Call me Garfield but I love lasagne. I think it may be my favourite food. Well, if I don’t think too hard about it. It was a dinnertime staple in my house growing up. My mom’s recipe stood out because of a special ingredient, cinnanmon. Sometimes she would make tomato sauce from scratch but when she didn’t, she would always spice up the jarred variety with a pinch of her secret. You will never eat pasta sauce the same way again!
After a bit of research and trial and error, this recipe stands up next to any of the best non-vegan vegetarian lasagnas. When I sauteed the vegetables I practically needed sunglasses, they were so colourful. I didn’t take the best notes putting this one together so feel free to give these proportions some flexibility.
1 zucchini, roughly chopped
1 red pepper, roughly chopped
12 cremini mushrooms, sliced
6 stalks of brocollini, stems removed and discarded
1 jar of spaghetti sauce, your choice
a pinch of cinnamon
1 block of firm tofu
1/2 c. unsweetened soy milk
1/3 c. nutritonal yeast
1/4 c. dried parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
1 box of oven ready lasagne noodles
1 c. mozzarella Daiya shreds
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Heat a splash of olive oil in a large frying pan. Cook all of the chopped vegetables in the frying pan until softened. Empty the jar of pasta sauce into the pan and heat through. Mix in a pinch of the secret ingredient, cinnamon.
Meanwhile in a medium sized bowl, break up the firm tofu into small crumbles. Mix in the soy milk to achieve a creamier, more cottage cheese like texture. You may adjust the proportions to your liking. Mix in the nutritional yeast, dried parsley and garlic powder.
Now you can assemble the lasagne! Layer the ingredients in a full size lasagna pan starting with half of the tomato sauce, then a layer of noodles, then the tofu mixture, the second half of the tomato sauce, layer of noodles and then the Daiya shreds. It is more common to put the cheese shreds onto a layer of tomato sauce but there is something very indulgent about eating a noddle with cheese on it. Not much nutrition there…
Put the lasagne in the oven, covered with foil for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 15 more minutes
Let cool for 10 minutes before you enjoy it with a couple of buttery slices of vegan garlic bread.
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