Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Mum's Favorite Lasagna

Happy days to everyone! I've been spending my longest vacation in memory at home in Connecticut with my family and friends, and haven't felt this rested in ages. One of the great perks of this rest, I've found, is the plentiful time to spend as you like. So why not spend it in the kitchen? With the suggestion by my sister of lasagna for dinner, I was dealt with a dish I don't often cook. But it's just noodles, veggies, and seasoning; what better chance for impromptu cooking could there be? The result turned out quite wonderfully, and Mum dubbed it her favorite vegan (even vegetarian!) lasagna ever.

Ingredients:
1 package lasagna noodles, cooked
1 jar pasta sauce of preference (or make your own! 20 oz for dry, 30 for wet lasagna)
Vegan ricotta (I used Skinny Bitch recipe)
2 large carrots, diced
1 large vidalia onion, diced
1/2 cup chopped greens (I used arugula; spinach would  be nice as well)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup of dry TVP, soaked in 7/8 cup warm water for 5 min, then drained.
1 tbsp herbs de Provence
1 tbsp Italian herbs (usually oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, and marjoram)
1/2 bag of Daiya - or similar - pepper jack cheese shreds

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
2. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan on medium heat. Add the onions and carrots and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add the TVP and seasoning to the onions and carrots, cook another 5 minutes stirring frequently
4. Add the greens to this mixture, cook for 2 minutes then stir in 3/4 of sauce and remove from heat
5. Spread the remaining 1/4 sauce on the bottom of a baking dish (13" x 9" pan works well)
6. Layer the lasagna noodles over the sauce
7. Add a thin layer of the sauce and veggie mixture over the noodles
8. Add a layer of ricotta over the sauce
9. Add another layer of noodles over the ricotta
10. Repeat steps 7 through 9
11. Top the noodles with the pepper jack cheese
12. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until hot. If cheese begins to brown, cover with foil.
13. Let cool 5 minutes, then serve with a heaping amount of bread!

3 comments:

  1. Wow, this sounds delectable!

    (I'm just checking out the link from your IG page. I didn't realize that "vegan giant" meant 7 feet!)

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    Replies
    1. It was delicious! You should try it.

      And I'm not one for false advertisement; I'm the real thing ;-)

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