Vegan Lasagna With Tofu Kale Ricotta

This super easy vegan lasagna uses tofu ricotta and is baked with a nutritional yeast cheese sauce on top.

This was my first time ever making a lasagna and I was impressed with how great it turned out! This lasagna has layers of whole wheat noodles, tomatoes and basil, and tofu ricotta with garlic and kale. I made a smaller, personal pan of it, so you can adjust quantities if you are making a larger pan. I generally don't measure when I'm cooking so I apologize in advance, but this should be fairly easy to eye and adjust as needed!

INGREDIENTS:

• vegan lasagna noodles (I used Whole Foods 365 brand)

• firm tofu (pressed) - I used half a block, use a full block for a bigger pan

• pasta sauce

• diced tomatoes (fresh or canned) - I used a full can

• chopped basil

• chopped garlic (I used 2 cloves)

• steamed chopped kale (I used about a cup)

• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast

• 2 tbsp flour

• 2 tbsp vegan butter

• non-dairy milk

LET'S COOK:

Tofu Ricotta

1. Press your tofu to remove as much water as possible. I use a tofu press, but you can also layer paper towels or a cloth in a deep pan, lay the tofu on, add more paper towels, and then place something heavy on top if you do not have a press.

2. Crumble up the tofu in a bowl until it looks like the photo.

3. Add chopped garlic and chopped, steamed kale to the tofu and stir.

4. Add spices if desired. I added some onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, and an Italian spice blend.

Lasagna

1. Prepare the noodles by boiling them until they are barely soft - do not cook all the way,

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

3. Scoop some pasta sauce into your pan and spread it around the bottom and sides to coat.

4. Add your first layer of noodles.

5. Spread a layer of chopped tomatoes, basil, and more sauce.

6. Add another layer of noodles. Then add a layer of the tofu kale ricotta.

7. Keep repeating in whatever order you'd like until you reach near the top of the pan or desired height, leaving off with one last layer of noodles.

8. Add a generous amount of sauce to the top. This will help prevent the noodles from drying out when baking. Now prepare your cheese sauce.

Cheese Sauce

1. In a small saucepan over low-medium heat, add the vegan butter.

2. Once it starts to melt, slowly add in the flour, being sure to stir into the butter.

3. Keep stirring for about a minute. Then slowly start adding non-dairy milk, being sure to keep stirring. I added about a cup in total but it depends on how thick you want the sauce to be. It will thicken as it cooks so keep adding milk in small amounts if it gets too thick.

4. Add in nutritional yeast and any spices.

5. Once it is at a thicker consistency, you can pour it over the lasagna.

6. Cover the pan with foil and bake in the oven, checking occasionally until the cheese sauce on top starts to turn a little golden and the noodles are soft. This took about 35-40 minutes for my personal pan.

7. Remove foil and let bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, then remove from oven. Let it set for about 10 minutes, and then cut and serve!

Enjoy!

-Kat

Vegan Raspberry Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Rock your morning with these veganized ricotta pancakes.

I happened to have fresh raspberries and lemons in the fridge and decided to try making some raspberry lemon ricotta pancakes. This was my absolute first time making these and I was surprised at how good they turned out. You can easily make tofu ricotta for savory dishes, but swap spices and herbs for a little sugar and some lemon juice and you got yourself a perfect way to jazz up some regular ol' pancakes. Skip the butter and syrup and top them with a raspberry and date syrup sauce for some extra pizzazz.

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VEGAN RASPBERRY LEMON RICOTTA PANCAKES

serves 3-4 (or 1-2 if you're really hungry)

INGREDIENTS

Ricotta:

• 1/3 block of pressed, firm tofu

• 1 tablespoon pure cane sugar

• juice from 1 lemon

• pinch of salt

Pancakes:

• 1-1/2 cups flour

• 1/3 cup pure cane sugar

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• pinch of salt

• 2 flax eggs ( 1 tbsp flaxseed + 3 tbsp water = 1 flax egg)

• 1-1/2 cups non-dairy milk (I used oat milk)

• 1/2 tablespoon almond extract (can use vanilla if preferred)

• Fresh raspberries

• Date syrup

LET'S COOK

1. Make sure the tofu is pressed to remove as much moisture as possible. Crumble up about 1/3 of the block in a food processor and add the sugar, pinch of salt, and lemon juice. Mix until blended, then set aside.

2. In a small bowl, mix the flaxseed and water to make 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flaxseed and 6 tbsp water) Set aside to let thicken.

3. In a large mixing bowl, add all of the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt) and whisk until blended.

4. In another bowl, add your milk, almond extract, and flax eggs. Fold in about half of the tofu ricotta.

5. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until combined.

6. Fold in the rest of the ricotta and add a handful of fresh raspberries (save some for the sauce), stirring some but don't completely blend. This will make sure there are some pockets of creamy ricotta in the pancakes.

7. In a skillet warmed over medium heat, add a bit of vegan butter and then scoop on the mix to make the pancakes. Mine were on the medium/large side and the mixture made a total of 8 pancakes.

8. Flip once they start to brown some on the bottom.

9. To prepare the raspberry sauce, add a handful of raspberries to a small pot and enough date syrup to coat the bottom. Put the pot over low heat and stir occasionally until the raspberries start to break down some.

10. Plate the pancakes and pour the raspberry sauce on top and serve.

Enjoy these non-dairy, egg-free delicious pancakes!

Have suggestions, corrections, ideas? Drop a comment below. I am always looking to improve or try new things!

- Kat