One of the few meals that I don’t mind turning the oven on during this hot weather is lasagna! I just love all the layers covered in marinara sauce and cheese! I usually make my lasagna with ground chicken or beef, for this one I used lean ground chicken! Another favorite is adding shredded carrots and mushrooms to the mix! The carrots provide a very nice sweetness, and the caramelized mushrooms taste great and add a very nice texture. Lasagna is very dear to my hear, since it’s a dish that me and my mom were making together for family holidays! This recipe makes 8 serving, but it lasted in our house only for 24 hours, I assume it was that good ?

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of lean ground chicken
• 5 large carrots, shredded
• 1/2 lb mushrooms
• 1 jar of marinara sauce
• 1 jar of alfredo sauce
• 1 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup of canola oil
• 1 box of lasagna sheets
• 4 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/3 cup of water
• salt & pepper

Directions:

Fill 3/4 of a large soup pan with water and bring to a boil.

 

In the meantime, in a large wok (that you would use for stir fries) on medium heat start sauteing the carrots in 1/2 cup of oil.

Chop the mushrooms:

Add them to the cooking carrots:

Mix in 4 tbsp of tomato paste and the water, stir well and cook for 10 minutes:

By now the water should be boiling, so add 2 tbsp of canola oil and some salt to it, and prepare to add the lasagna sheets to it. I used the Colavita semolina, because I like the taste and the texture. Barilla is another brand that I like. Even if on the package it says to boil the sheets for 14 minutes, mine needed only 8. Also, I used 4 sheets for each layer, so a total of 12 per my entire lasagna.

Add them to the pan and boil until almost done, note that we still have to bake the lasagna, so you don’t want to over cook the sheets!

While the lasagna sheets are cooking, add the chicken to the carrots and mushrooms mix.

Not the best picture, but voila, this is what raw chicken looks:

Add 1/3 of your marinara sauce, I used spicy tomato and basil, for a little kick and some basil fragrance:

Stir, mix, stir until well incorporated Cook for 5 minutes.

Now, your lasagna sheets are done, lay a clean towel on your counter and arrange your lasagna sheets lengthwise on it to drain the excess liquid. I boiled 6 sheets first and after that the other 6.

Spray with oil the bottom of a 9×13 baking pan, and start layering all the goods. Start with 4 lasagna sheets. The chicken should be done by now, so turn the heat off. Take half of the mixture and distribute it evenly on top of the lasagna sheets:

Take some Alfredo sauce or maybe a four cheese sauce and add some on top of the meat.

Also, add 1/3 of the remaining marinara sauce:

Sprinkle everything with a decent amount of mozzarella cheese:

Repeat all the steps for one more layers. When you are done, add the last layer of lasagna sheets, pour the remaining alfredo sauce on top:

Add, the remaining marinara sauce:

And cover everything in cheese, you basically created a pizza top!

Bake for 30 – 40 minutes at 400F until the top is golden brown!

Let the lasagna cool for at least 15 minutes before serving!

Enjoy,

Catalina