White Chicken Lasagna

The other day, I stumbled upon a recipe for White Chicken Lasagna. You may have noticed in reading my blog that I have a love for all things cheese, so when I saw this recipe, my heart skipped a beat. It requires some of my favorite things, and so I deemed it perfect. I made it on Wednesday, and my husband and I have been eating it since. That says a lot because normally Scott gets sick of leftovers quick, but the two of us have nearly devoured the whole pan like a swarm of locusts.

I did make a few changes to the original recipe though. When I first saw the picture, I was drawn to it (for the cheese) and for what I thought was sweet potato. Upon further investigation, I found that it was butternut squash. Now I love butternut squash just as much as another, but my heart was set on sweet potato. So that's what I decided to add. You do what you'll like, but I will say the sweet potato was divine.

So on to the recipe...

White Chicken Lasagna
Adapted from One Ordinary Day

*Lasagna noodles (I used one box-get two to be safe though.)
* 1/2 c. butter
* 1 onion, minced
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/2 c. flour
* 1/2 tsp. salt
* ground black pepper, to taste
* 2 c. chicken broth
* 2 c. milk
*4 c. mozzarella cheese, divided (I didn’t actually measure out my cheeses…I stopped when I hit cheese capacity)
* 1 c. shredded or grated Parmesan cheese, divided
* Italian spices
* 1 c. part-skim ricotta cheese
* 2 c. cooked and shredded chicken
*1 small box frozen spinach, thawed and drained; liquid squeezed out (Buy a good brand. I bought Kroger's - and normally Kroger brand is awesome - but this time the spinach was all stemmy. Next time I will consider sauteing my own.)
2 medium sweet potatoes, boiled then whipped - butter or milk aren't necessary

(I used the sweet potatoes in place of 1 small box frozen butternut squash puree, thawed)

Directions:
Melt butter in a large sauce pot. Add onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until translucent. Add flour, salt, and pepper. Cook flour mixture 1-2 minutes. Add chicken broth and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir 1 minute. Turn off heat and add 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese.

Lightly spray a 9×13″ baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Ladle some cheese sauce onto the bottom to thinly cover. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Add a layer of lasagna noodles. Layer with more cheese sauce, sprinkle with spice, & add the chicken and the ricotta cheese. Add another layer of pasta. Top with cheese sauce, spinach, and 1 c. mozzarella cheese. Give another sprinkle of spices. Add another layer of pasta. Top with cheese sauce. Using a spoon, spread the sweet potato puree over the cheese sauce. Top with remaining 1 c. mozzarella cheese and 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese. Add another sprinkle of spice. Add final layer of lasagna. Top with remaining cheese sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly. If cheese doesn’t brown on top, turn on the broiler for the last couple minutes. Allow lasagna to sit about 15 minutes before serving for easier slicing.

Photo from One Ordinary Day