Birthday Chicken Lasagna

Birthdays are special. They have been a big deal for as long as I can remember. The only "bad" birthday experience I can remember is when I turned nine years old. For my nine year old birthday all I wanted was a puppy. ANY puppy. My birthday is in December, and in November my mom took us kids to the dog shelter, "just to look". We looked and looked. Then in a round crate we found her. My puppy. She was there with her siblings, and I wanted her. I needed her. And my mom agreed. We left the dog shelter with my birthday present, a month early. Doesn't sound like a "bad" birthday, right? Here is where it got bad...For the next month my mom kept warning me that I already received my birthday gift so I wouldn't be receiving any presents. At the time, this was fine. I had my puppy. I loved my puppy. Then came my birthday, December 8th. Puppy, a cake, and my family. I cried and cried. I was crushed. She really meant it, she really meant no presents. And all along she thought I understood. Later on my birthday, each of my siblings wrapped up a present from the dollar store so I would have something to open. It made the "bad" experience much better. Everyone deserves a special birthday.

This Birthday Lasagna is one I made for my husband back when he was a fiancé. I wanted to spoil him, like everyone deserves on their birthday. As many of my recipes go, lots of research went into this lasagna. I wanted a chicken lasagna that was semi-healthy. I knew this would impress the man that put a beautiful ring on my finger. I found a veggie lasagna and made it my own. 

Since that birthday several years ago, I have made this lasagna many times. It is time consuming, so many times I like to make it for special occasions (birthday, anniversary, etc.). 

This time around was for Valentines day. We decided to stay in, rather than fight crowds, and have a dish we love. 

Because the Love day fell on a weeknight, I split the duties of the lasagna into two nights. The night before I cooked the chicken breasts, sliced everything, and thawed the spinach. 

This was the first time I split up my work for this lasagna into two days. It will not be the last. It made the lasagna feasible for a weeknight meal. It is about a two hour process in a single night, but it is worth it. And if it is just you and another ... it is left overs for days.

The second day consisted of toasting the pine nuts, making the sauce, cooking the noodles, mixing the filling, and layering (then baking and enjoying, of course). 

And the final product ...

You will need:
Sauce-
2 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of oil
3 tablespoons of flour
3 cups of milk
1/2 cup of basil, chopped
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
salt

Filling-
1/3 cup of pine nuts, toasted
(2) 10 oz packages of frozen spinach, thawed and well drained
15 oz of ricotta cheese
2 cups of Mozzarella
1 1/2 cups of Fontina cheese
3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon of pepper

To finish-
12 lasagna noodles, cooked according to package directions
3 chicken breasts, cooked and sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
8 oz of mushrooms, sliced

The process:
Preheat oven to 375
Sauce- In a 2qt pot, melt butter over medium head. Add oil and stir in flour until absorbed. Add milk, stir constantly until boil. Remove from heat; stir in basil, Parmesan, garlic, and salt. Cover and put aside.

Filling- In a large bowl, mix together pine nuts, spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, 1/2 cup of Mozzarella, Fontina, egg, and pepper.

Assemble- Spread one cup of the sauce on bottom of 9 X 13 baking dish, layer with four noodles. {Spread half of the filling over the noodles, add half of the chicken and vegetables, then half of the remaining sauce} - Repeat what is in the brackets.
Bake 30 minutes, add remaining one cup of Mozzarella and bake an additional 20 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.