During a camping trip with friends last year, I enjoyed some of the best tasting lasagna.  The chef had no recipe (of course) but she did her best to write down what she had “thrown together”.  This is my adapted version.  If you have your own favorite homemade tomato sauce, use an equal amount of that in place of the jar sauce, canned tomatoes, tomato paste and seasonings.  It’s hard to believe it’s vegan!

Equipment:

Chopping Board
Medium Mixing Bowl
Small Mixing Bowl
Medium Sauce Pan
9″ X 13″ Baking Dish

Ingredients:

Ricotta Filling:

2 packages (14 oz.) water packed firm tofu
1 container (12 oz.) Tofutti soy sour cream
3 Tbsp dried basil
1 Tbsp dried oregano
4 Tbsp onion powder
4 Tbsp garlic powder
4 tsp sea salt

Sauce:

2 medium yellow onions, cut in half and sliced
1 BULB garlic, chopped
1 BULB garlic, peeled and cloves left whole
2 cups zucchini, 1/4 inch slices cut in half
1 cup broccoli, chopped
2 cups eggplant, 1/2 inch cubes ‘sweated’ (see note below)
1 (24 oz.) jar spaghetti sauce
2 (14 oz.) cans diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
Seasonings to taste (basil, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder)

For lasagna assembly:

1 package whole grain lasagna noodles, UNCOOKED
  nutritional yeast

Directions:

Ricotta Filling:

1. Rinse, drain well, and mash the tofu to approximate ricotta cheese texture.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Sauce:

1. In medium sauce pan, saute onion in olive oil until tender.
2. Add garlic and veggies and saute until veggies are just tender.
3. Add remaining ingredients (or your own homemade sauce) and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

Assembly:

1. Pour about 2 cups of the sauce on the bottom of 9″ x 13″ baking dish.
2. Arrange single layer of UNCOOKED lasagna noodles over sauce.
3. Cover lasagna noodles with 1/2 of the ricotta filling.
4. Sprinkle a layer of nutritional yeast over the ricotta.
5. Cover the ricotta layer with about 2 cups of sauce.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 (Layers of lasagna, ricotta, nutritional yeast and sauce.)
7. Top with a single layer of lasagna noodles and the remaining sauce.
8. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
9. Remove foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Note: Sweating the eggplant removes any bitterness.  Place eggplant in a small bowl.  Salt generously. Let sit for 20 minutes until eggplant ‘sweats’. Rinse well and pat dry.