Meatless Monday: White Cheese Spinach Lasagna

Sloppy Presentation, Yummy Dinner

When I stumbled across this recipe from Does Not Cook Well with Others, I knew it was a "must-make."  My 4 year old is going through a phase where he doesn't want marinara on his pasta or toppings on his pizza, so when I read her story about her requirements as a kid, it resounded!

When I make this in the future, I will use only one package of spinach, a second clove of garlic, and perhaps some mushrooms.

I ran out of regular lasagna noodles, so threw in some no boil on top.  Bad move!  Don't do it!  They didn't cook properly and were awful!

The original recipe called for chicken, but I had a hard time fitting all of it without the chicken in the 9x12 pan!  It was delicious without the chicken, and I imagine it would be great with it too!

White Cheese Chicken Lasagna
Adapted from Does Not Cook Well with Others

Ingredients

• 9 lasagna noodles
• ½ cup butter
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 4 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese, divided
• Dried basil
• Italian seasoning
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 1 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to salted water to boil, add lasagna noodles, and cook according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water.
2. In a large sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in the flour and salt, and simmer and stir for one minute. Mix in the broth, milk and cream, bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for one minute while stirring. Add in 2 cups mozzarella cheese. Remove from heat and set aside. 
3. Coat 9x13 baking dish with nonstick spray, and spread ⅓ of the cheese sauce on the bottom of the pan. Lay three lasagna noodles over the cheese. Then layer the ricotta, and sprinkle with black pepper, Italian seasoning, and basil. Arrange 3 more lasagna noodles over the chicken, then another ⅓ of the cheese sauce, then the spinach, then the remaining 2 cups of mozzarella and ½ cup Parmesan. Arrange the remaining 3 lasagna noodles, then spread the remainder of the cheese sauce over the top.
4. Cover with tinfoil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the tinfoil and bake for another 15 minutes until the top is lightly browned and bubbly.