After being sick for almost an entire week, I was craving something home style and delicious. I decided to make Chicken Spaghetti but didn’t have any cream soups (I don’t particularly care for them, so I don’t keep them on hand). After looking up some recipes, I decided to create my own.  What developed was a semi-spicy Southwest style Chicken Spaghetti. The panko spread on top of the dish gave it a nice color and crunch.  It was tasty and easy. I’m excited because I froze half of it for a quick meal later. Here’s the recipe:

 

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

Season-All or Lawry’s seasoned salt

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

8 oz dry spaghetti or angel hair pasta

1/2 bell pepper (whatever color you prefer), chopped

1 stalk celery, diced

1 medium onion, diced

1/4 cup butter, plus 1 tbsp (5 tbsp total)

1/4 cup flour

2 cups chicken stock

1 cup milk

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp oregano

1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 can Rotel Tomatoes, drained

2 1/2 cups grated cheddar

1 cup panko bread crumbs

kosher salt and pepper

 

Directions:

Season chicken with seasoned salt or kosher salt and pepper.  Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken until done.  Meanwhile, cook spaghetti to al dente in a large pot of salted water. Drain spaghetti and return to pot; add chicken to the pot. In the same skillet used for the chicken, add 1 tbsp olive oil if needed.  Cook vegetables until crisp-tender in juices from chicken.  Add chili powder, cayenne and oregano and salt and pepper to taste.  In a small sauce pot, heat butter over medium-low.   Add flour and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes. Slowly add chicken broth and milk, stirring or whisking to combine.  Cook over medium heat until thick, about 4-5 minutes.  When sauce had thickened, stir in 1 1/2 cups of cheese. Melt 1 tbsp butter in a small dish, mix in Panko bread crumbs.

 

Add vegetables and drained Rotel tomatoes to the stock pot already containing spaghetti and chicken.  Pour in the sauce, stirring to combine.  Spread mixture into a greased 9×13 glass baking dish, or two smaller dishes, if you wish to freeze half for later.  Spread remaining cheddar cheese and Panko bread crumbs over the top.  Bake at 400 for 20 minutes until cheese is melted and bread crumbs are browned. Enjoy!

The Wilhelms are off on a calorie-laden, butter-filled, delicious journey through the Pioneer Woman’s frontier.  Here is what’s cooking from each section of the book.

 

The next cookbook we cook through will need to have the words “healthy,” “low-fat,” and “So you survived a diabetic coma: Now what?” somewhere in the title.  Start your research.

 

Do I get bonus points for being the first to post about a recipe? 🙂 Um, this was awesome.  Seriously, you should make it (she says that in her book and blog, so I figured I would too!).  We really liked this, but I did make a few tweaks…

 

First, the recipe calls for 5-7lbs pork butt.  It would take Will and me about a year to eat 7 lbs of pork. Okay, not really, but it would take a long time.  So, I did a 3lb pork butt and halved the rest of the recipe.

 

Secondly, I did a little less than 1/2 of a can of chipotles in adobo. I was not feeling super well and did not want it to be too hot on account of my stomach.  She says in the book that it’s sinus clearing spicy, and while I enjoy that on occasion, I wasn’t in the mood for too hot.  It was the perfect amount of spicy!  Enough to burn your tongue a bit but not be BYA (ask Matt) status! 😉

 

Third, I cooked it in a crock pot.  The shame of my kitchen outfitting is that I do not own a big pot that can go in the oven.  I need and want one, it just hasn’t happened yet. And I LOVE my crock pot.  In fact, the crock pot was so easy, I would do it that way even if I had a pot!  I did not get the dark color she talked about, but the flavor was incredible and meat juicy…

 

When I was at the grocery store, I looked up the recipe to see the amount of meat (or what half would be) on the PW website and I saw this coleslaw that she made with it…I made that also, well, half of it, and served the meat on buns.  SO GOOD.  Here’s the slaw recipe for your convenience.  (Please make this too!).

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head Cabbage, Sliced Thin
• 1/2 head Purple Cabbage, Sliced Thin
• 1 whole Jalapeno, Halved Lengthwise And Thinly Sliced
• 1/2 cup Whole Milk
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon White Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 2 cups Cilantro Leaves, Barely Chopped

Directions:

Combine shredded cabbage and sliced jalapenos in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix milk, mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt, and cayenne. Pour over cabbage. Toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate two hours.

Before serving, toss in cilantro leaves.