Jen

Damn you camo! You fooled me again. I almost completely overlooked this gal, but my trained eyes can spot them now. I won’t let 10 point bottom biscuits in Walmart get by my scope!

North Carolina

My daughter and I returned home from Chicago yesterday after having a fun, city-centric time together through the weekend, which involved zero cooking, by the way. When we arrived home, my other daughter had left on a long-planned trip with her best friend’s family so I was met by a household of three men who were banging their forks on the table, dying to have something home cooked and hot.

And so, after hugging them, kissing them, and bopping them all on the head, I very quickly whipped up this variation of Bowtie Lasagna, a recipe submitted to Tasty Kitchen by member Rozanie centuries ago (okay, back in 2010.) That bowtie lasagna recipe is so easy and delicious (try it sometime!) Here’s how I changed it up yesterday:

* I used chicken instead of ground beef. Revolutionary! Ha.
* I used ricotta cheese instead of sour cream. Groundbreaking! Or not.
* I added a bunch of fresh basil. There goes crazy ol’ Ree again!
* I used herbes de provence instead of Italian seasoning. I’m just a rebel without a cause.

It turned out to be just the ticket: Quick, easy, and super satisfying for my poor starving male family members. And it left the whole evening in front of us, which meant plenty of room for Real Housewives of New Jersey, Falling Skies, and Real Housewives of New Jersey again.

I really hope this truce between Joe and Teresa has sustained itself since the episode was filmed. Just keep huggin’ it out, you two!

(Sorry. I’ll stop now.)

 
 
First, take this.

 
 
 
And pour it in boiling water. Cook it until it’s al dente, then drain it and set it aside.

 
 
 
Now, grab some chicken breasts in any form (I used these pre-cut strips because they’re nice and thin and easy…but you could just dice up a chicken breast into small pieces) and sprinkle them with salt and some Italian seasoning. This is actually Herbes de Provence, which isn’t Italian seasoning at all. It’s French.

I’ve always been really good at geography.

 
 
 
Pour some olive oil in a purty hot skillet…

 
 
 
Then throw in the chicken in a single layer. And don’t touch it! Or everything will be ruined forever! Just let it sit and cook and get nice and brown on the first side.

 
 
 
Then turn it over and let it get nice and brown on the other side.

 
 
 
Yummy.

 
 
 
Take the chicken out of the pan and chop it into pieces (unless you chopped it into pieces before you cooked it) and set it aside.

 
 
 
Next, dice up an onion…

 
 
 
Then throw it in the pan.

 
 
 
Stir the onions around…

 
 
 
And cook ‘em for a couple of minutes, until they start to soften.

 
 
 
Grab some chicken broth…

 
 
 
And pour it in with the onions.

Note: If this had just been for me, I would have used white wine instead.

 
 
 
Scrape the pan to loosen up all the good stuff, then let it cook and reduce for a couple of minutes, until the broth reduces by about half.

 
 
 
Then pour in some marinara sauce!

 
 
 
Stir it around and let it simmer for for 5-10 minutes or so.

Note: If you’d rather make your own sauce from scratch, use canned crushed tomatoes and season the sauce with Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and a little sugar. Then you’ll need to cook it down for a good 25-30 minutes to make sure the flavor is all there. (That’s why I used jarred marinara; I didn’t have time to wait!)

 
 
 
Next, grate up some mozzarella. You can use fresh if you have it, but this is just the regular supermarket stuff.

 
 
 
After that, it’s just about throwing it all in the skillet: Start with the pasta…

 
 
 
Then grab a big spoonful of ricotta cheese…

 
 
 
And plop it on top. The original bowtie lasagna recipe called for sour cream here instead of ricotta, and it winds up being a little creamier. Either one is delicious! Ricotta is a little grainy (deliciously so) so if you prefer things smooth, you can go the sour cream route. I thought ricotta would make for a more authentic lasagna experience!

 
 
 
Throw the mozzarella on top of the ricotta…

 
 
 
Then throw on the chicken.

 
 
 
Toss it all together…

 
 
 
Then throw on the Parmesan.

 
 
 
Good news! I have basil in my garden! At long last. Oklahoma has been so blessedly cool this summer that the basil had a little bit of a late start…but now it’s bustin’ out all over, which means I can go on living.

 
 
 
Grab a few leaves and stack ‘em up…

 
 
 
Then roll ‘em up in a tight little roll…

 
 
 
Slice up the roll into thin slivers…

 
 
 
And sprinkle it over the top.

 
 
 
Stir it and toss it around, then sprinkle a little more mozzarella and basil over the top.

 
 
 
And there it is. Just a big, gloopy skillet full of food…and it’s good! Nothing fancy about it…nothing weird. Just good ol’ satisfying grub.

 
 
 
And sometimes, that’s pretty much all you need.

Here’s the handy printable! I’m also including the original Bowtie Lasagna recipe below in case you’d like to try that version.

Enjoy, guys!