Food For Friday: Spinach, Chicken & Cream Cheese Lasagna

When I think of lasagna, I usually think of a time-consuming, labor intensive process.  I was surprised by how quick and easy this lasagna was to assemble.  It had a great flavor & smooth texture, and I like that the spinach adds nutrients too!  I adapted this recipe from Faithful Provisions with a few changes and additions.  It will definitely be added to our regular list of recipes and I think it will freeze well too.

Ingredients:
6 lasagna noodles
1 jar roasted garlic pasta sauce
4 oz. cream cheese (I use lower fat neufatschel cheese)
1 cup chicken broth or stock
2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
1 cup packed fresh baby spinach
2 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Put a pot of salted water on to boil for the lasagna noodles.  Cook noodles until tender (following the instructions on the box.)  Drain.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

While the noodles are cooking, shred your 2 cooked chicken breasts.  (If I am making several recipes in a week that call for cubed or shredded cooked chicken, I like to cook a whole pan of chicken at the beginning of the week and put the cooked whole breasts in a container in the fridge.  This saves me time later in the week, and cold chicken is easy to shred with your fingers!)

Heat one cup of chicken broth or stock over medium heat.  Add the cream cheese and mix until the cream cheese is melted.  Using a spoon or a whisk, get out most of the lumps.  The sauce will seem very liquidy at this point.  Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring often, until the sauce thickens.  Remove from the heat.

Use an 8x8 or 9x9 glass baking dish & spread enough pasta sauce in the bottom of the pan to make a thick layer to coat the bottom of the dish (so your noodles will not stick.)  Lay one layer of cooked lasagna noodles in the dish.  (I used kitchen shears to cut my noodles to fit.)  Make sure you have a layer of noodles that totally covers the bottom of your dish.  Spread 1/2 of the cream cheese sauce over the layer of noodles.  Top with a layer of spinach and spoon pasta sauce over the spinach to cover well, using about 1/2 the jar.  Sprinkle 1/2 of the shredded chicken on top & sprinkle with a layer of mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup).  Add a 2nd layer of noodles and repeat the layering, ending with mozzarella cheese on top.  Use the rest of the mozzarella to cover the top well.

Cover with foil and bake 20-25 minutes.  Reduce heat to 400 degrees, uncover, and bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is slightly browned and bubbling around the edges.  Remove from oven.

Let sit for about 10 minutes to allow the lasagna to firm up before slicing.

This would be a perfect recipe to double and make two of simultaneously....one to eat and one to freeze or drop off to a friend.  You could also double the ingredients and use a 13x9 dish if you have a larger family or are entertaining.