Four-Cheese Chicken Lasagna

If you followed our CSA adventures at all, you'll know that we got a lot of kale.  A. Lot.  Bunches.  Oodles and oodles of kale.  I barely knew what kale was before last summer, now my 6-year-old likes to remind me periodically that he hates kale.

Needless to say that with so much kale coming into our house, I had to get creative with what to do with it. So when I saw this recipe in a magazine, I knew I had to try it.  Just because it called for kale.

I am incredibly talented at wrecking pretty lasagna layers when scooping.

And, once again, I LOVE when I'm forced to try something new and the experiment totally pays off!

Four-Cheese Chicken Lasagna
Recipe slightly adapted from Food Network Magazine
Prep time: 30-40 minutes   Cook time: 1 hour, 25 minutes   Bake time: 1 hour, 5 minutes   Rest time: 30 minutes

For the sauce:
2 tbsp EVOO
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 small onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup white wine
3 cups water
28 oz (one can or two 14oz cans) crushed tomatoes
3 bay leaves
1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
Salt and fresh ground black pepper

For the lasagna:
2 bunches of fresh kale, stems removed and leaves finely chopped*
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 15oz containers cottage cheese
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated asiago OR cheddar
1 lb lasagna noodles (whatever you prefer, whether it's the boil or no-boil kind)

*The fresh kale is AMAZING but this can be substituted with frozen. OR if kale really isn't your thing you can use spinach too, fresh or frozen. Using frozen greens would allow you to skip Step #5 altogether.

1. For the sauce: Heat the EVOO in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken thighs and cook until browned, turning once (about 5 minutes).

I used a combo of thighs and breasts for this actually.

2. Add the onion, garlic, and tomato paste and cook, stirring, until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and cook until mostly evaporated, about 5 minutes.

When dealing with only tablespoons, invest in a tube of tomato paste. Save your cans!

3. Stir in the water, crushed tomatoes, bay leaves, parsley, 1 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer 50 minutes.

It's hard to get a clear shot when steam gets in my way.

4. Remove the chicken thighs and shred. Return the shredded chicken to the pan and cook until thickened, about 20 more minutes. Remove the bay leaves.

You could chop this instead, but I love how shredded chicken soaks up more sauce.

5. Optional Step (can be skipped if using frozen greens): While the sauce simmers, steam the chopped kale in the microwave until tender. Drain and rinse under cold water and squeeze dry.

I feel healthier just looking at this.

6. Place the kale in a bowl, and stir in the eggs, cottage cheese, and half of the Parmesan and parsley. Add a little salt and pepper and stir to combine. Set aside.

Rule of thumb: don't like something? Just add cheese.

7. In a medium bowl, combine the shredded mozzarella, shredded asiago, and remaining Parmesan. Set aside.

I was fully prepared to use Cheddar, but rejoiced when I found some pre-shredded Asiago.

8. For the lasagna build: [NOTE: I used no-boil noodles, but if you can't find those, make sure your noodles are boiled, drained, and tossed with a teensy EVOO to prevent sticking before you build.] Preheat oven to 350.

My setup station!

9. Spread 3/4 cup of the sauce in a 9x13 baking dish. Top with one-third of the noodles. Cover with half of the kale mixture, then two more cups of sauce. Sprinkle with one-third of the mozzarella mixture. Repeat the layers (noodles, kale mixture, sauce, mozzarella mixture). Top with a final layer of noodles, the remaining sauce, and the remaining mozzarella mixture.

Sauce

Layer  Set 1: Noodles

Layer Set 1: Kale

Layer Set 1: Sauce

Layer Set 1: Mozzarella. Repeat layer sets starting at Noodles a couple more times

Finish with Parmesan

10. Set on a baking sheet to help keep any bubbling drips from baking onto your oven. Loosely cover with foil and bake 40 minutes. Then uncover and bake until golden and bubbly, about 25 more minutes. Let stand 30 minutes before serving. Total time to allow in this step is 1 hour and 35 minutes!!

I'm fairly neurotic when it comes to labeling and details.

I froze one and baked up one right away as a reward for my day's work.

So by now if you weren't intimidated by the number of steps I listed, you probably just freaked out over the time necessary for that final step alone. But trust me when I tell you that this dish is WORTH IT. Totally, totally, totally worth the time and effort to prepare. To make this even more worth your while though, consider splitting this into two 8x8 or 9x9 dishes and freezing one after assembling it to bake up later. If your family can inhale a 9x13 pan of lasagna in one sitting, then definitely consider doubling, or even tripling this to have some spare pans in the freezer.

If I haven't made it obvious enough, I'm a big fan of making the most of what cooking time I have. That means if I'm going to spend the many minutes necessary to simmer a sauce and build a lasagna, then I want to eat it as often as possible! Investing an extra 10-15 minutes to build a second pan is worth the hours I'll save in the long run.

Still don't believe that this meal is worth the time? Let me just leave with an idea of the taste. This dish is delightly cheesy, thanks to the variety of cheeses used. The sauce has that tangy, tomato-y zing to it, but with the lightness that comes with using chicken instead of ground beef. And the kale adds this healthful aspect, but without any bitter taste, that made me want to stand up and do a happy dance. I loved this so much that on my next "Stock the Freezer with Lasagna" Day, I fully plan on doing a double batch of this, along with my usual beef lasagna, so I've got some happy, healthy options for those busy days to come!

Balsamic Kale Salad

With all the kale we've been getting from our CSA lately, this one is fast becoming one of my favorite ways to prepare it.  Not just because it's fast and easy, but my husband likes it and even my two year-old shoves the dark green leaves into his mouth!

