Day 3: Roasted Garlic & Chicken Lasagna

I didn't get to try any of my Pinterest finds last week because the kids were in VBS and I was volunteering. We had a great time but man was I pooped by the end of the week! This church has an AMAZING VBS!!   They had almost 600 kids and over 100 volunteers. I volunteered in "snacks" and we pumped out over 700 snacks a DAY from that kitchen.  I was so tired every day after working there that I didn't cook a thing for dinner the entire week. 

Many years ago, we used to watch "The Soprano's" on HBO every Sunday night.  On those nights I would make an Italian dinner to eat while we watched our show. I love pasta but we are trying to eat healthier now days so we've cut down on amount of carbs in our diet.  We still have it occasionally and when we do eat carbs, we eat whole grain. I picked this recipe,  Roasted Garlic & Chicken Lasagna, because I was wanting pasta and it was different and slightly healthier from your traditional lasagna. Healthier because it has chicken and not ground beef or sausage but it still had quite a bit of cheese. We really liked it and I would make it again.  It comes from a really great food blog called "For the Love of Cooking" which I will definitely be visiting again! 

Cooking/prep time was 2 hours...wouldn't have been as long but I had to roast the garlic.  You could easily do that step ahead of time and even throw the lasagna together earlier so it would be ready to bake when you want it. The only thing I did not do was make the homemade marinara sauce.  I used a extra large jar of sauce from the store.  Here's the recipe (roasted garlic recipe follows):

Chicken and Roasted Garlic Lasagna:

Recipe and photos by For the Love of Cooking.net

Chicken Mixture:

• 2 cups roasted chicken, shredded
• 2 bulbs of roasted garlic
• 1/4 sweet yellow onion, diced finely
• 5-6 baby bell peppers, diced finely (I used red & yellow)
• 6-7 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• Dried oregano, to taste
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

Other Ingredients:

• 1 (32 ounce) container ricotta cheese (I used part skim fat)
• 1 egg
• 5-6 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• Dried Oregano, to taste
• Fresh nutmeg, grated, to taste
• 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp of Parmesan cheese (divided)
• 9 whole wheat lasagna noodles, cooked per instructions
• Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Roasted Garlic and Basil Marinara

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Coat a large 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.In a large bowl, add ricotta, egg, 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, fresh chopped basil, nutmeg, oregano, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Combine until mixed thoroughly. Meanwhile, cook the lasagna noodles per instructions then drain.
Layer a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with just enough sauce to cover the bottom of the pan. Lay three lasagna noodles in the pan. Spread some of the ricotta mixture on the noodles, then spoon some of the chicken mixture on top and sprinkle with a bit of mozzarella; spoon some sauce over the cheese; repeat layering. Finish with a layer of noodles and remaining sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, remaining 3 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of basil or oregano.
Bake covered in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before slicing. Enjoy.

 

Roasted Garlic

• 1-2 heads of garlic
• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• Dash of sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice the top of the head off so every clove of garlic is exposed. Place on a small square of tinfoil (easy clean up). Drizzle with olive oil and sea salt to taste. Fold edges of tinfoil together and twist to make a completely sealed bundle. Place in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes depending on the size of the garlic. Let cool before serving. Squeeze to remove the roasted cloves. Delicious!

NOTE: You could use this roasted garlic for other dishes as well and I bet it would be FABULOUS in mashed potatoes!!!

In case you are wondering why I never post my own pictures its because their food always comes out SOOO much prettier than mine.