Vegan Lasagna
How many layers of lasagna can you possibly fit in one pan? I fit 6, yes, 6 layers and it was perfect.
The ricotta I use in this recipe is literally amazing. Like, if you were to hold a spoonful of cookie dough and a spoonful of this ricotta in front of me and tell me to pick one…. it would be a very difficult decision (and my cookie dough recipe is nearly impossible to pass up).
Dairy ricotta is about 60% fat (and not the good kind from things like nuts or avocados), most of which is saturated fat. You don’t need that kind of negativity in your life, so lemme help you out by giving you this recipe for dairy free ricotta which tastes better and has good fats, good protein, and ZERO cholesterol. Sounds too good to be true, but it’s not. I can sit here all day and tell you how good this is, but you’re gonna have to make it for yourself to see!
Without further ado, here ya go!
INGREDIENTS:
*1 block of medium firm tofu (pressed and drained)
*1 1/4 cup raw cashews
*2 tbs lemon juice
*2 1/2 tsp minced garlic
*4 tbs nutritional yeast
*1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
*Fresh chopped basil (for garnish, optional)
*1 tsp salt
*1/2 tsp black pepper
*1 tbs green olive brine
*1 tbs olive oil
*1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
*1 box lasagna noodles
*1 large can/jar of your favorite pasta sauce (look for dairy or meat hidden in the ingredients!)
DIRECTIONS:
In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil and add the cashews (make sure there’s enough water to cover them!). Boil for 10 minutes, then strain out the water.
Put cashews and almond milk in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
Crumble up your tofu (after it’s drained and pressed) and add into your blender or food processor. Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT the noodles and pasta sauce.
Blend enough to mix, but there should still be some bigger pieces (basically, don’t turn it into liquid).
Boil a large pot of water and cook the lasagna noodles per instructions on the box.
Preheat oven to 375 and grease a square baking dish. If you want lots of layers, get a deep, but smaller pan. If you want just a few layers, get a shallow 9x13 pan.
Begin by placing a layer of noodles on the bottom of the pan, letting them overlap slightly. Then add enough ricotta to cover noodles with a thin layer. Spoon some sauce on and spread around.
Repeat step 7 until you’ve run out of ingredients.
Cover with foil and bake. If you used a deep baking dish, it will take about 35-45 minutes. A shallow dish will only take about 20-25 minutes.
Remove from oven, cut into squares and serve! Add some fresh chopped basil for more flavor and obviously it makes it prettier :)
Share this recipe with your friends (or make it for them!), because keeping this to yourself is just rude!
Be sure to check out this recipe for stuffed shells, too! It’s made using the same ingredients, just slightly different measurements.
Keep cooking, friends!
-Kristin
