This story was first published as “Community Cookbook: Make Chicken Spaghetti with Brenda Robinson-Echols of Sikeston, Mo.” in the April 2025 issue of The Best Years.
Brenda Robinson-Echols of Sikeston, Mo., has always had a love for her community. It’s where she was born — delivered in a house down the street by a midwife — and where she spent summers learning to cook for her younger sister, Rose. Today, it’s where she works as a regional coordinator for the Sikeston Outreach Center of Southeast Missouri, an extension of Lincoln University. The program focuses on providing educational opportunities to underserved youth, families and adults in the Bootheel region. Robinson-Echols says she’s trying to make a difference here and to give back. Food is a part of that journey.
“When I started doing community work, I learned that if you cook some good food, they will come,” Robinson-Echols says. “You draw them in with food, but it’s more than that. [You get them here] and can feed them other things that may benefit their life.”
Seniors Moving On is one of the groups that gathers for a monthly meal at the Outreach Center. Robinson-Echols plans the menu and makes the food. The lunch and learns cover topics important to people older than the age of 55, like heart health, fitness and technology. Approximately 40 people attend each month, and chicken spaghetti is one dish Robinson-Echols’ makes for the crowd.
“My godmother, Hattie Grant, taught me this recipe,” Robinson-Echols says. “I’ve been making it for 20 years, though I’ve changed it a bit to fit what I like.”
Robinson-Echols uses two cans of Rotel rather than one in the recipe, because she likes it a bit spicier. She says sometimes, she adds more creamy soups or uses a bigger can. Using the broth water to boil the noodles also adds more flavor.
But fair warning, Robinson-Echols says this recipe makes a huge pan of chicken spaghetti. It’s not something she would make for a weeknight dinner for two, although she has been known to make it on Sundays after church. Her little sister that she learned to cook for growing up is now a pastor at Gateway Church in Cape Girardeau. Rose and Rose’s husband, Ben Porter, also a pastor, often come over for lunch on Sunday afternoons.
“She feeds me spiritually,” says Robinson-Echols of her youngest sister. “And I feed her.”
Robinson-Echols says her love of cooking came from watching key women in her life. She says her grandmother, Dora Thatch, and her mom, Florida Robinson, were both amazing cooks. They didn’t measure ingredients, but she would watch their hand movements and take notice of the size of the scoop. And because almost everything they ate came from the garden, Robinson-Echols says she was privileged to have homegrown food her whole life. Today, she continues the tradition of gardening and has four freezers full of produce.
She says Ms. Dorothy James, one of her home economics teachers, was influential, as well.
“She was a sweet lady, and I was kind of her teacher’s pet,” Robinson-Echols says. “During the summer, she would organize her house, do a deep clean, and she hired me several summers to help her out. She would put together different recipes while I was working, and I learned from her, as well.”
Whether cooking for the senior citizens at the Outreach Center or sharing a meal after church, Robinson-Echols says she enjoys being around the table together with others, putting the cell phones down, sharing stories and feeling the love from the food and each other.
“I feel like my purpose is to help people, whatever way that looks,” Robinson-Echols says. “Being from Sikeston, especially the west side of Sikeston where I grew up, and pouring into that community, that’s priceless to me.”
Chicken Spaghetti
Ingredients
Whole chicken
1 bell pepper
1 onion
2 celery stalks
1 stick butter
1 can cream of chicken
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 can Rotel
2 pounds spaghetti noodles
1 bag cheddar cheese
1 bag mozzarella cheese
Salt, pepper and garlic powder
Directions
Boil chicken in water for approximately 45 to 60 minutes, seasoning the water with salt, pepper, garlic seasoning or whatever you like. While the chicken is cooking, chop up the bell pepper, onion and celery. Sauté vegetables on stove top in a stick of butter. Once the veggies are sautéd, add cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, cheddar cheese soup and can of Rotel. Mix and simmer on the stove. Once the chicken is cooked through, de-bone it and remove all skin, saving the broth water to boil the spaghetti noodles. After the spaghetti is cooked, drain the noodles and mix all ingredients, including chicken, together. Use salt, pepper and garlic powder to season. Pour into a large roasting pan and cover with the two bags of cheese. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes.
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