I hope you have all been healthier than I these past few days.
I didn’t think much of my sore throat that started last week Monday (6 days ago now), especially since it was strangely isolated to one side of my throat. Tuesday brought on some of the same, with the soreness being at its peak in the morning and slightly diminishing through the day. I hit the vitamin C pretty hard (hello, grapefruit!) and hoped for the best. By Wednesday, my whole throat was sore and I was having some ear aches to go along with it. My co-worker even thought something was going on with my eye and her exact words were, “I think you have pink eye.” With no real watering, soreness, or scary-scary redness, I brushed her off.
By 11am on Thursday, however, I was at urgent care with a diagnosis of…you guessed it, pink eye (I’ve never had pink eye!)! I was started on antibiotics because the nurse practitioner thought it to be bacterial pink eye. However, because of my other symptoms, I was really thinking it was more viral. Either way, we are on day 4 of antibiotics and my eye is still scary, my throat is still sore, and my ear still aches. Let’s add the stress of missing a day and a half of work and the neuroses associated with how contagious pink eye is and the fact that Shea just got off her antibiotics a few days ago and still has a stuffy nose every morning (two weeks and counting).
But Mr. Prevention had purchased us comedy show tickets for a show in South Bend last night and we had our first babysitter ever (!!) all lined up – Jenna. Jenna is one of my mommy friend’s daughters. She’s only 12 which I had some obvious reservations about, but she is first aid and CPR certified, has taken the babysitting class at the hospital, and mom was home and just a 2 minute drive away.
We had hardly arrived at the comedy show before I was texting Jenna to ask how everything was going (Shea is in the midst of that 4 month sleep regression fussiness). She quickly texted back, “Shea is great! I changed her and fed her! She was super hungry!” I resisted texting the rest of the night and when we walked in the door after the show, there were no cries to be heard and just a sleeping baby and a sweet little babysitter hanging out in her fuzzy socks. The last station to be viewed on the TV was also the Disney channel and that’s just…adorable. Even cuter was when I asked what time Shea went to bed and she responded with, “At around 8:06.” Haha.
So we all survived our first babysitter experience. And the comedy show was actually a lot of fun. Being in the second row I was a bit nervous to get picked on, but we were spared. Others around us? Not so much.
When we were driving home, Mr. Prevention asked me if I was starving. We didn’t choose to incorporate a dinner into our first evening away, but unlike Mr. P, I did eat dinner before we left – I had the last piece of this leftover Pesto Chicken Lasagna.
I had made two of these lasagnas a few weeks prior when we had guests – baking one for dinner and throwing the other in the freezer for later. I always recommend doing such with lasagna as it takes some time and labor to assemble. Mr. P was regretful of not beating me to the last piece because you guys, this dish is divine!
- 15 oz. low-fat ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- ¾ grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 lb white meat rotisserie chicken, shredded
- 9 no-boil lasagna noodles
- 7 oz. basil pesto (I used arugula-basil pesto)
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- 18 part-skim thin mozzarella slices (7 oz)
- 1 cup part-skim shredded mozzarella
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mist a 9x13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, egg, Parmesan, and pepper to taste.
- Alternately layer lasagna noodles, ⅓ pesto, ⅓ of the ricotta mixture, ⅓ shredded chicken, and 6 mozzarella slices. Repeat 2 more layers.
- Top with marinara and then shredded mozzarella.
- Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes; uncover and cook an additional 10-15 minutes.
- Sunday: Cauliflower Cheddar Soup
- Monday: Steak and Chicken Fajitas (seasoning) with homemade guacamole
- Tuesday: leftovers
- Wednesday: Crock Pot Chicken Teriyaki with broccoli
- Thursday: Stuffed Pepper Soup
Be well,
Hope you are feeling better Nicole! Love that you trusted your first babysitter – I know it’s scary, but it does get easier. Hugs!
I LOVE your blog and recipes!! I have a question about the pesto chicken lasagna: You use no-boil noodles, but I see the marinara only goes on top. I thought the noodles would need some liquid to soften and cook? Just wondering. I really want to make this soon!
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Hi Jessie! It’s funny you mention this. On the original recipe site, her picture looks like there’s marinara in between the layers, but her directions didn’t read that way so I only put it on top and it turned out great. Because they’re no boil noodles, the ricotta, egg, and pesto must be liquid-y enough to soften the noodles. 🙂 Enjoy!
It has been far too long since I have made lasagna. The addition of pesto is wonderful as pesto just makes everything better. I happen to have some homemade in my freezer too O:-)