Chicken Lasagna

I thought I'd share a recipe I plan to use this week called Chicken Lasagna.

I buy chicken breasts w/skin and bones when it is on sale for around $1.49 per pound. I cook the entire package in a pot for 2-3 hours, or in a crock pot on low all day. I usually add some spices, salt, a carrot if I have one, a bay leaf, a touch of vinegar to bring out the marrow in the bones, maybe even a little bouillon--just whatever seems good. It is falling off the bone in 2-3 hours, so I shred it easily by hand and put it in freezer bags in two-cup increments. I use the chicken when I want to prepare a recipe like this that calls for cooked chicken.

9 lasagna noodles, cooked
2 Tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cups milk
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp basil
4 ounces cream cheese
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup cottage cheese
2 cups cooked cubed chicken
1/8 tsp oregano

In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Saute onions and garlic. Add flour and cornstarch, stirring to mix. Add milk, pepper, salt and basil, whisking until well mixed. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly.

Add cream cheese and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook and stir until cream cheese is melted. Add parmesan cheese, stirring to mix. Remove from heat.

In a bowl , combine 1 cup mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese, and chicken.

Grease an 8x8 baking dish. Put a layer of lasagna noodles on the bottom of the dish. Top with half the chicken mixture. Put a layer of lasagna noodles on top of that. Top with half of the white sauce. Continue layering noodles, chicken, noodles, sauce.

Top with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. Sprinkle with oregano. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

(It seems to me that the last time I made this I may have used a 9x13 rather than an 8x8. Use your best judgment.)