Cowboy Spaghetti

I recently realized I have many obsessions - gum, chewing ice, the nest, the knot, reading the news, gum, diet dr pepper, grammar, my cats (especially Greta), parking my car in the same spot at work every day, 9:27, Food Network Channel, gum...you get the idea. So who really needs another obsession? Well, me apparently!

I heard about this new obsession from another obession - the nest. It's a web site/blog called The Pioneer Woman. PW is a woman in Oklahoma that gave up her "high heels for tractor wheels" when she married a rancher. I think one reason I love her so much is because I can somewhat relate - being a city girl that married into a farming family. Another reason is that she has a food section and I love looking at new recipes (add that to the obsession list too...).

I've cooked several of her recipes already (of course adapting using quick cooking methods - who has time to make their own chicken stock???) and this is my favorite so far. She calls it chicken spaghetti but for some reason I keep calling it cowboy spaghetti (maybe its all the cowboys on the ranch she talks about). So cowboy spaghetti it will be!

Click here to see the original recipe.

Here is my version...

Cowboy Spaghetti

Ingredients:

1 lb of chicken (cut into bite sized pieces)

10 oz of spaghetti (I used whole wheat)

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup

1/2 onion

1 green pepper

4 oz of pimentos

mushrooms

1-2 cups of chicken stock

2 cups of cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Season and cook chicken (I use an electric skill and season with italian seasoning). Add in onion, green pepper and mushrooms and cook through. Meanwhile, break spaghetti in thirds or half (PW says to do thirds but I get lazy sometimes...) and cook according to directions. Once chicken mixture is cooked, add pimentos and cans of mushroom soup. Stir together. Add enough chicken stock to thin out sauce to your desired consistency (I'd say I use about a cup). Add cooked spaghetti to mixture and some of the cheese. Mix together and dump into a prepared (that means spray with pam!) baking dish. Top with remainder of cheese. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes (until cheese is melted and bubbly).

Now grab your fork and chow down on this yumminess. Best part? This makes a lot so you have leftovers. In fact, I'm off to go heat up a bowl of leftover cowboy spaghetti for dinner tonight!

P.S. - sorry about the date stamp in the photos - I don't know how it got turned on and didn't realize it until I'd already stuffed my face with this fabulous meal.