Balsamic Kale Salad
Recipe from Noelle Chave
Prep time: 2 minutes   Cook time: However long it takes your microwave to steam kale

**This is a Make Ahead salad.  You want this to sit as long as possible, up to 24 hours.

1 bunch of kale, washed and stems removed
2-3 cloves of garlic, smashed
2-4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1-2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt

1.  Tear or chop the kale into bite-sized pieces.  Place into a microwave-safe bowl with a splash of water.  Cover and cook for a minute or two (NOTE: I have a micro-steamer bowl and a Fresh Vegetable button on my microwave so this step is insanely easy and fast for me.  If you don't have these things, use any container and cover you have and start with a minute. You want the kale to look really bright green and be slightly wilted but still retain some crunch).

Before steaming (maybe don't pack your container quite so full)

After steaming.  LOVE that bright green color!

2.  Drain steamed kale and put in a large bowl with the smashed garlic cloves.  Douse with as much balsamic vinegar as you like and toss to coat.  Drizzle with EVOO and toss again.  Salt to taste.

Throw everything in a bowl and toss.  See? EASY

This salad is everything a leaf-y green salad should be.  It's dark, it's crunchy, the balsamic vinegar is intense but doesn't overpower the kale, and the garlic adds just enough punch too.  Honestly, I fill up at least half my plate with this "side" dish and try to make my little bit of whatever protein we're having fit around it.  I. LOVE. This. Salad!!!

And I'm pretty sure that every time I eat kale, my internal organs do a happy dance.  It's a dark, nutritionally-rich green that I love to eat as often as possible.  My family?  Not so much.  So when Rob tells me that he liked this salad I wanted to stand up and cheer.

Now, for the really important piece: do my kids like it?  Well I've already said that my two year-old pretty much inhales this.  That didn't happen the first time I made this but I've learned to be patient with my children's taste buds.  My Picky Eater of course still claims to hate this BUT I've learned his cues, and he doesn't gag on it.  That means progress!  That means that eventually he just might learn to love this as much as I do.  So this salad will just have to keep appearing on our dinner table.  Yay!!

Pasta with Corn & Kale

I am seriously loving this CSA and all the awesome veggies we get every other week.  Truly, I enjoy the excitement and mystery of "what's in the box this time" and "how am I going to use these.

But MAN it's overwhelming too.  I mean, how on earth can I use up all these veggies and herbs before they go bad??

So when I stumbled across a recipe that used not one, but THREE, of the CSA veggies from our most recent pickup I thought "WOOHOO."  Nevermind the fact that I would normally completely bypass this one, was convinced my boys would hate it, and wasn't even sure I would like it.

Let's hear it for experimentation!!  Because this one is so good I'm seriously contemplating eating this for breakfast.

Pasta with Corn & Kale
Recipe slightly adapted from Food Network Magazine
Prep time: 35 minutes   Cook time: 45 minutes

3 ears of corn
2 1/2 cups uncooked, short-cut pasta [I used whole wheat rotini]
2-3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2-3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 bunch kale, stems removed and chopped or torn into bite-sized pieces
2 scallions, chopped
2 tbsp butter
Salt & freshly ground black pepper

1.  Get out your rarely-used Bundt pan and stand the corn up in the middle of it.  This little tube will hold the corn steady while the kernals fall beautifully into the dish below it.  Using a sharp knife, cut the corn kernals off the cob. Then scrape the sobs with the back of your knife to extract the liquid.  Set aside.

Picture courtesy of my 6-year-old, with the help of a chair.

See? All neatly contained.

2.  Put the corncobs in a large pot and fill with water.  Cover and bring to a boil; salt, then add the pasta and cook as the label directs.  Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water before draining.  Discard the cobs.

These help give the cooking water SO MUCH extra flavor!!

3.  Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp EVOO in a large skillet over high heat.  Add the chopped mushrooms in a single layer and cook, undisturbed, until golden, 4 to 5 minutes (psst! You may need to do these in batches if you have a lot of mushrooms).  Season with salt, stir and continue cooking until tender, about 5 more minutes.  Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

I went for the "rustic" look and just hacked away at the 'shrooms

Don't salt until AFTER they get some color; salt brings out the water.

4.  Add the remaining 1 tbsp oil, the garlic, and pepper flakes to the skillet.  Cook, stirring, until the garlic is soft, about a minute.  Stir in the kale and season with salt.  Cover and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes.  Add the corn kernels, mushrooms, scallions, and butter.  Cook, stirring, until the butter is melted and the mixture is heated through, about 2 minutes.

Kale: before wilting

Kale: after wilting.  So pretty!!

5.  Add the pasta and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water.  Cook, stirring, until heated through, adding more pasta water as needed to loosen the sauce.  Season with salt and pepper.

Just start tossing everything back into the pot.

About 2/3 of the way through cooking this I really couldn't decide how this dish was going to go.  I mean, it's got mushrooms and kale in it.  But it smelled SO GOOD!!  But it has weird ingredients in it.  But it smelled SO GOOD!!  I was in some serious inner turmoil.

I scooped this into bowls and served it with some crusty, whole wheat bread.  I don't think I ate the bread though, as I was too busy inhaling this garlicky, corny, pasta-y goodness.  I truly could not eat my first bowl fast enough because I wanted a second so badly.  I did look up long enough to notice my youngest chowing down on the pasta bits and mushrooms.  And even my Picky Eater, who declared he didn't like it, didn't make that Super Gross Painful Gagging face as he ate his required six bites.  I sense an opportunity there to change his mind.

Because there will be other opportunities as I am SO MAKING THIS AGAIN!!