Spicy[ish] Veggie Lasagna (Dairy-Free)

I’ve always loved veggies and grew up having them regularly (thanks mom!) But, I’ve always felt I needed meat as a protein to go along with it. Over the past few months, however, I’ve been tying to expand my repertoire of vegetarian dishes since my husband stopped eating meat a few months ago. I surprised myself with this recipe - it’s filling, dense, and packed with with veggies - so much so, that I don’t miss the old-school “meaty” lasagna.

I researched a few different recipes before crafting this one. It was a bit of an experiment, but it turned out great! The game-changing part of this recipe is the cashew “ricotta” (recipe from NutritioniCity). I have yet to find a dairy-free cheese brand that lives up to replacing the real thing, so I knew I had I make my own. This cashew ricotta is ridiculously good, and the closest I’ve gotten to the taste and texture of cheese. (You could honestly make the ricotta and serve it as an appetizer by itself it’s so good). So, I really recommend making it for this recipe, it makes all the difference in this dish and the texture of the lasagna.

I say this recipe is “spicy-ish” because I used Raos jarred Arrabbiata sauce (my personal favorite). You can easily substitute a non-spicy marinara sauce if you prefer.

As always, feel free to improvise on the recipe, but here’s what I did:

• 1 container no-boil lasagna noodles

• 2 jars of Rao’s Arrabbiata marinara sauce (I ended up using about 1 and 3/4 jars, so don’t feel like you need to use all of it, it’s completely up to you)

• 1 large zucchini

• 1 large yellow squash

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 yellow onion

• 1 red bell pepper

• 1 head of broccoli (I used about half & chopped it very finely)

• 1 cup fresh spinach (don’t worry about having this amount exactly, it’s however much you’d like to have in the dish)

• NutritioniCity’s Vegan Ricotta Cheese Recipe: Soak 2 cups cashews in hot water (I suggest boiling water and pouring it on top of the cashews as they need to be covered completely), after those two hours - drain the cashews and throw them into a blender with 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, 1 teaspoon dried basil, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and a bit of black pepper. Blend this together until it’s well mixed and chunky. Then, pour in 1/2 cup of nut milk (I used almond milk). Blend again until well mixed. Then, you’re good to go!

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

2. Heat a bit of olive oil in a large skillet over low heat

3. Dice your zucchini, squash, garlic, onion, bell pepper and broccoli into small pieces and add to the skillet. You’ll saute these until soft (the onions will become translucent) and you want the veggies to get slightly browned. Leave these on low or take off the burner until you’re ready to construct the lasagna.

4. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce on the entire base of a large 13 x 9 pan (this is what you’ll be layering your lasagna in)

5. Spread the lasagna noodles so it covers the base of the pan - if your noodles don’t cover the entire pan - don’t worry - just break the noodles in half and use the pieces to line the remaining base (I recommend overlapping the noodles slightly so there’s full noodle coverage)

6. Spread sauce on top of the noodle layers

7. Add a few spoonfuls of your cashew ricotta and mix into the sauce

8. Add a few spoonful of your sauteed veggies on top of this

9. Then, start the entire process again. Noodles - sauce - cashew ricotta - veggies & repeat!

10. Before my last noodle placement, I added a layer of fresh spinach (this is completely optional, but I like the pop of color it gives the lasagna + it’s really yummy cooked)

11. When you’re finished layering, make sure the very top layer has sauce and ricotta. I then broke apart Miyoko’s Organic Vegan Mozzarella and spread on the very top. I like this mozzarella because it’s cashew-based and the flavor goes well with the cashew ricotta. It doesn’t fully melt when you bake it, but it’s still good. You can also choose to leave this out.

12. Cover the lasagna with foil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. At the end of those 45 minutes, remove the foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes to get the top nice and crispy. Let it cool for a few minutes, then slice and enjoy! You’ll have yummy leftovers for days.

This is how small I recommend dicing your veggies.

Here’s what the cashew ricotta should look like when you’re finished blending it.

Here’s how I layered the spinach when I was near the final layer.

Here’s the very top later of tomato sauce mixed with cashew ricotta.

Here’s the final product after I baked it!