Chicken Asparagus Lasagna and the SRC

OMGosh!! That is all that I have to say about this lasagna recipe... Savory and delicious - melting in my mouth and begging me to eat more and more and more. It was so good!!

For this month's SRC I had the opportunity to try a lot of recipes from Jaida at http://www.sweetsbeginning.blogspot.com/. It was hard to choose which one I was going to blog about for today but the second that I tasted this lasagna I knew this was the one!! Just a few of the other recipes that I have tried include balsamic herb chicken, cheesy dill bread and Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Bread. I have a few more that I haven't gotten to yet that I still want to try. These include white pizza dip, apple butter pound cake, pumpkin scones with maple glaze, cinnamon rolls and tweedle-de-dees. I promise you - stop by her blog, you will not be disappointed!!

Now, back to the lasagna. Jaida talks about how she would be a horrible Italian because she isn't a big fan of marinara sauce... I feel the same way. I'll eat it but if I have a choice of a different type of sauce I would go that direction! This is another reason that I was drawn to this recipe... Seriously, did I mention how good it was?? Now, one word of warning - this is a bit time consuming to make... not hard time consuming, just not slap it in the pan and call it supper quick like I am a fan of. In other words, I should have done some prep work during naps instead of trying to get it in the oven in 10 minutes! :) Whoops!! We weren't TOO late for ECFE that night so it all worked out! Plus, like I said - totally worth the effort!! So, grab a few pans and the ingredients and try this dish!! Have I mentioned how much I liked it??



Chicken Asparagus Lasagna
(recipe found at http://www.sweetsbeginning.blogspot.com/)

9 uncooked lasagna noodles
2 pounds asparagus, cut into 2" pieces
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning salt
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves
2 cups diced cooked chicken
3/4 cups shredded parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Heat oven to 350. Grease 13x9" baking dish. Cook and drain noodles as directed on package. Heat 5 cups water to boiling in 3 quart saucepan. Add asparagus; heat to boiling. Boil 3-4 minutes or until crisp tender; drain. Place asparagus in bowl. Toss with oil and lemon pepper seasoning salt. Melt butter in 2 quart saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in broth, milk and marjoram. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Stir in chicken and 1/2 cup of the parmesan cheese. Cook about 2 minutes or until hot.

Spread about 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture in baking dish. Top with 3 noodles, 1 1/2 cups chicken mixture, half of the asparagus and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers, starting with noodles. Top with remaining noodles. Beat whipping cream in chilled small bowl with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Spread over top of lasagna. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered 40-45 minutes or until hot in center and top is golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.