Vegan Lasagna!

I'm anticipating a very busy couple of weeks coming up. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to be better prepared. To never have to eat crappy food because I didn't plan ahead. Today, I went grocery shopping to make this an attainable goal. First I evaluated my food supplies and came up with a list of food I was going to make. Then I made a grocery list and set to it. I'm still feeling a little under the weather so I wanted to make some soup and some comfort food. I decided on vegetable soup, chili, lasagna, spicy sweet potatoes, and lentil loaf.  

I've never made vegan lasagna so this was a total experiment, and it was a good one!! It took a lot of research and some combining from a few different recipes (plus my own additions). It is pretty time consuming, but it makes a lot of food, and like I said, it freezes well so you can make a double batch and save some for later. It seems like a lot of steps, but they are all pretty easy. There are 4 parts to the lasagna: cream sauce, tofu ricotta, sauteed veggies, and the marinara sauce. Then you layer that together with some whole wheat noodles and bake it all together. Ridiculously good.

For the "cream sauce:"

1 cup raw almonds, soaked for 2 hours (the recipe I saw used cashews, but I couldn't find any at 2 grocery stores by my house! Cashews would probably create a smoother, creamier texture, but mine was just fine)

1 cup water

1/4 cup vegan butter

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

In a blender, combine the almonds, water, yeast, vinegar, and spices. In a sauce pan, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Pour in the almond mixture and heat over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

For the "ricotta:"

14 oz. firm tofu

1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

3 cloves garlib, minced

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

1/2 tsp black pepper

16 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and drained

In a large bowl, combine the tofu and the garbanzo beans. Mash with a fork until it has the consistency of ricotta. Combine the remaining ingredients. 

For the marinara:

This makes wayyy more than you need, so you can save the rest for spaghetti.

1 medium white onion, chopped

2 zucchinis, chopped

1 lb. mushrooms, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

64 oz. crushed tomatoes

1/4 cup fresh basil

2 tbsp dried oregano

salt and pepper

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Sautee the veggies in the oil in a large pan over medium high heat until they are soft. Then add the tomatoes and the spices and cook for about 30 minutes. 

In a separate pan, sautee whatever veggies you like best to layer in your lasagna. I used 2 more zucchinis, some more mushrooms and some broccoli. 

To prepare your lasagna, boil 1 box of lasagna noodles (I actually only used about 2/3 of the box) and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Oil a 9x13 inch glass pan. Put some of the cream sauce in the bottom of the pan. Top with a layer of noodles, a layer of tofu ricotta, a layer of sauteed veggies, and a layer of marinara. Repeat the layers and if you like, top with a sprinkle of Daiya mozzarella like I did. Bake for about 20 minutes. 

I don't remember where I got the basis for the recipes for the tofu ricotta or the cream sauce, but whoever it was, thank you!! It was seriously amazing.