Mom’s Veggie Lasagna

My Mom’s Veggie Lasagna

Serves 4

My mom was the Queen of finding ways to make fantastic healthy meals for us growing up with little resources. I’ve updated her version with the addition of ricotta as a way to make it creamier without having to make a bechemel sauce. This is a very nostalgic dish for me and find it hard to not consume the whole thing in one sitting.

Ingredients

• 9 oz oven ready lasagna ( I used Barilla brand)

• 2 x 10 oz chopped frozen spinach

• 14 oz pack of firm tofu 

• 2 cups fresh ricotta (1 lbs)

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 2-3 garlic cloves chopped/minced

• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)

• 5 cups ( approx. 2 - 28oz cans) of your favorite tomato sauce

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• cracked pepper

• handful of chopped fresh basil

• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Thaw frozen chopped spinach by cooking it gently.

2. In a large pot add olive oil and gently cook chopped garlic for a min and just before it browns. Add tofu breaking it up using your hands. Continue breaking it up with a spoon or fork until it resembles the texture of ground beef. Add the salt and pepper, and smoked paprika and cook for a few mins to get the flavors going. Add the spinach and continue cooking for another minute. Stir in the chopped basil and take the pot off the heat.

3. Measure out your tomato sauce into a bowl and season if needed.

Assembly

1. Add cup of the tomato sauce to the baking dish and layer with lasagna noodles. Spread 1 cup of the tofu/spinach mixture on top the the noodles and then 1 cup of the tomato sauce then a few spoonfuls of the ricotta then lasagna noodles. Continue this sequence until you get to the top which should be 4 layers of noodles in total with the tomato sauce and tofu/spinach mixture being the last layer. Top with shredded cheese.

2. Cover with a lightly oiled piece of foil and set on a rimmed baking sheet (just to catch drips). Bake lasagna until bubbling gently around the edges, about 50-60 mins. Uncover and continue to bake until top is browned and crisp around the edges, 10–15 minutes.