Vegan Lasagna

Before anybody asks, no, I'm not vegan. I am an absolute omnivore and I like meat quite a lot. But I also enjoy vegetarian and vegan dishes.

I invented this vegan lasagna some time in the early 90s, and my tofu hating friend asked for seconds when I fed it to him without telling him.

You'll want these ingredients:
One box of Barilla lasagna noodles, the no boil kind, which are the wide rectangular ones I think they call them lasagna sheets.

Two blocks of soft tofu. Cut into cubes and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a nice herb blend like Mrs Dash or regular Italian seasoning, then mush it using a food processor or blender until it's just a bunch of glop and sort of resembles cream cheese. You will need about two cups worth when processed.

One diced onion

Two large or four smaller zucchini (About one pound total), slice into quarters the long way and scoop the seeds out.

One large bag of baby spinach leaves

Four pressed cloves of garlic

One jar of your favorite animal product free spaghetti sauce

Several Packages of Vegan Mozzarella (3 cups total) I have only ever seen it in small packages of four ounces or so, thus "several"

A bit of olive oil, salt, pepper

1) Start by heating a bit of oil in a pan and tossing the onion, garlic, and zucchini in. Keep stirring so the zucchini does not burn. You don't want to cook it all the way through, just maybe about halfway. Remove from heat. Set aside.

2) In a big rectangular casserole pan, spread a small amount of pasta sauce on the bottom, then lay three or four lasagna sheets flat in the pan, overlapping them very slightly.

3) Spread about half of the tofu on to the lasagna sheets, spread a couple of generous handfuls of baby spinach on the sheets, then add a layer of zucchini. Then you want to pour some sauce on the zuke, and sprinkle a good amount of vegan mozzarella on that. Do not skimp on the spinach or the vegan cheese!

4) Lay 3-4 more lasagna sheets down and repeat step 3.

5) Lay more lasagna sheets, spread sauce on them, then layer the vegan mozzarella generously. I like to sprinkle cashew based parmesan on top of that, but it's optional. You can also use any variety of vegan cheese you prefer instead of, or along with, the mozzarella.

6) Cover over with foil and put the whole casserole into the oven at 350 for 45 minutes. Take the foil off, turn the oven up to broil, and give it five to ten minutes to slightly brown the mozzarella top layer.

Remove from oven, let sit for about 15 minutes, then slice and serve. 

Note: Nowadays you can buy pretty good vegan ground beef substitutes. Feel free to add some of that to the lasagna, as well as or instead of the zucchini.

As a bonus, I give you my foolproof fish recipe:

Two nice fish filets. Lay them on a large sheet of foil. Dab of butter on each, sprinkles of Flavor Mate non sodium seasonings (either garlic herb, lemon pepper, Southwest Chipotle, or Table Blend, your choice) then bring the foil up over the fish and fold it closed on top and at the ends. Toss in the oven at 450 for 15 minutes. Serve with rice or couscous, and a nice veggie such as asparagus or brussels sprouts.