Chicken Florentine Lasagne

Hello my friends!! Hope you are all having a lovely weekend. Today is the ONLY day on our monthly calendar where we have absolutely nothing on the calendar!! I am so excited to be able to sit in my house with my littles and do as close to nothing as humanly possible. We had a lovely family dinner last night celebrating Miss E's birthday - can you believe she turns SIX this week??

So we would be able to have a chilled out, relaxed dinner with the fam, we went with an easy dinner - lasagne, salad and of course, cake! I made two great big lasanges and a big tray of cheese tortellini with alfredo sauce (for the kiddos). For the lasagnes, I made my favorite beef lasagne, a Tex Mex Lasasgne I have shared with you on the blog in the past.

Since not everyone loves meat, I also wanted to make a chicken lasagne for the crowd. I hunted around on Pinterest and found a link to this recipe from tastykitchen.com. I immediately knew that this recipe would be a huge hit, and I was right! It was the first dish completely scraped clean from the pan and it was gone so quickly I didn't even have time to actually take a photo of the completed, cooked slice of lasagne.

The original version of this recipe was cooked right away and served. I needed this for the weekend, so I prepped it on Thursday and froze it until I needed it.

Chicken Florentine Lasagne
Recipe adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients
9-12 whole Lasagna Noodles
½ cup Butter
1 whole Onion, Chopped
1 clove Garlic, Minced
½ cups All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
2 cups Chicken Broth
1-½ cup Milk
4 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, Divided
1 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese, Divided, Plus Additional 1/4 Cup For Topping
2 cups Ricotta Cheese
2 cups shredded, cooked chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken)
2 cups fresh baby spinach

Instructions
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onions are translucent, strirring frequently. Stir in the flour and salt and simmer until mixture is bubbly.

Add the chicken broth and milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly for approximately 1 minute. Stir in 2 cups of mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a separate pan over medium heat, cook spinach until wilted. Transfer the cooked spinach to the sauce and mix until combined.

In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta cheese with the shredded chicken.

Assemble your lasagne by spreading 1/3 of the sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Layer with 1/3 of the noodles and 1/2 of the ricotta cheese/chicken mixture. Repeat these layers again, finishing with the final 1/3 of the sauce mixture on top.

Sprinkle the remaining 2 cups of mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese on the top of the dish.

You can bake this dish right away, at 350F for 40-45 minutes. I prepped this dish in advance of Miss E's party, so I froze it and on the day of the party, allowed it to thaw and cooked for about an hour. I put tented tin foil on top for the first 45 minutes of the cooking time, removing for the last 15 minutes to allow the cheese to get all melty and delicious.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe, I know my family did!! Thanks for stopping by, I hope I have inspired you a little today!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Another week, another new recipe! Another resounding success!! Tonight Miss E and I tried out a recipe I found on TastyKitchen's site and just knew that this recipe would be delicious. Not healthy by any stretch of the imagination, but delicious!!

In addition to this being a rich, creamy, delicious recipe, it was super easy and required no fancy ingredients (big plus in my book!). So while Miss A was at her second dance class of the day, Miss E and I got to work. We took a rotisserie chicken and between us shredded it with two forks.

The toughest part of the entire recipe was making the sauce. It didn't thicken up as easily as I thought, so I ended up adding more flour as I went to achieve the thickness I was after. Actually, that's not true... the toughest part of putting together this recipe was taking an hour to pull it all together because of my five year old sous chef!! I think if you were to put it together sans sous chef, it would only take about 15 minutes to prep.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
Recipe adapted from TastyKitchen.com

Ingredients

Casserole Base:
One whole, cooked chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken), shredded
1/2 lb thinly sliced deli ham, roughly chopped
8 slices swiss cheese

Sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour (+ 1 tbsp more as needed)
3 1/2 cups milk
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp pepper

Topping:
6 tbsp butter, melted
1 1/2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
3/4 tsp seasoning salt

Instructions

Spray a 9x13 dish with cooking spray. Layer the shredded chicken, then the ham and then the cheese in the dish.

For the sauce: in a large saucepan, melt butter. Slowly add the flour to make a roux, whisking the entire time. Once the roux is smooth, slowly add the cold milk, while whisking constantly. Cook over medium heat until the sauce thickens. Stir in the lemon juice, mustard, salt, pepper and paprika. Bring to a low boil and turn off the heat.

Pour evenly over the chicken/ham/cheese layers, making sure to pour it into all the corners.

For the topping: melt the remaining butter in the microwave, pour over the Panko crumbs and seasoning salt until combined. Sprinkle the topping over the casserole evenly. Bake in a 350F oven for about 45 minutes, until golden brown.

I served this recipe with perogies and a salad. It went over pretty well in our house! The hubs and I loved it, and Miss E gave it a thumbs up. Not so much from Miss A, but you can't win them all!!

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope I've inspired you a little today!

Homemade Shake and Bake Mix

Hello my friends! I’m back with another super easy, healthy recipe to share today. I used to buy store-bought Shake and Bake for breading chicken and fish but one day I looked at the contents on the side of the package. When I found that there were a ton of ingredients that I either couldn't pronounce or couldn't identify, it was time for this mama to find a recipe of my own!

