Chicken Spaghetti

I haven't been trying new recipes as much lately. It is just easier to whip up something easy that I know.  I need to conserve my strength for growing a baby! Derrick has taken over a lot of the cooking and especially the dishes! I sure do appreciate how incredibly supportive he's been through our pregnancy! I don't know how I would have survived even this far without him. He truly is the best husband I could ever ask for. 

The newest update to our baby prep is this stroller! It is my dream stroller! This was a gift from my parents that they delivered this weekend and Derrick got it all put together. If you know me you know that I love walking, exercising, and being outside when it's nice so I hope Baby and I and Daddy get to log a ton of hours walking and jogging behind this bad boy. I can't wait for him to get here and try it out!

My coworker, Sharon, had this Chicken Spaghetti for lunch last week and it looked so yummy that I got the recipe from her Pinterest board to give it a try. It is supposed to be made in a 9x13, but I put it in two 8x8 pans and froze one for an easy dinner later.  It calls for the green peppers to be mixed in, but Derrick doesn't care for them so I just sprinkled them on top of half instead of mixing them in.

Be aware of the time it will take to cook the chicken and bake at the end if you are on a time crunch.

4-6 chicken breasts (I used frozen)

1 pound thin spaghetti, broken into 2 inch pieces (I only broke mine in half and it was a little hard to stir together)

2 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I used Colby jack)

1/4 cup diced green pepper

1/4 cup diced red pepper (I just used one whole green pepper)

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used a little too much of this for my new extremely sensitive pregnancy taste buds)

2 cans cream of mushroom soup (10 3/4 ounce each)  

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Boil water in a large pot.  Add the chicken pieces. I used frozen chicken breast tenders and it took about 15 minutes. Larger pieces will take more time.  Shred the chicken, saving the cooking water.  Cook the spaghetti in the cooking water. Be careful not to over cook the noodles.

Drain the spaghetti saving a cup of the cooking liquid. Combine the noodles, chicken, 1 1/2 cups cheese, peppers, cream of mushroom, and seasonings.  Stir in 1 cup of the chicken cooking broth if needed.

Spread into 9x13 casserole pan and top with the remaining 1 cup cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly, 30-45 minutes. The recipe calls for 45 minutes. I divided the recipe into 2 8x8 pans and it only took 30 minutes. If the cheese gets too brown, cover with foil.