What's for Dinner? Chicken Alfredo Lasagna

Photo taken by Laura Henry

So a few weeks back I helped my friend Jess and her mom cook at a religious retreat.  It was a lot of fun but also a lot of hard work.  Who knew cooking for 200 people, 3 meals & 1 snack would take all day long - literally.  It was there that I learned this recipe, Chicken Alfredo Lasagna.  I actually made it a few weeks ago for my mom's birthday and my family seemed to really like it too. 

Now Tina, (that's Jess' mom) is a great cook.  I can truly tell that it is a passion for her.  She was very informative that day and I know I learned a few things.  This recipe is making everything from scratch - including the sauce.  Don't be intimidated.  If I can do it, you can do it. 

Here we go...

Ingredients:

Photo taken by Laura Henry

For the alfredo sauce:

• 1 stick of butter
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 4 cups milk
• 1 - 2 cups half & half
• 1 - 2 teaspoons of garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 - 1 cup parmesan cheese
• 2 - 3 chicken bouillon cubes

For the lasagna:

• 1 box lasagna noodles - you can use the no boil ones
• 1 bag baby spinach
• 3 - 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)
• 2 - 4 cups mozzarella cheese (depends on how cheesy you want it)
• parsley flakes

Directions:

For the alfredo sauce:

1. Put butter in skillet, melt.  Add flour and cook over medium heat until flour looks/smells cooked.  You do NOT want the flour to brown but it shouldn't look white anymore either.  It will clump and that's ok.
2. Add milk and wisk till the clumps are all gone and the sauce will begin to thicken.  
3. Add half and half, chicken bouillon mixture (dissolved as called for on the package), garlic powder, white pepper and parmesan cheese.  I also added some black pepper to taste.  Cook till it thickens a bit but not too much.  You will want the sauce to be thin.

Assemble the lasagna:

1. In a 9 x 13 pan (I used a Pamper Chief stone that is a little bigger) put a layer of sauce just covering the bottom of the pan
2. Layer of lasagna noodles, laying them horizontally in the pan (next layer of noodles should be laid vertically)
3. Layer of sauce on top of the noodles
4. Layer of baby spinach
5. Layer of shredded chicken
6. Layer of mozzarella cheese
7. Layer of sauce
8. Repeat steps 2 - 7 till you fill your pan or run out of ingredients.
9. Lightly sprinkle top with parsley flakes
10. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour or until meat thermometer reaches 160 degrees.
11. Let sit for about 30 minutes prior to serving.

Photo taken by Laura Henry

*Note - I let mine in the oven for a little to long because when cooking with stoneware it will continue to cook even after you take it out of the oven.  I did not take this into consideration so my lasagna was a bit dry. 

Also if you do not have time to make the alfredo sauce you can use the canned/jarred stuff too.

I hope you enjoy!