Fast and Easy Turkey Casserole with Tortillas

As a high school student back in the 70s, I decided to leave campus most of the school week and train at the printing division of General Services, State of California in Downtown Sacramento. I learned how to run an Addressograph machine, and if I wasn’t careful, this noisy monster, which printed addresses with the help of rectangular metal pieces, would run over my fingers.

Addressograph machines were no longer needed by the time computers became a normal fixture in state offices. I had to reinvent myself, so by the time I graduated from high school, Addressograph machines were obsolete.

During this transition from clunky machine to computer, I could say that Roy was my very first boss. He was a short, balding man who wore polyester pants and polo shirts. Unfortunately, for our small office, he drenched himself in a type of flowery men’s cologne which nauseates me to this day. Roy was single and in his fifties, but he always talked about Mary.

“Mary liked this, and Mary liked that,” he would say. And I noticed that no one in the office paid any attention to him whenever he talked about Mary.

Roy was also cheap. He was so cheap that it was said that he rubbed to pennies together until they squealed for mercy.

I didn’t believe this until Christmastime. Most bosses took their employees out to lunch during Christmas and other occasions because Downtown Sacramento and its surrounding areas had plenty of restaurants to choose from. At that time, we used to pile in someone’s car and go to lunch together. And, if the boss was with us, we knew we could take our sweet time. Roy decided to take us to his mother’s sprawling ranch house in West Sacramento, and she was the one who was making our Christmas meal.

The turkey casserole with tortillas was a hit because it was simple, but delicious. Roy’s mother was a smart cookie who doubled the recipe so each of us could eat our second helping before returning to the office.

“What about Mary? Why isn’t she here?” I asked one of my co-workers. The way Roy talked about Mary; you’d think she would join us for lunch.

“Don’t you get it?” said Barb, one of my co-workers. “Why do you think we ignore him whenever he talks about her? Mary died years ago.”

I could not believe it. I almost choked on my casserole.

“She was doing some training in the Army and drowned. It was some river by the base. She had decided to go swimming by herself, and they found her body downstream, hooked to some tree roots. It was an accident, but Roy hasn’t been able to accept her death. So when he talks about her, we let him.”

“Oh.” So I asked Roy’s mother for her casserole recipe and didn’t ask Roy about Mary. To be truthful, I didn’t want to upset him. And like the other people in the office and Roy’s mother, I tuned out Roy whenever he spoke about Mary.

Fast and Easy Turkey Casserole with Tortillas

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped, shredded or pieces of turkey or chicken

3 tortilla wraps or 6 flour or corn tortillas, cut into triangles

1 – 4 oz. can diced green chiles (optional)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cans golden mushroom soup

1 soup can milk

1 cup shredded cheese (your choice)

Directions:

1. Mix soup and milk. Set aside.

2. Mix green chiles (optional) with turkey or chicken. Place in 8” x 8" square pan.

3. Cut tortillas into triangles. Layer these tortillas over the turkey or chicken. There will be about three layers of tortillas, so separate them by pouring a cup of the soup and milk mixture over each layer.

4. Top last layer of tortillas and soup with one cup of shredded cheese.

5. Bake casserole for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

6. Serve.