One-Pan Chicken Lasagna

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DinnerOnDemand #CollectiveBias

With Mother's Day coming up, I am (even more often than usual) thinking about my mom; she is amazing.  Growing up, she was an elementary school teacher, carted me (and my friends) around to school sports and activities, and somehow also made a full from-scratch meal every single night by 6:00PM - Wonder Woman, I know.  She's Italian, so the meals that make me think the most of her are pasta recipes, but since I began living on my own, I've always looked for ways to shorten preparation and cooking time of some of my favorites.  I still want all the flavor, but the fewer the steps, the better!  How she had time to boil and cook the pasta, layer the ingredients, and bake a full lasagna on a Tuesday, I'll never know!  Well, I've taken out all but one of those steps in my easy Chicken Lasagna.

With the help of Barilla Pronto Pasta, it's: One Pan. No Boil. No Drain. AND a dinner on demand is ready in less than 15 minutes.  Combine that with Barilla Marinara Pasta Sauce and you have an easy meal!  Mike and I have been working crazy hours lately, so this recipe starts with ingredients we can grab on the way home from work at Walmart, and whoever gets home first can whip the lasagna up quickly so that we can have more time to spend together.

Ingredients:
1 box Barilla Pronto Penne Pasta
3 cups water
1 jar Barilla Marinara Pasta Sauce
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 cup spinach
1 pound grilled chicken (optional)
Parmesan cheese to garnish

Directions:
1. According to package instructions, add the box of Barilla Pronto Penne and water to a 12-inch sauce pan.
2. Turn heat to high and cook pasta for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Bring the heat down to medium and pour in the jar of Barilla Marinara Pasta Sauce.  Stir to combine.
4. Add in the cheese, spinach, and bite-sized grilled chicken (if you choose), stir until spinach is wilted and cheese is melted, and serve with freshly-grated parmesan cheese.

Barilla Pronto Pasta is so quick and easy that it even won a Better Homes and Gardens Best New Product award!

• Category of Win: Best Food & Beverage Products 
• Specific Winning Product: Barilla Pronto Pasta Specific 
• Year of Win: 2016 
• Based on the 2016 BrandSpark/Better Homes and Gardens American Shopper Study of 38,000 voters nationwide. For more information visit www.BestNewProductAwards.com

 

So, Mom, I hope you know how much I appreciate all of the hours you spent making these amazing meals.  Someday I'll be the amazing home chef, multi-tasker, and time manager that you were, but in the mean time, I'll take short cuts with boiling and baking rather than flavor.

• What's your favorite easy weeknight meal?
• Anyone have a good gift idea for your mom this Mother's Day? 

Linens provided by Dot & Army and dishes provided by Noritake.