This is delicious and it’s very easy to make. It looks like a lot but the only thing that needs to take any time is the baking of the lasagna, everything else is just some prep and you’ll do it in 25 minutes.
Courtesy of Lauren Toyota and John Diemer for hot for food blog.
ingredients
Tomato Sauce
Tofu Ricotta
Bechamel (White Sauce)
Layers & Assembly
directions
In a heavy sauce pan, sauté onion in oil for 1 to 2 minutes until soft. Add garlic and cook for another 2 mins. Add tomato paste and herbs and stir into the onions and garlic sautéing for another 2 minutes.
Next add the crushed tomatoes, sea salt, and ground pepper. Simmer on low heat for 30 to 45 minutes while you prep the rest of the components for the lasagna.
Note: You could also just buy a jar of your favourite pasta sauce and use that.
Crumble the tofu into small pieces (resembling ricotta cheese) with your hands. Add in the remaining ingredients and combine with a fork. Keep in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the lasagna.
Note: Tofu ricotta is optional. Alternatively you could use ONLY Daiya mozzarella shreds in the layers, in which case you’ll need to use 1 whole bag instead of 1 cup as listed below.
Put all these ingredients in a blender and combine until smooth.
You can make nice carrot ribbons using a vegetable peeler or you can shred the carrot with a cheese grater. Partially cook the zucchini and carrot in a pan over low to medium heat with 1 teaspoon of sunflower or grapeseed oil. Set them aside on a dish and use the same pan to cook the spinach.
Get the spinach wilted and soft but don’t overcook it. It should still be bright green. If you want to use frozen spinach just make sure you thaw and drain out the water.
Assembly: Once all your ingredients are prepped and ready, use a deep 9-inch glass baking dish to assemble the lasagna in. Lightly coat the inside of the dish with 1 tablespoon of olive oil you can spread around evenly with your hand.
The lasagna can be assembled however you want, but here’s what I did: Pour a quarter of the tomato sauce into the bottom of the dish and spread out an even layer with a spoon.
Add one layer of noodles across. You might need to break them in half and you can overlap the noodles if they don’t fit perfectly in the dish.
Then take half the amount of tofu ricotta and spread it evenly over the noodles (if you’re just using Daiya then skip this).
Take 1/3 cup of Daiya Mozzarella shreds and sprinkle over top (if you’re only using Daiya than you can use more to your liking here).
Use up all the spinach as the next layer.
Pour half the white sauce evenly over the top being sure to get some of it down the sides of the dish.
Add another quarter of the tomato sauce.
Add another noodle layer, turning the noodles the opposite direction from the first layer.
Use the other half of the tofu ricotta as the next layer (if you’re just using Daiya skip this).
Take another 1/3 cup of Daiya Mozzarella shreds and sprinkle over top of the tofu ricotta (if you’re only using Daiya than you can use more to your liking here).
Add the zucchini and carrots in an alternating fashion as one layer. Pour the remaining white sauce evenly over top.
Add another quarter of the tomato sauce on top of the white sauce, then add one more layer of noodles and the remaining tomato sauce on top.
Add the last 1/3 cup of Daiya Mozzarella shreds and vegan Parmesan as the topping.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 400ºF covered with foil for 40 minutes. Then remove the foil and turn the broiler to high and bake for 10 minutes. Allow the lasagna to sit for 15 to 20 minutes before cutting and serving.