Hello!
With Fall coming in full force here in Nevada, the nights are getting a lot colder, and the need for comfort food is rising. Making my weekly meal plan, I find myself wanting easy, no fuss food that warms the belly and fills the house with yummy aromas! Lasagna was on the menu, and boy was I glad! I am not a huge pasta eater (gasp!), but I do love a nice plate of pasta from time to time. This lasagna is inspired by The Vegan Table‘s Spinach Lasagna. I am a student and I work, so sometimes there isn’t a whole lot of time in the day to prepare food. Lasagna is one of those dishes that so many people think requires a lot of time. I am here to tell you that is not true! Much of the time with lasagna is inactive.. the oven is doing all the work. Below I will show you my quick version of this awesome recipe. Ready, go!
Weeknight Lasagna
1 box, or nine lasagna noodles ( I use whole-wheat)
1 jar organic tomato marinara sauce, about 4-5 cups
4 cups, or 2 cans white beans
1 cup, packed basil leaves
juice of 1 lemon
1 16oz package organic frozen spinach, thawed
1 T agave
5 garlic cloves
1/3 c non-dairy milk
Salt, to taste
Pre-heat oven to 375*F.
While getting ingredients together, put bag of spinach in the sink with warm/hot water to thaw. You could certainly do this in a microwave, but I don’t have one, so the sink it is. Bring water for pasta to a boil. While the water is heating up, place garlic with lemon juice in a food processor or blender and mince. Next, add white beans, milk, basil, agave, and salt, blend or process until smooth. You may want to add the basil with the garlic to puree it a bit more before the addition of the remaining ingredients. By this time, the water should be boiling, salt water, and add pasta. While pasta is cooking, transfer bean mixture to bowl. Remove spinach from package, and press it with paper towels, or a dish towel to remove excess water. Mix together bean mixture and spinach, making sure to taste and season accordingly. I think I used about 1/2 t salt. Make sure to check on noodles, if done, drain, and lay noodles on a sprayed cookie sheet to cool slightly. In baking dish, spread about 1/2 c sauce on bottom. Add first layer of noodles. Top noodles with half Spinach-bean mixture, and then 1-1 1/2 cups pasta sauce. Place next layer of noodles, followed by spinach-bean mixture, and then pasta sauce. Place final noodles on top. If you have remaining bean mixture, smear that on the top, followed by remaining pasta sauce. Bake at 375* for about 45 minutes, or until the edges are darker, and sauce is bubbling!
The cooking time is a while, but putting it all together is a snap. Take the extra 45 minutes to make a salad, have a glass of wine, and relax!
This recipe is quick, easy, and soy free (depending on the milk and noodles). Served with a salad, it’s healthy too! You could easily do what the original recipe calls for and use tofu instead of beans, but I really liked the fact that this was a soy-free recipe!
Bonus, since it’s just the two of us, we had this for dinner, then a lunch later in the week, and then dinner again! I think it may have even been better the next day! One quick night of cooking and we got to enjoy it for a few days!
The Green Bite 