Chicken Lasagna with Spinach

So, lately for some reason, I have had great “ideas” that haven’t been good realities.  (*Remember….. the chocolate cakes with ganache?   LAWRD  !!!! )

Well, I had to save those like I had to save this lasagna tonight.  *Just keepin it real over here!*

Well, tonight’s dinner started out with the intent on being Chicken Lasagna Roll Ups.  Then, it was dinner making time and I realized that I only had “oven ready” lasagna noodles.  I had bought them before because they are magnificent!  No boil, just layer those puppies in with the lasagna and you are good to go.  I’m talkin STRAIGHT FROM THE BOX, PEOPLE!

Problem?

Well, I had never tried to actually boil them and because you need to boil the actual lasagna noodles in order to make them pliable enough to make the rolls, I was in deep doggy doo doo!  *SIDE BAR:  Anybody know whether or not you can actually boil these things?  I only had enough for the actual lasagna with none to spare, so I was terrified to take that chance.  Help a girl out, if ya know!

Instead, I decided to make my own version of Chicken Lasagna and prayed it turned out ok.

GUESS WHAT?

IT DID!

And now, because of my “almost possible maybe I might have had another EPIC FAIL”, I get to share that recipe with you!  The people I love so much!  🙂

So, my loves, here you go:

RECIPE:  Chicken Lasagna  with Spinach

*TIP:  I prepared this meal earlier in the day and just put it in the oven when I was ready!

Ingredients:

Sauce:

Lasagna/Filling:

•  1 (15 oz.) container part-skim ricotta cheese

•  1 1/2 cups reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

•  1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided

•  1/2 teaspoon salt

•  1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

•  1/8 teaspoon ground pepper

•  10 oz. fresh spinach

•  12 lasagna (OVEN READY) noodles, you may need more depending on how big noodles are.  Make sure you make a layer each time.

•  2 cups shredded white meat chicken (*I used rotisserie)

Directions:

•  To prepare sauce:  Add first six ingredients to a medium size sauce pan.  Season with the salt and pepper and bring to a slight boil on medium high heat.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

•  Meanwhile, to prepare filling:  Combine ricotta, 3/4 cup of mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and oregano in a bowl.  Mix until well incorporated and set aside.

•  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

•  In a 13 x9 in. pan, spread about 1 – 1  1/2 cup of sauce on bottom of pan.  (just enough to really coat the bottom of pan).  Then, top sauce with enough lasagna noodles to make a layer.   *This could take 3-5 noodles depending on your noodles. I ended up using 5 on each layer.

•  Top noodles with half of spinach.

•  Crumble/Spread half of ricotta cheese mix over spinach.

•  Spread half of shredded chicken on top of mixture.

•  Repeat layers once more.  *You may need to press down on layers as you go in case lasagna gets too full.

•  End with one last layer of lasagna noodles on top.

•  Spread remaining sauce over top of noodles.

•  Sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup of shredded mozzarella and 1/4 cup grated parmesan.

•  Cover with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with non stick cooking spray (to prevent foil from sticking to lasagna).

•  Bake, covered with the foil for 50 minutes.

•  Remove foil, and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until cheese is golden brown.

•  Remove lasagna from oven and allow to cool and set for 5-10 minutes.

Enjoy!

XOXO, Esther