Bryn’s Cookin’ Greens Summer Blog Series:
Turn a comforting meal that you remember enjoying as a child into a healthier edition to be shared with your friends and family for a weekend dinning in. Bryn shows you how with her vegan lasagna recipe…
What do you think of when you hear “comfort food”? For me, I think about foods that make me feel like a little kid again – mac and cheese, pizza, and burgers.
Another one of my favourites is lasagna. I’ve eaten a lot of lasagna in my pre-vegan days. It was dripping in cheese and meat, and/or calories and fat. It was true comfort food for me in my childhood because it was a dish served at home all the time. I just loved coming home from school to smell it baking in the kitchen!
As a vegan, I crave the same comfort foods, but with a healthy twist. I want food that I can, not only feel good eating, but also feel good about eating. This lasagna recipe represents the perfect blend of each. It’s meaty, hearty, and satisfying, and rich in vitamins and minerals.
It’s also perfect for a weeknight meal. Despite the 50 minute baking time, the prep is very easy. You can also make it on the weekend, put it in the fridge overnight, and reheat on low in the oven before serving.
The Cookin’ Greens products add to the ease of this recipe. No washing, chopping, or pre-steaming required! Since the dark-leafy greens are ready to go after a quick microwave, your overall cooking time will be drastically reduced.
Finally, if you’ve never cooked with TVP before, don’t be intimidated — it couldn’t be easier. You just have to pour boiling water over the dehydrated flakes, and after 10 minutes, they’re ready to be stirred into anything.
Although the recipe can serve 8-10, depending on how large you cut the pieces, it serves about 6 portions for me because I can’t get enough!
Enjoy!
Cookin’ Greens Chopped Spinach Lasagna (Serves 6-8)
Lasagna Ingredients
- 6 oven-ready lasagna noodles
- 2 cups Cookin’ Greens Chopped Spinach or Kale, cooked according to package instructions
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 cup dehydrated TVP, rehydrated according to package instructions (should result in about 2 cups rehydrated)
- 2 cups chopped mushrooms
- 2 cups tomato sauce (pre-spiced preferable)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1, 14-oz package medium tofu
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F
- Place chopped onions, mushrooms, and garlic at the bottom of a large saucepan and sautée on low heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently
- Add rehydrated TVP and continue to stir for 5 more minutes
- Add tomato sauce and stir for five additional minutes
- In a mixing bowl, add tofu, nutritional yeast, and salt and pepper
- Mash tofu, yeast, and salt and pepper until well combined and tofu resembles a paste, relatively chunk-free
- Prepare either Cookin’ Greens Chopped Spinach or Cookin’ Greens Chopped Kale according to package instructions
- Pour a layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of the lasagna pan
- Cover sauce with 3 oven-ready noodles (noodles can overlap)
- Add a thin layer of the tofu mixture over the noodles
- Cover the tofu with half of the sauce mixture
- Add a layer of Cookin’ Greens over the sauce
- Cover with three more lasagna noodles
- Spread the remaining sauce mixture on top, then sprinkle the remaining spinach and tofu.
- Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 50 minutes
- Cut and serve
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Summer 2015 is here! This summer we are so excited to have student, vegan blogger, Bryn Ferguson join us for some cooking inspiration with Cookin’ Greens. Frozen vegetables in the summer? You bet and we can’t wait to show you how!
We hope you read along as she shares her foodie experiences, tips & tricks, recipes and photos across her 8 featured blog posts.
Twitter handle: @brynferguson3
Instagram: @veganfoodadventure
