Easier "Spaghetti Chicken"

I'm always looking for easy and tasty recipes to make for my family. With picky eaters, recipes are hard to come by. But my kids love pasta. And chicken.

I discovered this recipe for "Spaghetti Chicken" on The Pioneer Woman Cooks. It is really tasty. I've made a few of my own adjustments to the recipe to make it quicker with the ingredients that I normally have on hand. Also, the original dish ends up resembling a casserole (which my husband HATES!!), and it turns my family off. But I found that if I just don't put it into a casserole dish, my family gobbles it up.
Ingredients:

4-6 chicken tenderloin strips (or any other cut of chicken), cooked and shredded into bite-size pieces
3 cups dried spaghetti (or fettucine, whatever you have on hand), cooked
1 can cream of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken)
1/2 cup frozen pepper trio (red, green and yellow bell peppers-but you could absolutely use fresh)
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
1 1/2cups colby cheese (or cheddar, or jack, whatever you have on hand)
1/2 - 1 cup reserved chicken broth from pot
salt and pepper to taste

Cook chicken in a pot of water until done. Remove from water and allow to cool. Reserve water and throw in pasta. Cook until al dente. Set aside pasta. Again, reserve cooking water.

In a small pan, saute onions and peppers until onions are soft and peppers cooked.

Shred chicken into bite-size pieces.

Now the fun part: throw it all together! Chicken, onions and peppers, pasta, 1 1/2 cups of cheese, cream of mushroom soup and add salt and pepper to taste. The Pioneer Woman also adds cayenne pepper. If you want the mixture to be creamier you can add up to 1 cup of the reserved cooking water.

I throw it all in a serving bowl and top it off with the extra 1/2 cup of cheese. Serve.

So easy. And cheap to make from food you already have in your pantry and fridge.