i starve my farmer

it's that time again! our monthly edition of "bell cooks!" that's because i cook once a month. i decided to be an overachiever and get this cooking thing out of the way early.

this beloved recipe comes via miss amanda mays via the pioneer woman. the woman has it goin' on. it's a delish recipe and farmer-approved. my farmer ate half of the entire dish in one sitting. this may or MAY be because i starve him for the remainder of the month.

CHICKEN SPAGHETTI

just give that little title a click and it will take you to the printable recipe card!

first, the cast of characters:

• 2 cups cooked chicken (i bought a chicken from costco and diced up the breast...yum!)
• 3 cups dry spaghetti, broken into two inch pieces (whole wheat)
• 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
• 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cups finely diced green pepper
• 1/4 cups finely diced onion
• 2 cups chicken broth
• dashy-dashes of seasoned salt (i was liberal with this...love me some salt)
• salt and pepper to taste

items i left out:

• 1 additional cup of sharp cheddar cheese (that's a lot of cheese!)
• 1 jar diced pimentos, drained (i live in the middle of nowhere)
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (have you ever measured 1/8? it's nonexistent.)

my next step was dicing the onion and green pepper. according to the recipe they are supposed to be finely diced. well, finely diced to me means you're probably going to cut your finger off. so we'll say my peps and onions were moreso cubed, unfortunately. also, i used closer to 2/3 cup of onion. we love onion.

you're also supposed to grate three cups of sharp cheddar. i only grated two. this was a happy mistake because i didn't realize there was supposed to be three cups until just now...two days later. so one cup went into the mixture and one cup was sprinkled on top. still delish and a total calorie saver.

the next super satisfying step is to break a bunch of spaghetti into two inch pieces. i say satisfying because snapping all those little noodles feels good. i'm a freak. after you've snappy-snapped them, toss them into your two cups of chickn broth. you'll cook the noodles until al dente. yeah, we're speaking italian now. al dente means (in my world) a noodle that is not floppy, still firm, but cooked enough to be a little soft. does that make any sense? google it.

action shot!

while the noodles are cookin', combine your ingredientses (RHONJ!) in a bowl...you'll also put the noodles in there. when it came time to add the noodles, i didn't know whether to add the broth they were cooked in or drain it out...so i added it. i felt like it couldn't hurt the process. the only downside was that the final casserol was extra creamy...not soupy...but definitely couldn't be cut into squares like a lasagna.

you're going to stir everything together until it looks like poop. seriously...vomit. YUMMY YUM YUM YUM.

mmm...doesn't that look good? try it. really, it does taste good. i was pretty hungry at this point so i sampled and sampled some more. after i poured it into the casserol dish, i licked this bowl. i'm a freak.

now pour it into your casserol dish and sprinkle your reserved cheese on top!

and it will come out of your 350 degree oven lookin' like this...or probably better:

(i think it's the cream of mushroom that gives it that unappetizing taupe color. if it weren't for all that glorious cheese this dish would look totally disgusting.)

now, i must say i was pretty pleased with the results. the dish was delish and i was showered with affection from my farmer. he LOVES when i cook...you would think i would do it more. interesting. anyway, the results are in and this meal is a win. get cookin'.