Lightened Up Chicken Spaghetti

In the past, I've made some delicious chicken spaghetti that had Rotel tomatoes with green chilies and loads of Velveeta cheese. It's really good. But it's really bad for you, too. As I've mentioned, I'm doing Weight Watchers, so I'm not eating much by way of Velveeta these days. Actually, I haven't had Velveeta in almost a year.

Anyway, Weight Watchers eTools has something really cool that I've been playing with, called Recipe Builder. You tell it what you're putting into your recipe, and it tells you how many POINTS value are in each serving. I can't share those values with you, because it's copyrighted material. I just love that feature. It helped me plan today's dinner. Here it is:

Chicken Spaghetti
serves 6

What You Need:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded or cut into chunks (I did a combo of the two, just quickly cutting it up)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup sliced bell peppers
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1/2 lb dry spaghetti, cooked and drained
• 2 cups of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (use less if you don't care for it that much. We love it.)
• 2 gloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup of cheese (I used Weight Watchers brand 4 cheese Italian blend, made with 2% milk)
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, divided

How it's Done:

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a 2 quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray or mist with oil.
• Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the pepper and onions, stirring until soft and fragrant. Stir in sauce, basil, garlic, chicken, and spaghetti, mixing well. Stir in half of the Parmesan cheese.
• Pour spaghetti mixture into the prepared dish. Top with the remaining cheeses.
• Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Let the dish sit for five more minutes before slicing and serving.

Incidentally, I had my third weigh-in on Wednesday, and have lost a total so far of 10.8 pounds, eating stuff like Chicken Spaghetti, and putting cream and sugar in my coffee. It works, and it's sound, and it promotes whole foods eating. I love it.