Garlic Chicken Butternut Squash Lasagna

I know some pretty rad bloggers out there. Know, meaning I read their blogs. Read, meaning I look at their pictures. And then I sometimes steal their ideas. It's just easy to do. I'll see their blog post about some kind of ridiculously amazing paleo food invention and can't help but try to make it my own. I do that often. Stealing? Maybe. Judge me. Do it.  Sorry for not being sorry.

So I recently decided to steal Health Bent's paleo butternut squash lasagna idea. Have you ever seen this website? Holy sh*t, it's STUPID fantastic. By far one of the best paleo blogs around. Not only is their website ridiculously good, but their recipes are to.die.for. When I first started eating paleo, their website was what made me believe I could actually stick with paleo. And I absolutely love their view point on the paleo diet. It is very 2011. AND the couple that runs the website is pretty damn good looking. I like good looking people.

Another blogger that tends to rock my food world is George at Civilized Caveman. Dude. This guy knows how to freakin' bake. His wife is going to be one happy lady someday. I've seriously never seen so many (extremely creative) paleo dessert creations in my life. Whenever I'm craving any sort of dessert, he's bookmarked in my phone, ready to inspire the sh*t out of me while I wander aimlessly around the grocery store. Like the brownies I made in this post. He's a sweet genius. Have you seen that show? It's weird. Cool, but weird. I still watch it every week.

Now that I've bombarded you with links, it's time to cook.

What you need:

• 1 large butternut squash
• 1 head garlic clove, roasted
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1/2 lb chicken, diced
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup canned coconut milk
• 1/8 cup tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon basil (fresh or dried)
• 1 teaspoon parsley (fresh or dried)
• salt and pepper, to taste

What you do:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut the end off the bulb of garlic to reveal the cloves inside. Wrap in aluminum foil and throw in the oven for 20-25 minutes. 
3. While the garlic is roasting, you'll need to cut your butternut squash. Use a sharp knife ya dummy.You can do this a couple different ways but remember, you are trying to get the long squash into "lasagna type strips".
4. What I did (Megan and Brandon at Health-Bent taught me this): Cut the end off the squash, then use a peeler to take off the skin. Then cut the squash into 1/4s lengthwise. Remove seeds and strings. Then you can do 1 of 2 things: either use a knife to slice the butternut squash into strips or use a mandoline to slice the butternut squash into thinner strips (that's what I did).
5. Set aside and begin to make your chicken and sauce.
6. Add olive oil to a skillet over medium-high heat. Add your diced onion to begin to cook. After about 3 minutes of coating your onions and bringing out their flavor, add your diced chicken along with a bit of salt. Let the chicken cook under low heat while you make your sauce.
7. Your head of garlic should be roasted by now, so pull it out of the oven and remove the roasted cloves and put directly into your food processor. You can you a fork to pull them out of just squeeze the b*tch. Up to you.
8. Add olive oil to your food processor along with the roasted garlic and turn your food processor on. Prepare yourself for your kitchen to smell like heaven. Sh*t, I love garlic. Once the garlic cloves have become a paste, add your coconut milk and tomato sauce along with basil and parsley. Pulse until saucy. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking. 
9. When the chicken is ALMOST done cooking (yes, it can still have a little pink to it), remove from heat. 
10. Now for the lasagna stacking. Pull out a 8x8 or 9x9 glass baking dish, coat the bottom of the dish with a bit of sauce, then add a layer of butternut squash strips, a layer of chicken, and a layer of sauce. Repeat until you are all out of chicken and butternut squash. The last layer should be butternut squash and topped off with sauce.
11. Bake, uncovered, for around 40-45 minutes. The squash should be tender BUT do not cut into it until it has set for a while. I gave mine about an hour. I know, I know, it sucks ass. But it will be a difference and will actually be like lasagna instead of a throw together. Got it? Cool.

Everyone likes sauce.

Everyone likes layers.