with the mushrooms and cook it down with
herbs)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 pkg sliced almonds, three to six ounces. Save some of
these for top dressing the dish just before you bake it.

Directions

Cook the noodles in a large pot of water for the amount of time called for on the noodle package. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking action and keep the noodles from sticking. Tossing with olive oil does about the same thing but adds a lot of unneeded oil calories.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. When warm, add one or two teaspoons of oil, hamburger, onion and the garlic. Stir and saute' until the hamburger is nicely browned. Add the mushrooms and stir everything together. Saute' until the hamburger is brown, the onions translucent and the mushrooms are done, if using them( become a darker color, but not from browning). Reduce the heat; add the peas, canned soup and everything else except the noodles. Stir and allow the cream cheese to melt and everything to meld together nicely. It should bubble up, but don't let it start boiling as it would burn.

Add the noodles and 1/2 of the almonds (save the other half for the top) to the pan and carefully fold them into the sauce in the pan.

Take a casserole pan, large enough to hold everything and spray it with non-stick spray. Turn the whole mixture into the casserole, dust the top with bread crumbs and almonds and bake covered with aluminum foil in a 350 F oven for about one hour, or until the center of the casserole bubbles up. Remove the aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes more to brown the top.

Serve immediately.

This dish goes well with a green salad, green vegetables, hot bread, or all of the above.

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