The Belle’s Cheesy Chicken and Artichoke Lasagna

I so wish I could serve you a piece of my Cheesy Chicken and Artichoke Lasagna, I really do. But, the next best thing would be to share the recipe with you and I’m about to do just that. First, the backstory? As I may have mentioned once or ten times, I love to take our favorite flavor combinations and recreate them into different dishes, which would be why the flavors of my All Cheesed Up Artichoke Dip once found new new life as quesadillas. But, true inspiration hit me yesterday when I used some of those same flavors with leftover smoked chicken and the traditional ricotta and mozzarella cheeses of lasagna! Have mercy, my Cheesy Chicken and Artichoke Lasagna was a win/win around here. I expect it to stay on my recipe list for a long time. I’ll walk you through it.

Ingredients:

1 pound lasagna noodles (cooked and drained according to package instructions)

2-3 tablespoons butter

2 cloves minced garlic

3 cups milk

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup shaved Parmesan cheese

1 (8 ounce) cream cheese

2-3 cups smoked chicken pulled into bite-sized pieces

1 jar marinated artichokes (drained)

1 small package spinach (thawed with water squeezed out!)

1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Melt butter in skillet. Saute garlic a bit until it begins to give off a good aroma. (Be careful not to burn!) Stir in your Parmesan, cream cheese, and flour. Once the cheeses are melted, stir in milk and add the drained artichokes, spinach, and chicken. Stir and let it cook over a medium heat until it’s bubbly through and through. Meanwhile cook the lasagna noodles according to the package instructions.

Time to build our lasagna. This dish means business, y’all. You’ll want to start with a good deep casserole dish. Grease the dish well and create a layer of noodles in the bottom of the dish. (Some people swear by starting with the sauce when building a lasagna, but I think beginning with noodles helps your dish serve better into those nice squares! Next, you’ll add a layer of ricotta and mozzarella. I combine the ricotta and mozzarella and spoon them in at once, spreading the good stuff across the noodles with a spatula. (Just be sure to reserve a little of the mozzarella for the top of the finished lasagna!) Spoon a generous amount of the chicken and artichoke mixture over the cheeses.  Repeat the building process with two more layers of noodles, cheeses and chicken mixture. Finish with one last layer of noodles topped with the rest of the mozzarella cheese. )That’s a total of four layers of noodles, y’all.)

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for thirty-forty minutes. Remove the foil and bake another ten minutes or until the top is nice and browned with crusty edges. Yes! Add a nice side salad and you have a hearty meal for a crowd!

Hugs, Shellie