Grandma's Chicken Spaghetti

If you're reading this, you're probably already aware that my Grandma Marge died on October 18th.  She was laid to rest next to Gramps four days later.  I honored her on her 89th birthday in an earlier post entitled Grandma Marge.  I also had an opportunity to share some of my favorite memories of her with our extended family after her funeral and promised myself then to finally attempt her recipe for chicken spaghetti, which I did today.

This is how I wrote down the recipe as she recited it to me years ago:

Boil or bake chicken.  Pick meat off.  Use broth to cook onion, green pepper, celery, and spaghetti (12 oz. - 1 lb.) in.  Add water if necessary.  Mix together chicken, spaghetti, onion, pepper, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, and 1 can cream of chicken soup.  Put in baking dish.  Place grated cheese on top and bake at 350 degrees until hot.

I was reluctant to try this recipe before now because whole chickens kind of gross me out, but I knew it just wouldn't be the same if I substituted boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  Using Mom's instructions, I salted and peppered the whole chicken, covered it with water, and boiled it for about an hour last night.  After letting it cool, I picked as much meat off the bones as I could and saved the broth.  This evening, I cooked a pound of spaghetti, two stalks of celery, chopped, and an onion, also chopped, in the broth.  (I omitted the green pepper.)  Then, I mixed all that with the cans of soup and the chicken, put it all in a 13" x 9" glass dish, put about two cups of shredded cheddar cheese on top, and baked it for about 20 minutes.

I'll probably need to make this several more times before it tastes as good as I remember, but it was good.  Nathan liked it, too.

Oh, and unless you have five hungry sons like Grandma did, you'll probably be able to freeze half of it or give it to your friends who've just had a baby or your neighbor who's been in the hospital.

Enjoy!