Adventures in the Kitchen

When it comes to cooking, I am pretty much a disaster. I have gotten A LOT better over the past 2 years, but there is still plenty of room for improvement! The other day, I decided to make Chicken & Spinach Lasagna. I (of course) didn’t have any of the ingredients, but after a trip to Kroger, I was ready to go.

What ingredients do you need? (this recipe serves 8 – I cut it in half and it’s the perfect amount for 2 people)

  

1 package of lasagna noodles

2 cups diced, cooked chicken

1 (10 oz) package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed & drained

30 oz of Alfredo pasta sauce (Bertolli is my favorite brand)

½ Cup of skim milk

16 oz of part-skim ricotta cheese

1 Egg

Shredded mozzarella cheese

At this point, a normal person would think to preheat the oven to 350 degrees. I did not think that far ahead…I did remember to coat the pan with cooking spray.

The “Simple” Directions:

Mix the spinach and the ricotta cheese.

Beat the egg with a wire whisk and then add it into the spinach/ricotta mixture. Stir well to mix.

In another bowl, combine the pasta sauce with the milk. Mix well.

Spread about ½ cup of the pasta sauce mixture evenly in the bottom of the dish.

Place 4 uncooked noodles over the sauce

Spread ½ of the spinach mixture over the noodles

Spread the chicken over the spinach mixture

Place 4 more noodles over the chicken

Pour 1 ½ cups of pasta sauce over the noodles

Spread the remaining spinach mixture over the sauce

Place 4 more noodles over the mixture

Pour the remaining pasta sauce evenly on top

Sprinkle (or in my case add an entire layer) of mozzarella cheese

To Cook:

Spray a sheet of aluminum foil with cooking spray

Cover the dish tightly with the aluminum foil (spray side down)

Bake for 50 minutes

Remove from oven

Let the dish sit, covered, for 15 minutes

True story ~ About 5 minutes after putting my dish in the oven I realized there was a bowl of chicken sitting on my counter…untouched. Mental head slap…total fail….That night, I served vegetarian lasagna :)

Obviously, the nutritional information will vary based on the ingredients that you use, but mine ended up be about 475 calories per serving (if you remember the chicken).