(Don't mind the cut down the middle of my piece of lasagna...I was really excited to start eating it and then decided I should probably snap a picture before I forgot.)
Seriously, this lasagna is so good (as in, my hubby and toddler both devoured it). Lactose intolerant friendly, and might I mention, a whole lot cheaper to make than the other meat and cheese types. (Meat and 3 kinds of cheese add up v.s. buying a package of tofu.)
Ingredients:
- 9 lasagna noodles (about half of a 1 lb pkg), regular or no-boil...either is fine
- About 9-12 oz. of fresh spinach, chopped, blanched, and drained
- 1 pkg firm tofu (16 oz)
- 1 Tb. sugar
- 1/4 c. rice milk...or any kind of milk really (regular, soy, etc)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 Tb. lemon juice
- 2 tsp. dried basil (or you can use 2 Tb. fresh, minced basil)
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1-24 oz. jar of spaghetti sauce, I prefer a tomato and basil type but any kind will work
- Cook lasagna noodles according to package.
- Meanwhile, blanch spinach.
- Next put the tofu, sugar, rice milk, garlic powder, lemon juice, basil, and salt in a blender and blend until thick and smooth. This is going to be your "tofu ricotta," as the author Colleen Patrick-Goudreau calls it.
- Put the "tofu ricotta" and the blanched spinach together in a large bowl and mix together.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (my oven heats up really fast...so to make it less hot for me in the kitchen I wait until I absolutely have to before turning it on. If it takes your oven a while, then turn it on as step 1 in the directions.)
- Now it's lasagna assembly time. Use a 9 by 13 baking dish. Start with a little bit of the spaghetti sauce and cover the bottom of the pan. Then put 3 noodles down, covered with 1/2 the "tofu ricotta." Repeat the layers with about 1/2 of the remaining sauce, 3 more noodles, and the rest of the "tofu ricotta." Last put on 3 more noodles and use the rest of the sauce to cover the noodles up.
- Bake for 40 minutes.
3 comments:
I am excited to try this!!! No cheese, no meat, AND easier on the wallet!
Keith and I gave this a try and it is a potential real winner. Next time we will add some sauteed mushrooms (chopped fine) and perhaps some zucchini to add the texture that is a bit lacking. However the taste was great! We also did a little math and this lasagna is about $9 cheaper than our old full-meat full-cheese version!
Let me know how your variation turns out! I love the idea of adding to it to give it more texture (which I agree, it is lacking!) And thanks for doing the math. I knew it had to be cheaper but hadn't had a chance to do the math so I love that you guys have an actual number. If you don't mind I'll be using that number when I recommend the recipe to others.
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