Recipe of the "Week"

Mama used to make this when I was growing up. The easiest way is to cook it in the crock-pot on low for the day. I cooked it this time in the crock-pot for ~2 1/2 hours on high, which worked beautifully. The best part? Michael raving about it while we ate. . .& then getting seconds! I hope you enjoy it just as much!

Chicken Spaghetti
 

Ingredients:

-spaghetti

-4-5 chicken breasts (you can use more or less depending on how "chickeny" you want it. We buy frozen chicken breasts in 2 lb. bags, which comes out to about 8 breasts, & I put all of them in)

-dry minced garlic

-2 cans pasta sauce (I used two 32-oz. jars of Classico Tomato & Basil because Michael likes a lot of sauce. One jar definitely would have sufficed to make it more "chickeny".)

-Italian seasoning

-1 T sugar

Directions:

-If you're not cooking this in a crock-pot, you need to bake or sauté the chicken. This step isn't necessary if you are cooking it in the crock-pot. I'm going to write the directions as if the crock-pot is being used, & you can tweak them for yourself if you're not using this method.

-Empty the sauce into the crock-pot. A trick to opening the jars is to slide the blade of a dinner knife under the edge of the top & slightly twist the knife. Sometimes it takes a couple of twists, but you will hear it pop, letting you know the vacuum seal has been broken. It's super easy to twist the top off now! (Michael taught me this trick; isn't he great?!)

-Sprinkle the garlic & Italian seasoning over the top of the sauce & add the sugar, then stir it all together.

-Turn the crock-pot on low if you're going to cook it all day or high if you're going to be ready to eat in 2-3 hours.

-Trim the fat off of the chicken breasts & then cut them into pieces & drop them into the sauce.

-Stir the sauce so that the chicken is completely covered & let the crock-pot do the rest. Every now & then, stir the sauce, particularly if you're cooking it on high. It's ready when the chicken is done. The longer you cook it, the more tender the chicken becomes, even to the point of just falling apart.

-Serve over the pasta of your choice. Spaghetti works well; last night we used rotini, & it was wonderful! Of course, parmesan cheese & a side of garlic bread are a must!

ENJOY!