Chicken Casserole

1 chicken
2 tbls chopped onion
¼ cup chopped green pepper
¼ cup (½ stick) butter
1# Velveeta or 1 small jar Cheez Whiz
½ cup milk
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 small can mushrooms, drained (opt.)
1 small jar pimientos (opt.)
1 pkg. vermicelli or thin spaghetti, broken in thirds or fourths (bite-size pieces)

Boil chicken. Remove from water (do not dump water--leave in pot); debone; cut in bite-size pieces; set aside.

Melt butter in skillet. Add onions and green peppers; saute. Lower heat. Add cheese and milk to skillet and stir until cheese is melted and combined with milk. Add cream of mushroom soup. Stir to mix. (Opt.: Add drained mushrooms and pimientos.) Add chicken.

Leave over very low heat, stirring occasionally. Return to boil the water in which you cooked the chicken. Add broken vermicelli to boiling water. Cook; drain; return pasta to pot. Pour heated chicken-cheese sauce from skillet over pasta and stir to mix. Serve.

Note: Our family likes this dish prepared as above, however, you can increase milk and after all the ingredients are combined, bake it in a 350º oven in a casserole dish for 30 minutes if you like. In recent years, I've been making this casserole with American cheese and increasing the milk in a measure to create a creamy sauce. Leftovers reheat well in the microwave.

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