Easy Vegan Lasagna

What can I say, but I have been gravitating to homely, comforting dishes over the past few weeks. Casseroles have been coming out of my oven like no tomorrow and this has been one of my favourites. Not only because it tastes great (not sure why, but the tofu-hummus-cauliflower concoction tastes like ricotta cheese) but also because it is fairly easy. Of course, oven-ready noodles and store-bought hummus and marinara sauce make this nearly a dump and cook, fool-proof recipe.

I really liked Alexis’ original recipe, which is even easier, but we once had half a cauliflower to use up and added it to the cheese layer. Rob thought it was even better than the original, with the riced cauliflower making it more airy and more similar to ricotta. While it does dirty up another appliance, who can argue with more hidden veggies? With the tofu, nutritional yeast and spinach, this is quite a nicely balanced meal. Enjoy!

What have you been up to recently?

PS. I am sharing this with Meat Free Mondays.

Lazy Vegan Lasagna
Adapted from Hummusapien

9 whole wheat lasagna noodles
half head medium cauliflower (1-2 lbs), trimmed and chopped
1 lb extra firm tofu, drained
1/2 cup hummus
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup chopped baby spinach (the first time I didn’t chop the baby spinach and Rob thought it was still too big – so please chop)
1/2 tsp garlic granules
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp dried basil
1×26 oz jar of marinara sauce (we tried arriabata sauce once and it was too spicy! ymmv, it may depend on the brand)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. If your lasagna noodles are not ovenready, cook them according to the package directions until slightly underdone (6-8 minutes).

3. Meanwhile, place the cauliflower in a food processor and pulse until it looks like little pieces of rice. You may need to remove the riced cauliflower and continue with any larger chunks so you do not over-pulverize the cauliflower.

4. Place the riced cauliflower in a large bowl. With your hands, crumble the tofu into small-medium chunks into the same bowl. Stir in the hummus, nutritional yeast, spinach, garlic, salt and basil so that it is evenly combined.

5. In a 9×9″ baking dish, place enough sauce at the bottom to completely cover the bottom. Place 3 lasagna noodles, breaking them, if needed, to fit the pan. Top the noodles with 1/3 of the cauliflower-hummus concoction. Pour enough tomato sauce to cover (approximately 1/4 of the remaining sauce). Repeat, adding noodles, cauliflower-hummus, and sauce another two times. If it looks dry and you used oven-ready noodles, consider adding more water.

6. Bake, uncovered, at 350F for 30 minutes (or 45 minutes if using oven-bake ready noodles – or whatever the package says). Allow to cool slightly before eating.

Serves 4.