Chicken Spinach Lasanga

I make three kinds of lasanga - traditional meat, mexican, and this chicken spinach variety.  I must admit, the first two are very tasty and when company comes, that's what I would serve them.

However, I really like this chicken spinach lasanga because:
a)  it's VERY easy to make
b)  it's healthier than the other kinds

Here's what you need:

1)  A little olive oil to smear on the bottom of the pan (optional)
2)  9 whole wheat lasagna noodles cooked as per the directions on the box
3)  Previously cooked (important!!) chicken, ripped into bite-size pieces (I use a BBQ chicken from Extra Foods)
4)  Fresh baby spinach
5)  Canned diced tomatoes
6)  Mozzarella cheese, grated
7)  Parmesan cheese, powdered
8)  Oh, and a pan (this one's 8x12) and an oven preheated to 350 degrees, and some foil to cover the pan
9)  And I like to use a little cheddar cheese on the top for colour but I forgot to picture it here

Put it all together like this:

Noodles

Spinach

Chicken

Tomatoes & Juice (I used about 1/2 a can)

Mozza Cheese

Another layer of Noodles and more Mozza Cheese and a sprinkle of Parmesan Cheese

And another layer of Noodels, Mozza Cheese, Cheddar Cheese (for colour),

and a sprinkle of Parmesan Cheese



Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 20 - 30 minutes.  Take foil off and broil for 2 - 3 minutes.

This is what it looks like when it's done:

It can be pretty juicy on the bottom.  If you don't like this, omit the tomato juice.  Yum, yum!

Father's Day Oreos

The first year I was in charge of coming up with a little gift for the fathers at church, this is what I came up with:

A large, homemade Oreo cookie with a little poem that goes like this:

Fathers, like Oreos, are layered in love,

With three divine callings from Heaven above:

Standing as head of the home, he presides—

By example and faith, he nurtures and guides.

By the sweat of his brow he provides for our needs—

Earning a living, he shelters, clothes, feeds.

The third, like the layer of icing between—

He protects us from danger and all things unclean.

Presiding, providing, protecting—and more

Are just some of the layers we love our dads for!

 (by Kathryn Quist)

I thought it was a pretty cute poem (please give me credit for the poem if you use it), even though I knew the men would be more interested in the treat than the poem (I wrote an article about that, too:  A Man's Heart ).

The recipe for the cookies I found online somewhere.  Sorry, this was about three years ago so I don't remember the website, but if you google "Homemade Oreo Cookies" lots of recipes will appear.  This is the recipe I used:

Homemade Oreo Cookies

Wafer:

2 pkg Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix

4 eggs

2/3 cup oil

Icing:

1/2 cup cream cheese

2 cups icing sugar

1/8 cup margarine

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. water, if needed

Instructions:

Mix the first 3 ingredients together.  Form into small balls (about an inch in diameter for medium cookies).  Bake 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees (if you cook too long, wafers will be hard).  Drop pan on counter to flatten cookies.  Cool.  Fill with icing and stick together.  Makes about 20 – 24 complete cookies (40 – 48 wafers to be stuck together).

The smaller ones pictured here were about 1-inch diameter balls.  The larger ones were more like 2-inch diameter balls.  I wanted the men to have larger cookies, but my kids could sample the smaller ones.  Once they were cooked and flattened they were more like 2-inch and 4-inch diameter cookies.

It's important to drop the pan on the counter as soon as it comes out of the oven to flatten the cookies.

Then you get to match them up in pairs, trying to get the sizes as close as possible.  Spread the icing between the two wafers and stick them together.

I put them in clear goodie bags but you could also use sandwich bags or even plain saran wrap.  I cut the top off the bag to make it look not so long.

Then I tied it off with a black and white (like oreos - and masculine) ribbon, but curled red ribbon looks good too.  And there was a cute treat that the men appreciated and a meaningful message that the women appreciated!