Toasty tuna melt casserole

I know when I make tuna Tavio will hate dinner.  Last night Benjamin even whined and whined about it, but then ate it all.  Go figure.  However, I guess because this looked like bread Mr. Picky 2 year old actually tried dinner.  He wanted it with syrup (sadly it was on the table still from breakfast.)  I wouldn't let him do that, but I did allow ketchup and he ate over 1/2 of his food.  I was sooo excited.  (This child eats nothing that looks like a casserole.  I usually separate out his food to try and get him to try at least a portion of it.)  Anyway, the recipe is from yet another book I have checked out of the library right now.  Family feasts for $75 a week.  I think this is my second recipe that I've tried.  I liked this one better than the last one.  This called for "10-12 oz dry bread cubes (use crouton recipe on page 284 or buy stuffing mix - the kind with the seasonings in a separate packet.)"  This confused me a lot because The crouton recipe was flavored with spices and they wanted you to buy stuffing mix with the separate seasoning.  I couldn't find the stuffing mix with the separate packet, but I didn't look very hard. The crouton recipe said only use 4 slices of bread - I cut only 3 of what I had left, but that didn't weigh anywhere near 10-12 oz so I grabbed a package of seasoned croutons and used the rest of that.  I think all total I only ended up with about 8 oz.  So, the crouton recipe would have needed to be doubled.  Anyway, definitely confusing for me.  I would try this again with the stuffing mix, or making my own croutons, but I liked the flavorings added by the seasoned croutons, so I think I would add that if using plain bread or stuffing again - or just go ahead and use the flavored croutons or flavored stuffing - who knows.  Point is it turned out good this way, so I wouldn't change too much.  Here is how I made it.

Ingredients

• 3 slices of bread, cubed (I had decent sized homemade wheat)
• 1/2-2/3  package of seasoned croutons
• 3 5 oz. cans tuna in water (not drained)
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons dehydrated onion
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 3 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 - Put bread on a cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray.  and bake for 10-15 minutes or until crisp.  Reduce oven heat to 400.
2. Meanwhile, mix 3 the tuna with their water, dehydrated onions, eggs, milk, pepper, curry powder, and butter in a bowl. 
3. Spray a 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray.  Place dried bread and croutons on the bottom of the pan.  Toss to evenly distribute.  Pour tuna mixture on top, pressing the bread into the sauce if necessary.  
4. Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake until it starts to puff up, the cheese has melted, and the bread cubes have browned some.  20-30 minutes.