Thursday, August 18, 2011

Chicken, Mushroom and Spinach Alfredo Lasagna

If you like lasagna, this a an excellent twist on a recipe that I found on Food Network. I changed it a little bit to fit my palate. Be aware, this is a decadent meal (so don't think about the calories), but tastes very restaurant quality. Surprisingly it is pretty quick to throw together, and my kids loved it. You could omit or add any extra ingredients that you have. You could put many other vegetables and call it a Lasagna Primavera! That would be awesome.To make it a little lighter, I'm sure you could use 1 percent milk, but I would not recommend using nonfat. Using no boil lasagna noodles also reduces clean up and time. This makes a ton of food!



Chicken, Mushroom and Spinach Alfredo Lasagna

1/2 c butter(1 stick)
1 pound of mushrooms, sliced thinly
1 c onion, finely chopped
3 tbs garlic, minced
1/2 c flour
7 c milk (I use 2 percent or whole)
2 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 pound of spinach (I bought the frozen leaves in a bag)
2 c Parmesan cheese, grated
1 c mozzarella cheese
2 pounds of chicken breast, cooked and cubed (season w/ salt and pepper)
1 pound of No boil lasagna noodles

Melt butter into a large saucepan. Add mushrooms and cook until browned. Add garlic and onion and cook until onion is translucent. Add flour and stir for about 1 minute to cook the raw flour taste out. With a whisk, slowly add the milk, making sure there are no lumps. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, 1 1/2 cups of the Parmesan cheese and spinach. Cook on medium high heat until thickened slightly. (5-10 minutes) Taste white sauce to make sure it is seasoned enough. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray cooking spray on a 9x13x3 inch pan (make sure the pan is deep). Put a small layer of white sauce in the bottom of the pan. Layer noodles on top, then chicken, then parmesan cheese and mozzarella, then white sauce, and more noodles. repeat these layers until all ingredients have been used up. Sprinkle the top with the last of the mozzarella cheese. Place on a cookie sheet and back for 45 minute until brown and bubbly on top. Let sit for 20 minutes until serving.

Note: You may need slightly less than the entire package of lasagna noodles, depending on the pan used for the casserole. Also, you may be able to fit more than 3 pieces of pasta in each layer, depending. The pasta can be broken into smaller pieces to fill in the gaps.