I’ve had lots of vegetarian lasagnas in my day, and while the vegetables may vary, they all had one thing in common- tons of cheese.  Ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, etc. It was hard for me to imagine a satisfying lasagna without cheese, until now. In this recipe, the tofu/spinach layer adds the richness that every respectable lasagna needs. If you’re new to vegan cooking, you’ll notice that I often use ground flaxseed soaked in warm water as an egg replacement. Works well every time, but make sure the flaxseed is ground. You can buy whole flaxseed in the bulk foods section and grind it yourself in your coffee grinder, or you can buy a bag already ground. I’ve served this recipe to a couple of meat-eaters, and they cleaned their plates.

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Spinach Lasagna
 

Ingredients
  • 1 box no-boil lasagna noodles
  • 1 package extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed dry
  • 2 boxes frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
  • 1 cup walnuts
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp ground flaxseed soaked in 6 tbsp warm water for 10 minutes
  • 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • 1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 14-oz cans diced tomatoes, with juice
  • 3 tbsp capers
  • ¼ cup kalamata olives, halved (optional)
  • 1 tsp dried basil

Instructions
  1. The night before I make the lasagna I put the frozen spinach in the refrigerator to thaw. If you forget this step you can always defrost it in the microwave. Make sure to squeeze all the moisture out of the spinach. About a hour before I make the lasagna I take out the tofu, lay it on a plate with paper towels, slice it into smaller pieces, cover it with more paper towels and put my cutting board on top to press all the moisture out.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  3. In a food processor, grind 1 cup of walnuts and add the spinach, tofu, 3 tbsp olive oil, flaxseed/water, 3 tbsp nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. Process until smooth.
  4. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a skillet and cook onion and garlic over medium heat for five minutes. Add 2 cans diced tomatoes, capers, olives and basil. Simmer for five minutes.
  5. In a 13×9 pan, spread half of the jarred pasta sauce. Add 4 lasagna noodles. Spread half of the tofu-spinach mixture, and then spoon half of the cooked tomato mixture on top of that. Add four more lasagna noodles. Repeat with the rest of the tofu-spinach and cooked tomato sauce. Add four more lasagna noodles. Pour the other half of the jarred pasta sauce on top and cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Uncover lasagna and bake for another 5-10 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes before cutting.

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