Lasagna Mix Up
This lasagna is seriously confused. Probably because it's maker had trouble following the recipe and had to fix her mistake but using what was in the fridge. But guess what? It turned out pretty darn good.
{Doesn't lasagna take the ugliest pictures?}
I was trying to make a healthier version of this Creamy Chicken and Artichoke Lasagna, and things were going swell until I went to make the creamy sauce and my measurements using a substitution of cottage cheese for 8 oz of cream cheese went terribly awry. I ended up with a watery gross tasting milk like sauce. Scratch that. Thank goodness I had a jar of marinara sauce in the pantry! From there I went to town.
Once my sauce went wrong I was still very attached to the idea of having cream cheese in this lasagna so I happened to have half a block in my fridge and I threw that into the chicken, artichoke, parmesan mixture. It took some stirring to incorporate it but once it was all mixed together I had a nice creamy chicken artichoke filling.
I topped the filling with some marinara for good measure.
On my second layer I decided to do cottage cheese and spinach, because getting greens in is always good.
The third layer was more chicken artichoke filling with some cottage cheese and marinara. Popped some noodles on top of that and then the rest of the marinara and a generous amount of mozzarella cheese and this baby was ready to go in the oven.
The end result was supremely cheesy and fluffy lasagna. I was actually surprised at just how delicious it was. This recipe is a keeper!
Michelle's Lasagna Mix Up
Serves 8 - 10
2 cups shredded cooked rotisserie chicken
1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts or quarters, drained and chopped
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 oz (half block) reduced fat (neufchatel) cream cheese (room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups cottage cheese (low fat)
4 -5 cups fresh baby spinach
1 cup (or more) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 jar (24 oz) favorite marinara sauce
12 no boil lasagna noodles
- Heat oven to 350. Pot a pot of water on stove to boil. Prepare an ice bath for spinach.
- In a large bowl combine shredded chicken, chopped artichokes, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and cream cheese. Mix until well combined.
- Once water has boiled, blanch spinach for 2 -3 minutes. Drain and put spinach in ice bath for 2 minutes. Drain and squeeze spinach of liquid. Set aside. This process will get the water out of the spinach so your lasagna doesn't turn soggy and the ice bath keeps the bright green of the spinach alive after cooking. With the no boil noodles I'm not unconvinced that putting fresh spinach in would be fine since the noodles could absorb the moisture. If you try it let me know!
- In a 8 x 11 baking dish pour sauce in bottom of pan to give a nice even layer the noodles can sit on. About 1/2 to 3/4 cup.
- Place 4 noodles down. Put just over half of the chicken artichoke mixture on top of the noodles. Spread evenly. Spoon on about 1/2 cup marinara sauce over mixture and spread.
- Place 4 noodles on top of that. Put 1 1/4 cup cottage cheese down. Spread. Place spinach on top.
- Place 4 noodles on top of that. Spread remaining chicken artichoke mixture and cottage cheese over noodles. Spread 1/2 cup marinara over that.
- Place last 4 noodles on top of mixture. Pour remaining sauce over noodles and top with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake for 40 minutes covered with foil. Put toothpicks in the lasagna to hold the foil off of the cheese. Remove foil and bake another 10 minutes or until cheese is browned.
Enjoy the creamy noodley goodness!
Peace, love, lasagna, and happiness!