Tofu Lasagna

I am sharing this recipe not only for the benefit of my readers, but for my own benefit. I came up with this recipe awhile back and have made it several times since. However, I never wrote the recipe down. Every time I make it, it is somewhat of a guessing game for correct measurements and hoping I remembered all the ingredients. Now I will have a place to check back and make sure I have the right amount of veggies and didn't omit any spices. Although, there have been plenty of times I have forgotten a thing or two and it still came out tasting good. So feel free to use your own substitutions and see how it comes out!

Tofu Lasagna
(Print Recipe)

Ingredients
1 15 oz package extra firm tofu, drained and pressed
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1/4 cup vegetable broth or water

3 cups fresh broccoli, chopped and lightly steamed
3 cups zucchini or summer squash, chopped and lightly steamed
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 yellow pepper, diced
8 ounces frozen spinach, defrosted and all excess water removed
1 jar marinara sauce
4-6 no-boil, whole wheat lasagna noodles
Salt and pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 400. Crumble the pressed tofu by scraping a fork along the edge of it. Once the tofu is crumbled, mix it with the nutritional yeast, garlic powder, dried basil, dried oregano, and a little salt and pepper. Set aside.

Put the cannellini beans in a food processor along with the chopped garlic, water or broth, salt and pepper. Process until smooth, to make a white bean spread. Set aside.

Mix together the peppers with the steamed broccoli and zucchini/summer squash. Add a little salt and pepper. Put the spinach in separate a bowl and set aside.

Put a small amount of the marinara sauce in the bottom of a 9x7 inch or 8x8 inch pan. Arrange 2-3 noodles on top (depending on what fits in your pan). Spread 1/2 of the white bean spread on top. Next put 1/3 of the vegetables on top. Then 1/3 of the tofu mixture on top of that. Spoon a little sauce on top. Continue this process 2 more times, reserving a little marinara sauce for the top. Lastly, put 2-3 more noodles on the top, cover with the rest of the bean spread and marinara sauce.

Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes until the noodles are tender and the lasagna is bubbling. Set aside and let rest 10 minutes before cutting and serving. Optional: Serve with red pepper flakes and fresh basil.

Here are my bowls for layering.

I love all the veggies packed in here!

A note about all the veggies: They are packed full of water and cook down even more in the oven, so the lasagna will probably have some excess water at the bottom of it. After I take a few pieces of lasagna out of the pan, I usually spoon some of the excess water out, so the leftovers won't get too soggy. Or, transfer the leftovers to a different container.

I also have a lunch recipe to recommend to you too! This isn't my recipe, it can be found here, on Oh She Glows. It is one of the best veggie burgers I have made myself. I was super excited to eat it with a side of our fresh garden tomato and fresh garden basil, from our own backyard. I also made some baked sweet potato wedges to go with it. I drizzled a little safflower oil over them, some salt, pepper, and chinese 5 blend spice, and then baked them at 400 for 20-25 minutes.

The burger would have been wonderful with some avocado and served over a bed of greens, but I was out! And it was still good, so I can't wait until next time when I am better prepared- it'll be even tastier.

I'll leave you with a few photos from last night. Nate and I both took pictures of the moon before we went to bed. Here is my picture.

Here is his picture.

Look at the detail on the moon he captured! It's funny how we were both trying for different things- I wanted to capture the ring around the moon and he wanted to zoom in as close as possible, to capture that detail. Then I liked his picture better and I tried to take it myself.

FAIL! How did he do that???