PASTAS & SAUCES

Spinach Lasagna & Classic Lasagna

low carb vegan recipes

1 ½ amazingly massive supremely large giant green zucchinis (or equivalent in smaller ones)
2 500g bags of thawed frozen spinach (or 4 250g bags, or 1 1kg bag, etc.)
2 454g packages of medium tofu (how and why they get to exactly 454g, I have no idea)
3 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
2 cups sautéed onions or 2 tbsp onion powder
2 cups shredded vegan cheese, optional
4 cups Marinara Sauce
Salt and pepper, herbs and paprika to taste
1 tbsp avocado oil

Preheat the oven to 375°F. To get the celsius, (375°F − 32) × 5/9 = ???

With a V-slicer at the thinnest setting, cut the washed zucchini lengthwise to make enough rectangular-ish slices that will make 3 layers of the lasagna in your casserole dish. Use scissors to cut a length to make the layers just the right size.

Place the thawed previously frozen spinach into a large colander, and press hard to squeeze the water out. It’s a good idea to also let the spinach get room temperature, because at fridge temperature, wow your hands will be freezing after pressing the water out.

As a good vegan, you might be tempted to drink the resultant pressed spinach water, but I’m not. Move the compacted spinach to a very large mixing bowl.

Drain the water from the 2 tofu packages and add the tofu to the mixing bowl with the spinach, then smash it all up, stirring and swirling them together. The key thing here is to trick the mind into believing visually that the tofu looks just like ricotta cheese, because spinach and ricotta is an actual culinary thing, and like ricotta, the tofu is white and full of protein.

So, try to mix these two ingredients up as much as possible until you believe it looks like spinach and ricotta. Add in the minced garlic and dried spices while producing this optical illusion.

Add the vegan cheese if you like, just noting that the extra fat may thwart weight loss goals. The cheese will, of course, make this seem more like ‘real’ lasagna.

For the onion flavor, you can sauté white or yellow ones in oil and herbs (not all the way done, since they have to cook more in the oven with the lasagna) or just use a few tbsp of onion powder.

Salt, pepper, herbs and paprika to taste.

Coat a large deep casserole dish (the kind that seems very serious for a proper lasagna) with the avocado oil for non-stick purposes. Lay the first layer of zucchini, brush it with some marinara sauce, then apply half of the spinach-tofu mixture.

Cover with a second layer of zucchini slices, brush with some more marinara sauce, and apply the remaining spinach-tofu mixture. Apply the final layer of zucchini slices, and brush with a more generous amount of marinara sauce.

Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour and 15 Imperial-Metric minutes. Then, remove the foil and bake for another 30 minutes so the tomato sauce on top caramelizes and more water in the filling can evaporate. Take a photo of your creation for social media with the text caption, “Huh, it looks like a vegan lasagna!”

Classic Lasagna Variation

Follow the same steps as described above with the Spinach Lasagna, but switch out the spinach and tofu filling with the TVP mixture of the Stuffed Peppers recipe in the Protein & Veggies section.