I really enjoy reading The Pioneer Woman. A lot of the recipes she makes work for me—because she doesn’t use ‘exotic’ ingredients (US specific) like a lot of other US sites. So I’m a regular reader of her cooking pages. I’ve even made a few.

Of course, the ones I’ve decided to make regularly, do use not-easily findable ingredients:-( So here’s what I actually do.

Chicken Spaghetti (based on the recipe from The Pioneer Woman, hers is supposed to serve 6, but I’ve cut it down a bit and now it serves about 6 of us:-) )
2 cups chicken, cooked (this is one of my ‘using up leftover chicken’ recipes)
2 cups stock, chicken
500 grams spaghetti, thin
2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 1/2 cups milk (to replace 600 milliliters Cream of Mushroom soup, (2 cans) )
1/2 onion, grated
1 capsicum, green, diced
1 capsicum, red, diced (instead of the pimentos we can get, but have to search out)
2 cups cheese, cheddar, grated
1 teaspoon seasoned salt—dash of paprika, garlic, turmeric and onion powder with some salt (instead of the Lawry’s seasoned salt)
cayenne pepper
pepper
salt
1 cup cheese, cheddar, grated (extra, for the top)

Dice the green capsicum, red capsicum and grate onion.
Next, break the thin spaghetti into pieces until you have around 2 1/2 to 3 cups.
Cook the spaghetti pieces in boiling chicken stock to cook (water with a little stock powder).
Allow the spaghetti to cook for several minutes, until very al dente (or, until it still has a nice “bite” to it.) You do NOT want to overcook the spaghetti, as you’ll be baking the dish again later.
Meanwhile, make a white sauce of the butter, flour and milk (be sure to warm the milk). Add the chicken stock. Sprinkle on the seasonings (dash of paprika, garlic, turmeric and onion powder with some salt, pepper and cayenne pepper). Add the chicken, the capsicum, the onion and the grated cheese.
Now, place the cooked spaghetti into a casserole dish.
Stir thoroughly, then take a bite and check your seasonings. Add a little salt if needed, a little more pepper, and maybe a little more Cayenne if you didn’t have enough the first time around. Make sure it’s seasoned enough!
And top with an additional 1 cup of grated sharp cheddar.
Bake it at 180˚C for 35 to 45 minutes until hot & bubbly.

Notes:
This can be frozen, unbaked. Or you can cover it and refrigerate it, unbaked, for up to two days before baking. I actually prefer it about a day after it’s been cooked… the ’sauce’ is just a more pleasing texture.