Pesto Veggie Lasagna
- Dinner, Holidays, Recipes, Vegan & Vegetarian
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04 Jan 2012
This might be my favorite lasagna ever – and it’s vegan! I know – I’ve been making a lot of “best ever” claims lately, but I’ve really been on a roll in the kitchen. While this recipe is a little bit labor intensive, it’s easy labor – and the end result is beyond worth it.
I made this dish for my family’s Christmas get together in Chicago last week (though it was just vegetarian for them and not vegan, as I couldn’t find Daiya on short notice Christmas eve). It almost didn’t happen; do you have any idea how hard it is to find lasagna noodles at 4pm on Christmas Eve? We had to go to 2 stores, and I got the very last package on the shelf at store #2 (thank you, Target!) It was well worth the search. This lasagna got thumbs-up reviews from even the meat eaters, and I enjoyed it so much that I made it again at home for New Years.
This recipe makes a 9×13″ dish of lasagna – good for 8 serious servings (which in my case means, a freezer full of lasagna!) For the record, it does freeze and reheat very well. If you plan to go that route, let it cool down a bit then portion it out into freezer-safe containers and freeze. You can also make this a day ahead of time and refrigerate it prior to baking, then toss it in the oven when it’s time to make dinner. Just add 5-10 minutes if you’re starting with cold lasagna.
Without further ado, my favorite lasagna recipe of all times:
Posted: January 4, 2012 at 5:40 pmPesto Veggie Lasagna
Prep Time: 30
Cook Time: 35
Ingredients (8 servings)
Lasagna
- 1 pkg lasagna noodles (12+ noodles – no-boil are fine)
- 1 cup pesto – see recipe below
- 5 – 6 cloves garlic, peeled & minced
- 5 cups grilled or sautéed veggies – choose from zucchini, eggplant, red or green bell peppers, portobello mushrooms, broccoli, or your favorites. My favorite mix: 1 red pepper – diced, 1 zucchini – cut into half moons, and 1 head of broccoli florets.
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach
- 1 lb or 1 – 14oz package herbed tofu, firm or extra firm (Italian herbed tofu works great here), pressed and crumbled
- 2-3 medium tomatoes, sliced (8 slices)
- 1 package (8 oz) Daiya mozzarella or other vegan shredded cheese
- 1 jar of your favorite marinara
Pesto
- 1/4 cup walnut halves or pieces
- 1/4 cup pine nuts (or, replace with additional 1/4 cup walnuts)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 cups fresh basil
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- pinch of black pepper
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- 1/4 cup olive oil, scant
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Instructions
This first step is optional, but highly recommended. Preheat a large heavy-bottomed skillet (such as a cast iron skillet) over medium-low heat. Add the walnuts to the dry skillet and toast for 5 minutes, tossing often. Then add the pine nuts and toast an additional 5 minutes. (If using all walnuts, add them all at the start and toast for 10 minutes).
Set toasted nuts aside to cool.
Prep the Veggies
Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a large saute pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for 5 minutes.
As you chop up the rest of your veggies, add them to the pan, stirring often. If the pan dries out, add a tablespoon or two of water to deglaze the pan and keep on saute-ing.
Continue to saute the veggies while preparing the pesto.
Prep the Pesto
Add the toasted nuts to a food processor.
Add the minced garlic, basil, thyme, salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast until the basil leaves are well blended, scraping down the sides of the food processor as necessary.
Slowly stream in the olive oil and process until well combined.
Blend in the lemon juice.
Assemble the Lasagna
In a 13×19″ dish, coat the bottom of the dish with a layer of marinara.
Place one layer of lasagna noodles on the bottom of the dish.
Layer more marinara on top of the noodles.
Then, add the baby spinach over the noodles.
Crumble the tofu on top of the spinach.
Sprinkle a layer of shredded Daiya over the tofu, then add a second layer of noodles.
Coat the noodles with another marinara layer.
Add the veggies to the next layer and top with a generous layer of pesto.
Add the last layer of noodles and coat with remaining marinara.
Add the rest of the shredded cheese. Place 8 dollops of pesto across the top, and add a tomato slice onto each dollop of pesto.
Cover the dish with foil and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350F, until the lasagna is warmed through and the cheese is melted.
