I created a recipe!

Lasagna is so versatile and I feel like I make variations every time I make it based on what I have on hand.

I was making lasagna last week and decided to steal some ideas from our favorite gnocchi recipe (See Wednesday April 15th, 2009 posting) and ended up creating my own recipe. All the ingredients are from Trader Joe's. We really enjoyed lasagna this way and the teenagers I was housesitting finished up the whole thing! Don't substitute olive oil for butter, the butter really adds a richness.

Ingredients:
1 jar TJ's Tomato Basil Marinara Sauce
1/2 package TJ's no boil lasagna noodles
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
3 Tbsp butter
1 6 oz. package fresh spinach, chopped
8 oz. ricotta cheese
2/3 package TJ's Quattro Formaggio Cheese - a blend of four italian cheeses.

Lightly brown pine nuts in butter for about 3 minutes stirring constantly. Add garlic and cook one additional minute. Add spinach and stir around until wilted. Add full jar of marinara.

Mix ricotta with 1/2 package of quattro formaggio cheese, add some salt & pepper to taste.

In a 9X13 baking dish spread out about 1 cup of sauce. Place 4 overlapping lasagna noodles on bottom. Add about 1/3 of remaining sauce and spread 1/2 cheese mixture on top. Repeat noodles, sauce & cheese. Add final layer of noodles and cover with remaining sauce. Spread a couple handfuls of quattro formaggio over the top.

Bake covered with foil at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Chicken Florentine Artichoke Bake

I made this recipe a couple months ago and it was fantastic! It's a great way to use leftover chicken. I only made a half recipe the last time because we didn't want to waste food, but it was so good a full recipe would have been gobbled up!

For our household of 2, this is a great meal to make on the weekend and then bring to work over the week for lunch. I've also encouraged my vegetarian family to use fake chicken and try this recipe.

I used panko breadcrumbs.

Chicken Florentine Artichoke Bake:
http://www.bhg.com/recipe/chicken/chicken-florentine-artichoke-bake/