Food For Parents: Chicken and Spinach Lasagna

Since grocery shopping was hard in the first couple weeks of parenthood, I made this from what we we had on hand in our kitchen. It went over so well in my house that I made it again for grandmothers and relatives that were visiting and have been asked for a recipe a couple times. It's not an exact science, just layer in ingredients to taste and when in doubt add more cheese.

Chicken Lasagna

1 large jar spaghetti sauce
1 box No Boil Lasagna noodles
4-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts
½ cup white wine (whatever’s cheap or on hand)
Medium container of ricotta
4 cups shredded Italian cheeses
grated parmesan (optional)
10 oz frozen chopped spinach
1 large onion
1 head of garlic (4-6 cloves or a jar of minced)
dried oregano (optional)
olive oil
salt and pepper

Cook spinach, onion, and chicken separately (see directions below). Spoon and spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish. Lay down no boil pasta noodles. Cover with a thin layer of ricotta, a handful of shredded cheese, a sprinkle of parmesan, and 1/2 of cooked spinach. Top with layer of pasta, sauce, cheeses, chicken, and onion. Continue layers until you run out of space or ingredients. Top with sauce and cheeses. Bake at 375 for 50 minutes covered, then 10 minutes uncovered. You may need to broil an additional 3-4 minutes to brown and crisp up top layer.

To Cook Spinach:
Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat with 2-3 cloves of minced garlic for about 1 minute. Add frozen chopped spinach salt and pepper and 1-2 tablespoons of water. Simmer until warmed though and remove from heat.

To Cook Onion:
Thinly slice onion. Put onion in small skillet with 2-3 tablespoons of butter or olive oil, salt and pepper. Saute over medium to high heat until translucent with brown edges. Remove from heat.

To Cook Chicken:
Cut chicken into small even-sized pieces. Heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil with 2-3 cloves of minced garlic for about 1 minute. Add chicken, a pinch or two of dried oregano, salt and pepper, and enough white wine to level with sides of cut chicken (about ½ cup).  Simmer until chicken is cooked through.

Comments

[Kerry]

What wine do you use?

[Bloghungry]

I'm not often fussy about wine. We usually have an open bottle of chardonnay, pinot grigio, or sauvignon blanc that I use to cook Chicken or add to soups. Usually something I bought for another recipe or that was given to us. I'm just not classy enough to buy wine more than $5 to use in our kitchen.

[Meagan]

hey BH! Do the no boil noodles turn out OK for you? Cause I have never had any luck with them and ended up wasting a lot of delicious cheese. Is there are brand that is the best?

Thanks!
Meagan

[Bloghungry]

I have used 3 different brands and they always work for me. Just be sure to cover them in sauce or juiciness of some kind, because they do need to soak up a little moisture from the lasagna while baking. Otherwise, you could boil regular noodles, but that is too tedious for me.