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{Tags: daiya, garlic, marinara, nutritional yeast, onion, pasta, pesto, red pepper, spinach, thyme, tofu, zucchini}
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Going Green
- Soups & Stews
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30 Dec 2011
So, it’s been about 2 weeks since I ran my last half marathon. That race was the culmination of a whole lot of chaos in my life: moving cross-country, starting a new (and thankfully awesome!) job, going to school for my MFA full time (12 credit hours, yikes!), and of course – another round of long-race training. Needless to say, upon completion of that race, I needed a break – so I took one. I took a break from running, and indulged in some holiday goodies in the form of way too much chocolate and pizza.
The result: I caught my first sickness in 2 years (ugh – still fighting it off), gained 5 pounds, and felt like absolute crap!
While I’m glad I took a break from all things healthy (I needed it mentally more than anything – I’ve been going at this healthy lifestyle thing for 2 years now!), it definitely demonstrated that feeling good is so much more enjoyable than eating junk food. I couldn’t wait till the new year to get back to eating right, so I started the day I got home from the holidays. I started yesterday. (The exercise is going to have to wait until I stop hacking up lungs).
Since my pre-planned junk food binge was pretty extreme (at least relatively speaking), I decided to embark upon a similarly relatively extreme detox: 5 days of only fruits and veggies.
I considered a juice fast, a la Jason Vale (the JuiceMaster), but decided I’d have a much more enjoyable experience with something like Reboot Your Life (a la Joe Cross, the guy that made the film Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead). I like Jason’s juice recipes more, though, so I’m basically drinking Jason’s juices and eating fruits and veggies as described in Joe’s Reboot Entry program.
So far, so good! I’m on day 2 of 5.
The first day, I was starving… All. The. Time. I was also pretty dehydrated from a week of holiday madness (and wine, ahem), and dehydration feels a lot like hunger, so I probably wasn’t actually hungry for food. Still, I felt like I went to bed hungry (booo).
Ironically, though, when I woke up this morning, I wasn’t hungry at all. I felt good (well, except for this plague of a cold I caught in Chicago over Christmas). I haven’t felt hungry today, and – knock on wood – my body seems to be fighting off this cold.
My basic plan is to:
- drink juice concoctions and smoothies made with my Breville juicer (including a Vega protein shake each day).
- eat fruit (bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries), green soups, and green salads.
- drink lots of water and some tea.
Now, that does mean I’m also eating salad dressing. Sorry – I can’t live without my daily giant bowl of greens, and to that end, I can’t live without salad dressing. I also used a dab of olive oil to saute the veggies I used in today’s soup recipe (below). But those are the only non-whole-foods, non-fruit-or-veggie things I’m eating for these 5 days.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to busting out that loaf of bread I baked last week or mashing together a great new veggie burger recipe… but that day will come soon enough, and I’m already feeling the positive effects of this junk food detox. Ahhh, to feel normal again!
In the spirit of going green, here’s the recipe for the soup I had for lunch! Super tasty. I love kale!
Posted: December 30, 2011 at 3:21 pmGreen Veggie Soup
Prep Time: 10
Cook Time: 30
Keywords: soup/stew kale broccoli zucchini garlic
Ingredients (4-6 servings)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 head broccoli florets
- 1 medium zucchini, cut into half moons
- 2 cups kale, roughly chopped
- 4 leaves basil, plus 3 tbsp chopped
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 6 cups water
Instructions
In a large stock pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat.
Add onion and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes.
Add broccoli, basil leaves, zucchini, spinach, salt, and pepper.
Stir and cook for 5 minutes.
Add water and bring to a boil.
Lower heat and simmer 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in chopped basil.
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{Tags: basil, broccoli, garlic, kale, onion, soup, zucchini}
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Stealth Ninja Vegetable Experiment: Prep
- Adventures in Chopping, Stealth Ninja Vegetables
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29 Jan 2010
*queue Mission Impossible music*
Actually, I think this mission is quite possible! I am embarking upon what I call the Stealth Ninja Vegetable Experiment. You are about to bear witness to Phase 1: Prep.
It all started when my sister in law Amanda suggested that I check out this book: Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food
by Jessica Seinfeld (yes, Jerry’s wife). Since I was already sold on the possibility of hiding veggies in my smoothies, I thought this book might hold some promise (though I’d be attempting to deceive myself, not kids). I picked it up at my local library (Homer Township Library ftw!) and decided to give it a test-drive.
The basic premise of the book is that you puree a variety of vegetables and store them in 1/2 cup portions in little ziplock baggies, then sneak them into recipes as needed. Sounds good to me!
Posted: January 29, 2010 at 8:43 pm
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{Tags: beet, broccoli, butternut squash, cauliflower, chopping, peapod, puree, roasting, steaming, sweet potato, zucchini}
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