Savory, creamy and oh so good, this vegetable lasagna is a great way to please everyone in the house.
This is also one of those dishes that can be a great clean-up recipe, as in “let’s look in the crisper drawer and see what we need to use before it goes bad.” Onion, eggplant, crookneck squash all could work in this, so once you get the timings and know what to look for, try your own take.
You won’t have to pre-cook the lasagna noodles in this recipe, too, as the two jars of pasta sauce will take care of it once you put it in the oven.
Before you get started, just to get you prepared, there will be some use of a food processor/blender. If you do not have one, that’s OK, just double check ingredients and read the directions entirely so you know what you’re getting into. Lastly, this recipe calls specifically for a saute pan, which is similar to a skillet but with vertical walls. If you don’t have one, just substitute it with whatever pot can hold two jars of pasta sauce.
Boil about 1 cup of water. Once water is boiling add cashews and let them soak to soften.
Heat large saute pan/saucepan over medium heat with 1 tbsp olive oil.
Once oil is shimmering, add garlic and stir until fragrant. Do not allow to burn.
Add mushrooms, zucchini and red pepper and allow the moisture to cook off.
Drain cashews and add to large blender/food processor bowl.
Drain block of tofu, break into chunks and add to blender.
Add nutritional yeast and salt to tofu-cashew mixture.
Preheat oven to 375º F (190º C)
Once veggies in saute pan start to brown, take them off heat.
Pulse tofu and cashews until mixture is about the size of short-grain rice.
Add sauteed veggies in batches, pushing down sides with rubber spatula until all vegetables have been added and blitzed. Do NOT blend until it’s all one consistency.
If using a blender, the tofu, cashews should be thoroughly blended up but you should have some chunks of vegetables on top. This is exactly what you want.
If you do not have a blender, do your best with a fork/potato masher to get the tofu and cashew mixture smooth. It doesn’t have to be liquid, since this is the ricotta “replacement.” You can keep the sauteed veggies whole. It’s a different texture, but just as delicious. Note that your yield in terms of the spread may be less, though, if the tofu/cashew mixture is thoroughly broken up and mashed.
Mix veggies with the blended-up cashew/tofu mixture with a rubber spatula or spoon and set aside.
Using same skillet used for browning veggies, heat second tbsp of olive oil and add Field Roast sausage/lentils.
Fry the sausage until browned and add both jars of sauce.
Mix to distribute the sausage, then turn off heat.
Coat the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with a minimal amount of pasta sauce. Try to keep it just sauce, as it’ll get soaked up by pasta.
Add first layer of lasagna noodles.
Scoop ½ of what’s left of pasta sauce on top of noodles, making sure to cover it evenly.
Scoop ½ of cashew/tofu veggie mix on top of that and spread with a rubber spatula.
Add second layer of noodles.
Scoop about ⅔ of what’s left of pasta sauce on top of noodles.
Add rest of cashew/tofu veggie mix on top.
Add third layer of noodles.
Finish with the rest of the pasta sauce. It doesn’t have to be “hearty,” as you’re just putting on a layer to protect the top layer of noodles from getting too dried out in the oven.
Cover entire dish with foil and place in oven for 35 minutes. Remove foil then bake additional 10 minutes.
Allow about 10 minutes to cool before cutting.
Ingredients
Directions
Boil about 1 cup of water. Once water is boiling add cashews and let them soak to soften.
Heat large saute pan/saucepan over medium heat with 1 tbsp olive oil.
Once oil is shimmering, add garlic and stir until fragrant. Do not allow to burn.
Add mushrooms, zucchini and red pepper and allow the moisture to cook off.
Drain cashews and add to large blender/food processor bowl.
Drain block of tofu, break into chunks and add to blender.
Add nutritional yeast and salt to tofu-cashew mixture.
Preheat oven to 375º F (190º C)
Once veggies in saute pan start to brown, take them off heat.
Pulse tofu and cashews until mixture is about the size of short-grain rice.
Add sauteed veggies in batches, pushing down sides with rubber spatula until all vegetables have been added and blitzed. Do NOT blend until it’s all one consistency.
If using a blender, the tofu, cashews should be thoroughly blended up but you should have some chunks of vegetables on top. This is exactly what you want.
If you do not have a blender, do your best with a fork/potato masher to get the tofu and cashew mixture smooth. It doesn’t have to be liquid, since this is the ricotta “replacement.” You can keep the sauteed veggies whole. It’s a different texture, but just as delicious. Note that your yield in terms of the spread may be less, though, if the tofu/cashew mixture is thoroughly broken up and mashed.
Mix veggies with the blended-up cashew/tofu mixture with a rubber spatula or spoon and set aside.
Using same skillet used for browning veggies, heat second tbsp of olive oil and add Field Roast sausage/lentils.
Fry the sausage until browned and add both jars of sauce.
Mix to distribute the sausage, then turn off heat.
Coat the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with a minimal amount of pasta sauce. Try to keep it just sauce, as it’ll get soaked up by pasta.
Add first layer of lasagna noodles.
Scoop ½ of what’s left of pasta sauce on top of noodles, making sure to cover it evenly.
Scoop ½ of cashew/tofu veggie mix on top of that and spread with a rubber spatula.
Add second layer of noodles.
Scoop about ⅔ of what’s left of pasta sauce on top of noodles.
Add rest of cashew/tofu veggie mix on top.
Add third layer of noodles.
Finish with the rest of the pasta sauce. It doesn’t have to be “hearty,” as you’re just putting on a layer to protect the top layer of noodles from getting too dried out in the oven.
Cover entire dish with foil and place in oven for 35 minutes. Remove foil then bake additional 10 minutes.
Allow about 10 minutes to cool before cutting.
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