Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Earth Day Rain

It rained all day yesterday, and although it was sunny this morning it was still muddy. Now that I'm ready to go outside, stormclouds are brewing again. But at least I'm prepared!

I make my lasagna in a HUGE
pan and it makes 18-24
servings. If you use a smaller,
regular 9x13 baking dish you'll
want to use 1/3 to 1/2 less
of most ingredients, and you'll
have three layers instead of
my four.

Triple Green Lasagna

1 1/2 boxes lasagna noodles (no need to buy the boil-free kind, any kind will work without pre-cooking--I used a whole wheat store brand)
3 jars of your favourite pasta sauce (I love a roasted garlic sauce with lasagna)
3-4 zucchini, shredded
1 lb. bag frozen broccoli
florets, chopped (or fresh
broccoli steamed al dente)
8 oz. frozen or fresh spinach
(thawed & drained is preferable,
but straight out of the bag will
do, it'll just add more liquid at
the bottom of the pan)
1 lb. water-packed firm or medium tofu
2 T. nutritional yeast (optional)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 T. olive oil
3 cups grated cheese-alternative (Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet and Veganrella both melt nicely, or ladle on some nutritional yeast cheese sauce if you want to make your own)

First prepare your fillings:
Grate zucchini or summer squash into a bowl or in a food processor.
Chop broccoli by hand or in a food processor.
Break up tofu and place in a food processor. Add spinach, nutritional yeast, salt, garlic powder, black pepper & olive oil. Puree until smooth (a few chunks of frozen spinach are fine).
Grate vegan cheese.

In a suitable baking pan, spoon in
enough pasta sauce to barely cover
the bottom of the pan (this prevents
sticking and helps the bottom layer
of noodles to cook).

Next, create the bottom layer of
noodles, covering the pan in
whichever orientation works
best for your individual bakeware.

Now it's time to start layering!
There is no one right way, but
you always want moisture on
both sides of the noodles, either
sauce, tofu puree, or a moist
veggie like the zucchini. I started
with the tofu spinach mixture,
then zucchini, then sauce. Another
layer of noodles, more pasta sauce,
the broccoli, grated cheeze, and
a little more sauce. Another round
of noodles, zucchini, more pasta
sauce. A final layer of noodles, then
pasta sauce to completely cover the
noodles (to prevent burning), dollops
of tofu spinach puree, and the rest
of the grated cheeze.

Cover and bake for 1 hour at 375F.
Uncover and allow to cool for 1/2 an
hour before serving.
Mmmm, mmmm, good.

This freezes well in individual
portions.
I tend to eat lasagna for
breakfast, lunch & dinner...so
it doesn't last long around
here! And like pizza, it's good
in a packed lunch.

Ryan drew a fun picture
of playing basketball at
the park.

It's Nate's turn for chicken
pox now, so we're staying in
and watching Lost of course.
Like Lost? Like Lego blocks?
Then check this out.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh yum. I am going to totally steal your lasagna recipe and make it next weekend.

Eroteme said...

My mouth was watering before I read even half the post. I am stealing your recipe for a weekend dinner! :-)