Welcome to Aunt Keri's Kitchen!

My beautiful friend T is thiscloseIswear to giving birth and we all couldn't be more excited... As part of her shower gift, I am preparing one dinner a week to deliver to her on Sundays. I am aiming for it to always be something she can choose to make that week out of the fridge, or freeze (at least the main dish) for later use. This was my first delivery week, so I decided to make something foolproof for her and daddy-to-be.

I made a variation on a recipe I found in a Light Cooking cook book many years ago for Spinach Chicken Lasagna Rolls that always comes out perfectly and is a total crowd pleaser.

For the happy parents-in-waiting, I made it broccoli and chicken instead. I roasted some bone-in chicken (1 breast, 1 leg and thigh quarter) in the oven at 425 for 1 hour and let it cool so I could de-bone and shred it.

Then I mixed that with 1 container of pasteurised (I read up on all the dos and don'ts for expectant mothers, of course) ricotta cheese,1 cup mozzarella, and 1 and 1/2 cups of broccoli florets, chopped very small. Then, after cooking lasagna noodles according to the package directions and draining, I spread the mixture on to each of 8 noodles, and then rolled each noodle up and placed into a disposable/reusable baking pan seam side down. (Except for two rolls, which got placed into a small container in case dad needs a "hospital dinner" if their little Bean decides it is showtime!

Each roll got 2 tablespoons of Ragu Light Parmesan sauce (I cheated, shhh), a sprinkle of mozzarella, and a tiny broccoli garnish. I LOVE these things- it is like stuffed shells without having to do the "stuffing"!

Into the bag with the pasta rolls went a prefab Caesar salad kit, a crusty loaf of bread, and a bar of good chocolate for T.

Heating instructions also went in and are: cook at 325 for 1 hour, removing foil for last 10 minutes for crunchy top if desired.

Bonus for us, I had leftover filling and lasagna noodles, so I have a dinner ready to go for us one night this week as well!!

Aunt Keri's Kitchen is open for business, and I can't wait to come up with all kinds of yummy, healthy and easy to store/heat/serve creations for this wonderful family we have been lucky enough to have in our life (and I can't wait to meet The Bean!)