Thursday, April 24, 2014

Chicken and Roasted Artichoke Lasagna


He is risen, Alleluia!!!!

:)  Oh happy day......


Okay, some Easter cuties to start with:


The Jamison boys, Elijah, Finn and Xavier.....

And then below you have Logan, MacKenzie and hey! There's Elijah again!

Here's a new twist on an old favorite, and I made this for our Easter buffet:  It was a THUMB'S UP, but we decided we could do it even better.... So I'm giving you the "better" recipe, slightly tweaked, using less pasta than I used (made the layers too dry) and more cream cheese than the recipe I adapted.

What you end up with is an amazingly delicious "hot dish" casserole/lasagna, worthy of taking and serving anywhere!



Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or diced
2 large cans artichoke hearts or one large jar from Sam's/B.J.'s/Costco
3 cups Parmesan cheese
4 8 oz. packages cream cheese
3 cups mozzarella cheese
3 cups milk
2 teaspoons garlic powder or granulated garlic
3 Tablespoons parsley
12 ounces of lasagna noodles, cooked al dente

Cut artichoke hearts into bite-sized pieces, sprinkle with 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and roast in 350° oven until cheese melts and turns golden, about 15 minutes.



Mix Cream cheese, milk, garlic and parsley together with mixer until well blended. Cover bottom of 13"x9" pan with thin layer of sauce.

I cut up the cream cheese and warmed it in the microwave first....


Then I added this stuff:


Mix chicken, roasted artichokes, 1 cup Parmesan cheese 2 cups mozzarella cheese together.


Spoon or pour enough of the cheesey milky sauce over the bottom of the pan.
Lay 3 lasagna noodles side by side in the sauce.



Spread one-third of chicken mix over lasagna noodles. Ladle some sauce over. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan. Repeat, ending with final layer of lasagna noodles. Pour remaining sauce over top.

Then more noodles:


Then more chicken/cheese/artichoke mix:

This is where I goofed, I should have just inundated this baby with the cheesy sauce but I thought NO!!! ADD MORE MOZZARELLA!!!!

Which ended up being too rubbery at serving time and the mozzarella kind of negated all the lovely cheese sauce I poured over the top because it MERGED....

So I won't add that thick mozzarella again. I promise.

(Can be refrigerated at this time until ready to bake, great do-ahead recipe!)

Bake at 350° for about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. Mine was thicker so it took longer, but also those extra 4 oz. of cooked lasagna noodles affected the cheesiness....

AND:

I had half a bag of spinach in the fridge, so I pulled off the stems, steamed them in a ladle of chicken broth from cooking the chicken breasts, and then "squeezed" the liquid out of the spinach, and tossed it in. I really loved the spinach in there, and everyone else voted YES to spinach, so add lightly cooked spinach to this recipe and you will not be sorry.

You will be SO happy.

Like delirious, maybe.

Yes. I mean it.

I took it out of the oven and gave it a ten minute rest time (gave us time to slice the beef and ham from the oven) and it was LOVELY.....

Looked great. Tasted better.

The things I did wrong:

I added a thick layer of mozzarella to the top. That made the top less cheesey, smushy, goodnessy so don't do that. We voted the thick mozzarella down and kicked it to the curb.

You don't have to roast the artichokes. I liked doing it, it made me feel like a kitchen queen, (WHERE'S MY CROWN????)

Some Easter pics that made me smile:

Jello Jiggler Eggs with the mold Grandma was getting rid of!!! OH WHAT A GREAT FIND THAT WAS!!!! HAPPY CHILDREN ABOUNDED ON EASTER SUNDAY!

Emma (a storyteller already), Dave (a character!) and Anna.... Adorable!

And here's Mary Ruth!!!





A house full of cuties!!!! The chocolate wasn't bad, either!!!  :)













12 comments:

  1. Seriously? Cream cheese cooked in a lasagna? Well I never! I don't think I've ever cooked with cream cheese even. I think I've only used it to make cold dips and no bake cheesecake and on bagels of course. And I can easily switch this recipe up to vegetarian friendly by omitting the chicken and adding more veggies. Will have to give this a try when I have a big event to go to.

    Loved the cutie pictures. Such a pack of grins. And loved the Easter dresses!!!!!

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    1. Kav, the original version I had a few weeks back, made by son-in-law Jon's mother, was veggie version... and so good!!!! It was spinach and carrots and peas, layered with the cheese, and it was to die for. Just wonderful!

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  2. This actually looks just amazing. Thank you!!!!

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    1. Man, it really was. I just should have left off a layer of big old noodles because it was good.... but just needed that higher ratio of sauce-to-noodles, you know what I mean? But yes, delicious! And family made me promise to post it here because they liked it that much, so that's a win/win on a great day!

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  3. Love the Easter pictures. Love the sweet, rowdy, creative, wonderful children! You are blessed beyond measure! ♥

    And on top of that you're the kitchen queen? SO not fair! ☺

    This looks fabulous to me, but I'm not sure what my crowd would say about the artichokes.

    I'll have to try it, though. With or without artichokes, it looks too delicious to pass up!

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    1. Toss the artichokes to the curb, Jan. The original one I had (like in Kav's answer above) was done with spinach, carrots and peas (I might be making up the peas)..... but it was so delicious and if your family isn't/aren't artichoke fans, use stuff they like. It's like a big Alfredo pasta dish but kind of fun because the noodle texture of lasagna noodles is so wonderfully dense. I like dense pasta!

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  4. Once again, you had me at cheese, Ruthy. :) I love this. Not sure how my younger guys would feel about the artichokes, though. Or the spinach. So I will make this when they are not around. Or make it anyway and have a slab of meat and potatoes for them. Whatever the case, I gotta try this.

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    1. P.S. The kids really are adorable.

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    2. I have a ball with the kids. They totally rock! And, Mindy, sure, this could be a great side dish, aka Mac-and-cheese only Alfredo style....

      Total yum!

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  5. Well, I'm not a huge fan of artichoke hearts. But I am a HUGE fan of those cutie pies!!! What fun photos, Ruthy. I want to be your grandkid! And I sure would love a Jello egg. :)

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    1. JELLO EGGS = BIG HIT AT EASTER!!!!

      :)

      Not as good as Jesus, but they were pretty popular!

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  6. well today I learned parmesan will melt! I had no idea..thought it just sorta stayed powdery on top or blended in with something liquid-y...can tell I don't use parmesan much!though come to think of it when I made the artichoke chicken rollup(more or less) dish I didn't taste powdery parmesan...hmm...I have GOT to go to grocery store and/or wally world and sooo dread going. wanna snooze! of course it's already 8 pm (used to night shift I guess) and spent most of today in bed sleeping....should be up and busy doing productive things like laundry and cleaning kitchen, etc and getting groceries!
    Susanna

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