My girls are starting to branch out in the food department (finally!) and since Costco chicken nuggets are a staple in my house, I thought I’d try making my own version of chicken nuggets with chicken breast and a homemade shake and bake mixture. It worked! Both girls gobbled up dinner and I was over the moon!

I always make a big batch of this mix and store it in the fridge so I can whip up dinner quickly without having to measure out the ingredients each time. I served the girls these chicken strips with baked French fries, but I made a beautiful salad with mine. I’ll share that recipe with you next week!

Homemade Shake and Bake

Ingredients

1 ½ cups Italian breadcrumbs
½ cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp garlic powder (I use this Garlic Aioli dip mix)
1 tsp Italian seasoning (I use this Herb and Garlic mix)

Instructions

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl until well combined. Transfer to an airtight container (like an old salsa jar) and add a nifty label so you know what is inside.

To make the shake and bake chicken:

Preheat oven to 400F. Put ½ cup creamy salad dressing in a shallow bowl (Caesar, ranch, whatever you like…) and put ½ cup (at a time) of the shake and bake mixture in a separate shallow bowl. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut chicken into strips or nugget sized pieces. Dredge the chicken through the salad dressing, tapping any excess off. Then dip the chicken into the breadcrumbs mixture, making sure to coat it on all sides.

Place chicken on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 17-20 minutes, turning halfway through.

Honey Mustard Chicken Salad - recipe to come!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed this recipe.

 
I will hopefully be linking this recipe up to A Bowl Full of Lemons, and Joyful Homemaking.

2012 Round Up - Best and Most Loved Posts of the Year

I can hardly believe that it’s been almost a year since I decided to start this little blog. Back in Feb 2012 I wanted to participate in I’m An Organizing Junkie’s big organizational challenge. So I started this site and since then have spent many an evening baking, cleaning and organizing, all while taking photos and documenting the fun for all of you to read about it. 
 
In 2012 I managed to put together 164 blog posts! That seems crazy to me, and some weeks it was crazy! Fun, but a little insane. I’m lucky that my husband works evenings, so I don’t have to feel like I’m ignoring him when I sit under my blanket with HGTV on while blogging on my laptop.

I took a look at which posts were the most popular in 2012, and here is my round up of the most-viewed projects and posts from the past year.


Beef Enchilada Bake

An Organized Command Center

Little Girl Room Organizing

My 29 Day Organizational Success

Dr Pepper Cupcakes

Minimalish Rules

Spring Break Spring Cleaning

Tastes Homemade Box Cake Recipe

End of the Year Teacher Thank You Presents

Chicken Macaroni Bake Freezer Meal

Taming the Hair Ties

Linen Closet Loveliness

What do you think? Are any of these your favorites? 

 

Here are my favorite posts from the past year:

 

Secrets of a Happy Marriage

Butter Chicken Lasagne

Half Marathon Highlights

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes with Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting

 

Summer of Fun Chart

Turtle Cupcakes

Pasta with Prawns in Boursin Cream Sauce

 

Kindergarten Graduation Presents

Super Amazing Totally Irresistible Chocolate Trifle

I hope you all like what you have seen so far from my little corner of the internet! There are many more fun and exciting things to come!

Butter Chicken Lasagne

I have a fantastic recipe to share with you all today!!! Last week the hubs was watching Recipe to Riches and saw a chef making Butter Chicken Lasagne. He immediately called me and told me that I had to find that recipe and make it immediately.

I couldn’t find a recipe online on the Food Network, so I thought I better find my own! A little while ago I had purchased this Butter Chicken seasoning from Epicure Selections, but hadn’t had a chance to try it out. This was the perfect opportunity! It was super easy to put together, and the recipe came together seamlessly.
I planned to use the butter chicken in place of marinara sauce in a regular lasagne-style recipe. My husband said that it was one of the best things he had ever eaten, and he ate three huge pieces. I ran up to my local Indian shop and picked up samosas for a side dish – they made it the perfect meal!
Butter Chicken Lasagne

The ricotta cheese is totally missing from the photo!!

Ingredients
2 lbs chicken, cubed
1 large onion, diced
2 tbsp butter
1 pkg Epicure's What's For Dinner? Butter Chicken Recipe Seasoning Mix
1/2 cup (125 ml) crushed tomatoes
1 cup (250 ml) water
2 lbs (1 kg) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1/2 cup (125 ml) cream, sour cream, or thick yogurt (I used Greek Yogurt)
1 package oven ready lasagne noodles
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
½ cup Parmesan cheese
Instructions

Melt butter in large frying pan or skillet. Add onions and cook until lightly golden. Sprinkle contents of Butter Chicken Recipe Seasoning Mix over onions. Stir while cooking for 1 minute.

Stir in tomatoes and water and bring to a boil. Add chicken and simmer for 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked. Remove from heat. Stir in cream or yogurt and let cool slightly.
In a separate bowl, mix together ricotta cheese and shredded mozzarella. 

 
Layer three lasagne noodles in the bottom of your pan. Cover with 1/3 of the butter chicken and 1/3 of the cheese mixture. Repeat three times. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top.
Loosely cover the pan with foil and bake at 375F for one hour, removing the foil for the last ten minutes to broil the cheese.

I will hopefully be linking this recipe up to A Bowl Full of Lemons, Delightful Order, Doodles and Stitches and Joyful Homemaking.