Turkey casserole (also known as hot dish)

This is my favorite way to use up turkey leftovers (and that includes turkey sandwiches). It's a hot dish (this is what we call casseroles in North Dakota and Minnesota) that my Mom has always made. Last year was the first year Neil and I cooked a turkey and I asked my mom for this recipe... I'm pretty sure this hot dish was the whole reason I wanted to cook a turkey in the first place. Thanks Mom.

Turkey (or chicken or ham) and macaroni casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (about 5 ounces)

• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 ounces)

• 1 1/2 cups cut up cooked turkey (can substitute eaqual amount of ham or turkey if desired)

• 1 can (4 ounces) mushroom stems & pieces, drained (or I use a a couple handfuls of fresh cut into slices)

• 1/4 cup chopped pimento (optional, and I've never eaten it with pimento)

• 1 can (10 1/2 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup (My mom usually substitutes mushroom soup)

• 1 cup milk

• 1/2 tsp salt (My mom and I usually omit this because canned soup has enough salt in our opinions)

• 1/2 tsp curry powder

Instructions:
Heat oven to 350 F/175 C. Mix all the ingredients in an ungreased 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Cover tightly and bake for 1 hour.

All the ingredients are usually in my cupboard (except the turkey) but last year I didn't have curry powder so I substituted a sachet of curry seasoning from a packet of ramen noodles which worked perfectly. One other tip is that I usually halve the recipe because Neil isn't fond of pasta or casseroles, which works just fine but takes nearly just as long to cook (about 45 to 50 minutes).

Enjoy!