Totally Excessive...and Delicious!

So I ran across a recipe for Buffalo Chicken Lasagna a while back when I was cruising the many food blogs I have bookmarked. I thought, "Hmmm...that sounds interesting." However I have a loooong list of "recipes to try"--like I needed another one! So I made a list of dinner choices for the boyfriend and he immediately handed it back, choosing this lasagna.

Now when I make normal lasagna I go all out. Double the amount of cheese, double the amount of meat--I buy one of those XL foil disposable pans to contain it all. In keeping with the tradition of excess, I totally butchered the original recipe. Here's what I ended up with (this recipe will be modified next go-round, you'll understand as you read--see story below!):

Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

(adapted from Laney's Goodies)

12 whole wheat lasagna noodles, uncooked
3 lb. skinless chicken Breast, cooked & shredded (I used my food processor)
2 cans Hunt's Four Cheese Spaghetti Sauce
3 jars Hooter's Mild Wing Sauce (yes, you read that correctly!)
1 large container ricotta cheese
1 bag finely shredded mozzarella cheese
1 small bag finely shredded parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook noodles according to package directions and strain. In a large bowl using a whisk (or in a food processor), mix together the wing sauce and spaghetti sauce until smooth. Reserve 1 cup of sauce. Spread a thin layer of combined sauce on the bottom of a deep dish 9X13 pan. Arrange 4 noodles over the sauce. Stir ricotta in container until smooth. Spread 1/2 of the ricotta over the noodles. Layer 1/2 of the shredded chicken over the ricotta, then top with 1/2 of the sauce and half of the mozzerella. Arrange 4 more noodles, the remaining ricotta, chicken and sauce. Layer 4 more noodles, then top with the reserved 1 cup of sauce and the parmesan cheese. Cover loosely with foil and bake 50-70 minutes, or until dish is bubbly.

To accompany the lasagna, I made some of Farmgirl's Beyond Easy homemade bread, found here. It really is beyond easy! I've never made a "real" bread before in my life. I fear using yeast and punching/kneading dough. With this recipe you don't have to do any of that--the "yeast" is a can of beer! (I felt really weird buying beer.) I added dried basil, oregano and some parmesan cheese--and then didn't photograph it, but Farmgirl has a gorgeous picture of this great tasting bread on her link. Mine wasn't as pretty as hers anyway!

HOLY HEART-ATTACK IN A PAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I cut and removed the first piece, the empty space filled up with quite a bit of "grease", much to my horror. The boyfriend (who is an ultra-lean bodybuilding-type who eats 99.9% healthy) is all for me cooking something "unhealthy" once a week, but this was horribly way out of line. Heehee! We just dabbed the grease with some paper towels. Anyway, about that "grease". Now when I opened the jars of wing sauce, I was suprised to see the "sauce" was solid and I had to heat it a little to pour it. I didn't recall it being like that when I'd bought some years and years ago, but I went on my merry way cooking. It was only after we cut the first piece when the boyfriend asked, "Well how much fat was in that wing sauce?" I stopped, thought about it and replied, "Um, I bet it was all fat." Retrieving a jar from the trash can, this is what the nutrition stats were. And may I remind you that I used 3 jars of this in there! That homemade bread came in handy as a grease-dabber for the stuff the paper towels didn't get!

Oh boy, sometimes you just gotta laugh. (and then go get your cholesterol checked!) Anyhoo, that's funny the "fat" thing didn't occur to me when I saw how congealed the wing sauce was while in the jar. Soooo...for next time I'll be looking for a reasonable wing sauce to use!

All said and done though, this was delicious. Glad I didn't make a dessert!