White Sauce Chicken Vegetable Lasagna

Ok, so lately I have been making food but running around like a crazy person while doing it and haven't had time to take all the pictures I normally do for a post. I'm letting you know I'm still alive and kicking cooking. I made tofu veggie burgers a few days ago (and had to put an entire baking tray of them out of the oven straight into the freezer with a trivet underneath and an oven mitt on the side to prevent the freezer from melting) and yesterday I finally finished making a white sauce chicken lasagna that I have been trying to make since Sunday.

 

White Sauce Chicken Vegetable Lasagna

1 package lasagna noodle sheets

oil
1 medium onion chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes 1 zuchinni chopped small
1 large carrot chopped small
1 C wilted chopped spinach (or frozen thawed)
1/2 Cup broccoli chopped

1-1.5 pounds raw chicken cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg beaten
1 1/2 C of mixture of panko/regular bread crumbs
1/4 C parmesan and/or asiago and/or romano cheeses
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Plus: garlic powder, paprika, red chili pepper flakes, Italian seasoning mix (thyme,sage,rosemary,basil) - to taste.

2 Cups low fat ricotta cheese
1/4 C of parmesan and/or asiago and/or romano cheeses

3 Tbsp butter or olive oil
3 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 Cups warm milk
Splash of dry sherry
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 triangles light laughing cow cheese wedges
1 1/2 C fresh Italian cheese mix (or just mozzarella)
 1/4 C fresh chopped parsley
1 15 oz can artichoke hearts drained and quartered


1 Cup of marinara sauce
4 cheese mix (or just mozzarella)
panko bread crumbs

1. Cook lasagna pasta sheets as per directions.
2. Add oil to a pan on medium-high. Add garlic and saute until fragrant. Once fragrant, add cayenne pepper flakes, onions, zucchini, carrots, spinach,  and broccoli. Cook until vegetables are crisp tender.
3. Lightly salt chicken then dip into a bowl with one beaten egg and coat well.
4. In another bowl add the bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, and spices and mix. Add the egg coated chicken to the bowl with the bread crumbs and coat well with crumbs.
5. Add oil to a clean pan on medium-high and brown the chicken. Leave the chicken slightly pink in the middle and remove from heat.
6. Mix the ricotta with the dry cheeses in a bowl and set aside.
7. Heat a 2 qt sauce pan to medium, then add the butter or olive oil. When melted/hot vigorously whisk in the flour. Slowly add the warmed milk 1/2 Cup at a time to the pot while whisking, the contents should stay slightly thickened. Add sherry, garlic salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper. Heat and stir until just before boiling. Remove from heat then stir in the cheeses and chopped parsley.
8. Add 1 cup of the warm cheese sauce from the pot into the ricotta cheese bowl.
9. Add the artichoke hearts to the pot of warm cheese.
10. Now simply layer the lasagna in a 9x13 inch casserole dish starting with marinara sauce then a layer of pasta, ricotta, vegetables, chicken,cheese sauce, then another layer of pasta. End with the cheese sauce; then top entire casserole with a sprinkle of cheese and panko bread crumbs.
11. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

In Pictures (short version)

Beaten egg and bread crumb mixture.

 Brown chicken

 All layered and baked

What I Learned -

1. When you don't have much time, it helps to prepare part of the meal ahead. I cooked the lasagna noodles and chopped some of the vegetables (onions, zucchini) 2 days before and simply stored them in bowls in the fridge. It's hard when you only have a few hours each morning to do anything so preparation makes all the difference.