Chicken Spaghetti

When I first saw the words Chicken Spaghetti, I cringed. It did not sound good to me at all. I pictured spaghetti, you know, with tomato sauce on it, with bits of chicken in it. That just did not sound good. Thankfully I read through the whole recipe, & we tried it! It's very good. And there's not a drop of tomato sauce in it. LOL
I found this recipe over at Pioneer Woman Cooks quite a long time ago.

I only made one little change from the original recipe. I do not cook the spaghetti in the chicken broth. Whenever I boil a chicken I save all the broth. I would just rather save all that broth rather than use it to boil spaghetti.
Also, a 9X13 actually makes too much for us (family of 4). I've made it quite a few times, & it makes so much that we eat it for supper, then the kids & I have it again for lunch the next day, & then because I HATE to waste anything, we have it for left-overs for supper. By then my family is ready to eat something else. LOL So, this time when I made it, & divided it up into TWO 9 inch dishes. One was round & one square. One went into the oven to bake for supper, & one got wrapped up, labeled, & put into the freezer for another day. Here's a picture of both of them before they got covered in cheese.

Chicken Spaghetti
2 C. cooked chicken
2 C. Cream of mushroom soup (or 1 recipe of homemade condensed cream of chicken)
2 C. grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 C. green pepper, diced
1/2 C. onion, finely diced
1 -4 oz. jar diced pimentos, drained
3 C. dry spaghetti, broken into 2 inch pieces (I use the regular 16 oz. box)
2 C. reserved chicken stock
1 t. seasoned salt
1/8-1/4 t. cayenne pepper
salt & pepper to taste
1 additional cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese

Cook 1 cut up fryer & pick out the meat to make 2 cups. Cook spaghetti following directions on box for al dente, do not over cook. While spaghetti is cooking combine the rest of the ingredients except the additional 1 cup of cheese. Add the spaghetti when it is cooked & drained. Stir well. Pour into a lightly buttered 9x13 pan. Add the additional 1 cup cheese over the top.
You can bake it now at 350 for 45 minutes. Or, you can cover & refrigerate for up to 2 days. Or, you can cover & freeze for up to 6 months.

I served it with homemade black pepper & onion bread (fresh out of the oven & spread with real butter....mmmmm) & a simple salad.

Whenever I boil a chicken to make a bunch of stock, I ALWAYS save out 2 cups of the chicken & 2 cups of the stock & put them in a large freezer bag. I mark on the bag that it is 2 cups of chicken & stock to be used for CHICKEN SPAGHETTI! I get quite a few meals out of boiling one five dollar chicken fryer! And because I put this into two smaller pans instead of one large one, I feel like the next meal is a freebie.
Thanks to the Pioneer Woman for this great recipe!