Italian…vegan style

Don’t let it scare you- it’s amazing, I promise.  This lasagna, like so many of the recipes I post, can be adapted to fit your tastes or the tastes of your guests.  I decided to put two different types of vegan cheese in to it but you can choose to use only one or use cow cheese.  You can also choose to add more or less of the veggies, I have tried using really thinly sliced eggplant and that worked out great.  The last thing is that you can decide whether you would like to make sauce or use canned/pre-made sauce (no one will judge you one way or the other).

Lasagna

Lasagna- being put together

1 package lasagna noodles, cooked according to package directions

2 cans spaghetti sauce (or the equivalent of home made)

1 lb mushrooms (I like cremini)

1 bunch spinach, rinsed and chopped

1 batch of tofu ricotta (recipe below)

1/2 batch of cashew cheese

Lasagna fixin's (cashew cheese, tofu ricotta and mushrooms)

After cooking the lasagna noodles drain them and set them aside, you may want to drizzle a little olive oil on them so that they don’t stick together.

Preheat oven to 375.  In a large (9×13) baking pan spread about 1/3 of the tomato sauce.  On top of this a layer of noodles, followed by the ricotta and 1/2 of the mushrooms and spinach.  Then another 1/3 of the sauce, noodles, cashew cheese and the remaining mushrooms and spinach.  Another layer of noodles and then top with the remaining sauce. Cover the whole thing with foil and put in the oven for about 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes remove the foil and bake another 15-20 minutes or until the sauce starts to bubble and the noodles on top get a little crispy.  Let it sit for a few minutes and then dig in!

The finished product!

Tofu Ricotta

(this recipe is adapted from the Veganomicon cookbook)

1 package firm tofu, drained

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1/2 tsp salt

10 basil leaves, chopped

Pepper

Mush the tofu up until it is all crumbly and then add in the remaining ingredients and mix them until combined, taste and adjust.

Cashew cheese

This recipe comes form the Real Food Daily cookbook, which is an awesome (but spendy) restaurant in LA.  I have changed a couple of things but it’s the

Cashew cheese

same basic idea.

1 1/4 cup raw cashews

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

3 cups rice milk

1/4 cup canola oil

1 cup corn starch (or arrow root powder)

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

The key to getting creamy cheese is to place the cashews ina bowl and pour boiling water over them.  Let them sit for as long as you can (up to 5 hours) before making this.  Drain cashews and put in a blender with onion and garlic powder and salt.  Blend.  In a medium sauce pan mix milk, oil and corn starch together with a whisk.  Turn heat on to medium high and continue to whisk until mixture begins to thicken.  Stir until it has reached the desired consistency.  Remove from heat and add to food processor while it is running.  Blend until mixture is smooth.  Add nutritional yeast and lemon and adjust the flavor.

For a more “cheesy” taste you can add some miso paste (be careful if you are vegan a lot of them contain fish paste).