We'll start with this:
Hello, moon.
I had to turn off all the lights to take this shot, through a window (an ancient window with bubbles and waves, you know, total old school, I live in a 160-year-old house ancient window) and I love how misty-moonlight it came out. "The moon was a ghostly galleon, tossed upon cloudy seas..." (The Highwayman)
I couldn't resist sharing a winter moon with youse.
I love Alfredo lasagna, but I don't always have time to cook chicken, trim it, break it up, make the sauce, cook the noodles, slice fresh veggies... So this great dish took a #speedbo twist on Sunday to become a great make ahead or COOK NOW casserole, that's hard-workin' Mom (or Dad!) friendly!
The sauce took 5 minutes to make. This is a double batch, to fill a 15" x 10" pan for two meals.
I'm not kidding, 5 minutes!!!!
1 stick butter
1/2 cup flour
2 Cups Chicken broth (I used 2 cups water + 1TBSP. chicken base)
4 Cups milk
1 TBSP. granulated garlic
1 TBSP. dried, chopped onion
4 eggs, beaten
1 TBSP dried parsley
1 1/2 Cups Parmesan Cheese
Melt butter in 4 quart kettle. When melted, whisk in flour to make a roux. (Doesn't that sound FANCY??? It just means the flour and butter is going to thicken your sauce, with a little help from all that cheesy goodness)
When smooth, whisk in broth and milk. Mix well while cooking over medium high heat to thicken. Add beaten eggs, keep whisking.... Mixture thickens quickly! (I didn't burn this one, hooray!!!)
Once thickened, add parsley and cheese, mix and set aside.
THAT'S IT. SAUCE DONE. FIVE MINUTES (CINCO MINUTOS!!!)
Cook l lb. box lasagna noodles according to directions.
Drain.
Open two large cans chicken breast
Heat two bags veggies, broccoli and carrots or blends
(Right out of the freezer, into the microwave!)
Spread layer of sauce on bottom of lasagna pan. Top with noodles. Sprinkle with chicken and veggies.
Repeat, leaving 2 cups of sauce for top layer. Cover. Heat.
Done.
Yes. That easy. And uber delish. Crazy good. Tasty and marvelous.
You can change this any way you want, you can shred carrots and cook them first, but I thought honestly??? Why would I do that when the nice people at Daily Chef (Sam's Club) did it first? I didn't want to insult them!!!
So I didn't forget anything here, or burn it, but I did forget that I had bread rising by the woodburning stove... OOPS!!!
The kids had a ball punching that one down, let me tell you! (All kid germs bake out of our homemade bread by virtue of me assuming they do because we didn't um.... stop and scrub up before the punching began.)
I have spent the first week of our Seekerville writing challenge editing my September release with Franciscan Media... "Refuge of the Heart". And now I'm back to writing my delightful cowboy series for Waterbrook coming out next year... (Next year seems so far away!!!)
And I'm almost ready to upload our "With This Kiss" novella collections! Super excited to work with these lovely ladies! Happy dancing! These will be ready for preorder on March 18th, and released April 15th.... I don't know about you, but up here, we're ready for spring!
Historical Collection:
You know, back in the day (like two years ago) the common belief was that you wrote either contemporary or historical stories.
Well, that's just silly.
:)
I'm here to tell you that I love writing both, and I have never had more fun in my life than playing with sweet babies and kids.... writing delightful stories.... and the exciting chance to share in ways I was never able to before.
OH. THAT GOD!!!! :)
YUMMY! I'm absolutely trying this on Sunday when we have visitors. (See how I trust you? I'm trying a new recipes on OTHER PEOPLE. Ruthy won't steer me wrong!)
ReplyDeleteOh, I remember the "are you writing historical or contemporary" questions. :) I'm so, so proud of my historicals and so thrilled they're being read and loved and lot languishing on my hard drive... and the third in my series is coming out in a few months! I got a little side-tracked with a stream of contemporaries but I always meant to finish that trilogy. :)
Gorgeous cover, too. Makes me think of spring!
Virginia, the family loved this! The only thing I'd change slightly is to thin out the sauce before building the lasagna (just add more milk) because the noodles, even cooked, soaked up some.... My kids like this better with home-made chicken breasts but I wanted to try a quick version and the canned chicken breast worked great. Either way, it's marvelous and I've had a veggie version that's wonderful too. How can you go wrong with all that cheese, pasta and veggies????
ReplyDeleteSounds like a perfect make-ahead meal for busy days!
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to have to make some bread, too. :)
DeleteI forgot the bread while I was making the lasagna. Everyone had a good laugh. Sigh.
DeleteThere is so much to like about this post!
ReplyDeleteFirst - The Highwayman! Oh, how I love that poem! "The highwayman came riding - riding - riding...." Such a sad and tragic story. It caught my imagination as a young girl, staring out my bedroom window at the moon on a summer's night....
Second: The lasagna! I'm making this soon. I think I'll try not cooking the noodles first, and add more liquid to the sauce to make it even quicker. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Third: The bread :) My poor husband used to have bread on a regular basis. Then I started writing. One of my goals this year is to integrate my writing into my family life better so that neither one gets neglected.
Fourth: Spring stories! I need to preorder.
Fifth: Oh, that God! I love, love, love what He's doing in your life and through you to others. It makes me smile every time I think of you. :)
Do you remember The Highwayman in Anne of Green Gables, too? It was always a favorite poem of mine (Am I the only one who writes poetry, too????) as a girl because you could slam dunk emotion into it! When Megan Follows did it in the CBC production, I loved it! She did such a good job! "...with a bunch of lace... at his throat."
DeleteDown like a dog in the highway!
Oh, I could just weep for that poor thief and love thwarted!
Bread should not suffer for writing.
Housework: Yes. Bread??? Never. Even though it's not on our Atkins/SouthBeach/Trim Healthy Mama/Paleo diets... but every now and again I have to make fresh bread and EAT IT. I will never be a skinny girl.... But homemade bread is in a class of it's own!
And fifth is yes, yes, yes!!! Me, too! Aren't we just amazingly blessed?????
I've never had an alfredo lasagna! I'll have to give it a try. I LOVE that canned chicken. Easy and very tasty. :)
ReplyDeleteMissy, me too! I use it when I need quick chicken salad, too. I thought it worked well in this, Jon voted for as he said "real chicken"...
DeleteIt was good stuff!
This lasagna looks delish! I'm going to try it soon, maybe with a rotisserie chicken.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to the spring collections!
Tracey, sure, rotisserie chicken would work! I've done that too (with big roasters, because we are like a cave of carnivores with a rotisserie chicken.... Picture cave people and one innocent little BIRD.... ) and it layers in nicely. I've got some that don't do dark meat, so I have to stick to white meat.... where I love the higher moisture/higher calorie dark meat. Tracey, let us know how it works if you try it! And I'm so glad you mosied over here! Go you!!!!
DeleteHere's a slice of bread, honey. :)