#TastyTuesday – Meal Planning, Part #2 – Chicken Lasagna

Last week I started on our adventure of meal planning. (Read about the prep here!) Since then, we have tried 3 of the recipes that I initially mentioned in that post: Chicken Lasagna and Cowboy Lasagna were a hit.  I’m going to spare you the recipe for 3 Cheese Chicken Alfredo Bake as it was a MAJOR fail!  I’d actually like to try it again, but with my own take on things.  Until then, you won’t be seeing the recipe on my blog!  However, the first one we tried was the Chicken Lasagna!  It has a great flavor, is very rich, and could use a bit of tweaking, but I think you’ll all get the general gist.

Begin by either poaching a few boneless skinless chicken breasts or using left over chopped up chicken from a roasted chicken.  I used about 2 cups.  Then, it’s pretty simple of mix everything together (except the cheese).  When I use canned soups, I use the “Healthy Request” versions of whatever is cheapest to attempt to cut a few calories as well as some fat content out.  Same thing with sour cream and the Alfredo.  One could make their own homemade Alfredo and use that, but I don’t have that kind of time!  So, once you mix it all up, it’s just a matter of layering the mixture with your lasagna noodles.  Bake covered for 1hr at 350 and then 15 minutes uncovered.

Well, there it is!  It isn’t pretty by any means and it’s my own fault!  I didn’t bake it long enough and I didn’t bake it uncovered.  I’ll admit that it’s because I thought I knew what I was doing! HA!  I’m anxious to try it again though!.  Now…on to my notes for next time!

• I intend to add salt & pepper to the seasonings…maybe even a little garlic. While it has a very rich flavor to it from the sauces and creams, it lacks some depth!
• It’s a lot of sauce for the amount of noodles that I used (I did two layers of noodles), so I will either construct it in a different pan  and do more layers or I will use a macaroni of sorts (this was actually T’s request).
• This makes a large 9×13 pan and it is a lot for just T and I to eat as the boys won’t touch it, so I will scale the amount of ingredients back to half and make a 9×9 pan!
• If I make it as a full on lasagna next time, I will be make sure to bake it according to my own directions! HA!

I hope you enjoy it and learn from my mistakes.  I’m anxious to try it again with my adjustments!  I’m also excited to announce that we’ve added 2 meals to our meal planning: Meatball Sub Casserole and Angry Orchard Pork Chops (my own recipe I might add)!  T and I both agree that we eat better and stay on budget if we meal plan!  This is one of my goals for the new year!  Next week, stay tuned for another new recipe!!