Baked Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

One more new recipe for 2009 before the 2010 New Years' Resolution takes place (doing pretty good aren't I for not even officially starting yet?)

It's cold, sleeting, and I was up way too early for my own good this morning. I had already decided to try this recipe over the Holiday Shutdown both of our companies observe, well today is the day. Around 6am I decided to start cooking the chicken for this recipe. I had some frozen stuff I was wanting to use up, and casserole seemed perfect for that since Hubby is rather picky as to when he will eat previously frozen meats.

The end result was pretty decent, quite similar in taste (although not texture) to several other chicken casseroles in my current repertoire. I think next time I would add mushrooms and maybe a can of diced tomatoes.

Here's the recipe from The Pioneer Woman's website: (with a few alterations by yours truly):

Ingredients
2 cups Cooked Chicken
3 cups Dry Spaghetti, Broken Into Two Inch Pieces
2 cans Cream Of Mushroom Soup
2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
¼ cups Finely Diced Green Pepper
¼ cups Finely Diced Onion
1 jar (4 Ounce) Diced Pimentos, Drained
2 cups Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot
1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
⅛ teaspoons (to 1/4 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper
Salt And Pepper, to taste
1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preparation Instructions
Cook 1 cut up fryer and pick out the meat to make two cups. (I cooked up 2 cups worth of chicken that I had frozen in the freezer.) Cook spaghetti in same chicken broth until al dente (I just mixed one can of chicken broth into the pasta water instead of reusing the liquid from cooking my chicken.) Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup sharp cheddar.

Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar. Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate (this is the route I went, although it was only for a few hours) up to two days, or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly. (If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil).

Serves 8 generously.