Chicken Spaghetti Ole

Here is a made up recipe for Mexican Chicken Spaghetti that I call "Chicken Spaghetti Ole!" One evening two weeks ago I pulled out ingredients from my pantry and refrigerator and used what I had to make a casserole. Here is what I came up with.

I started by salting a pot of water and put on stove to boil.

Measured a 2 cup measuring cup with whole wheat pasta that I broke in half.

Here are the spices I pulled out: Cayenne Pepper, Ground Cumin, Onion Powder, Lawry's Seasoned Salt and Celery Salt. I was going for a spicy kick, so use what you have on hand and sub what you don't have.

I also used a can of Cream of Chicken soup (but a can of mexican creamed soup or cheddar cheese soup would work too.) A can of Chicken chunks (or you could broil or boil chicken breast or use left over chicken and shred it). 2 cups of Cherry Tomatoes (or a can of rotel would have been great had I had it stocked...or even a can of diced tomatoes.) A can of fire roasted green chiles (or fresh jalapenos, jarred jalapenos, red peppers, green bell peppers - anything you have on hand).

These were items I pulled out but wasn't sure I would use. Shredded cheddar cheese, hot salsa and sour cream.

I started with the can of cream of chicken soup.

Then added a can of chicken chunks.

Then diced the can of green chiles.

Added those to the bowl.

Then quartered two cups of cherry tomatoes.

Added those to the bowl.

Then diced three shallots. (looking back, I would sweat these in a pan first, but here I added them raw.)

It came to 1/3 cup of chopped shallots.

When the whole wheat spaghetti is al dente I drained the pasta.

Reserving a little bit of the liquid to add back if needed.

1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoning Salt.

1/2 t Celery Salt.

1 t Cayenne Pepper.

1/2 T Onion Powder

2 C Shredded Cheddar Cheese.

Mix this all together.

1 T hot pepper sauce.

1 T Sour Cream. (mostly because I had it in the fridge and is was about to go bad, so use it or loose it.)

Mix really good, then add to your drained pasta.

Mmmm.... looks gross. No worries, this will taste great.

I put this in a baking dish. I'm using an 8x8 glass dish. Then I'm going to top with Cotija, a mexican cheese.

Crumble on top.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. If cheese on top gets too brown, cover with foil until hot and bubbly.

There is no easy way to serve this, just scoop out what you want on a plate or bowl and dig in.

This is a creamy chicken casserole with an added KICK. The spices really punch up this cheesy dish taking it from drab to POW!

Yum! Yum! Yum!