I wanted something different tonight, so I read a lot of recipes, then decided to come up with my own, since those didn't hit the spot. Besides, I'm a from-scratch cook--I rarely use recipes. So, this is my version of a cheesy chicken bake.
Ingredients
10 oz chicken, cooked in water (you can use more or less--I just used half of a 20 oz package I had on hand.
4 oz spaghetti, cooked (about 4 cups)
3/4 cup (or so) pasta water
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 tsp olive oil
1 can cream of mushroom soup (the healthy kind)
4 oz Velveeta 2% cheese, diced
1/2 cup light sour cream
About 1/2 cup (or one can) sliced black olives
1/4 tsp. celery seed (OPTIONAL--SEE NOTE)
1 oz. colby-jack cheese 2 %, shredded
Cook and dice chicken (I cooked mine in water over the stove, then used the same water for pasta), then set aside. Cook spaghetti to al dente, hold back 1 cup of hot pasta water, then drain pasta and set water and pasta aside. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in the sauce pan and saute the red bell pepper and onion until soft. Add pasta water, soup and Velveeta cheese until the cheese melts. Add sour cream then add in the olives, celery seed, chicken and pasta. Stir well then place in a greased 8x8 pan and top with the shredded colby-jack. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
VERDICT: WE LIKED IT! Although, I made this without the celery seed, I would definitely use it the next time, so I added it to the recipe as optional, because I missed the celery taste. I will probably bounce back and forth between using it and not in this recipe--I like to change it up once in awhile!
I used to hate the idea of dirtying a sauce pan for spaghetti, then putting the pasta in the oven, but after tonight I LOVE IT. I had time to clean up the kitchen area, so there was relatively no time spent cleaning up AFTER supper. I only have to put the leftover chicken bake and peas in the fridge for leftovers tomorrow. :)
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