Hello everyone! I’m very excited today because I just got put up on my college program’s website about the work I’m doing. They interviewed me and I talked about my blog and my future plans of incorporating a vegan project into my education plan.

You can view that article here!

Anyways, on to the food!

This lasagna is quite rich with the walnut meat, and has tons of protein due to the tofu ricotta, and a healthy dose of greens due to the pesto (with basil and parsley!).

This walnut meat here is very similar to my earlier recipe but changed slightly to change the flavor from a hamburger style to a more italian style. The tofu ricotta is also quite similar to the one for the pizza recipe I posted earlier on Sept. 12, but I changed it again because there is a separate basil factor with the pesto, so extra basil in the ricotta was not necessary.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

For the walnut meat:

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 portobello cap
• 1/2 cup diced tomatoes in juice, no salt added, canned
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt

For the pesto:

• 2 cups basil, packed
• 1 cup flat leaf parsley, not packed
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1 tbsp olive oil

For the ricotta:

• 1 block extra firm tofu
• 1 tsp salt free italian seasoning blend
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 3 tbsp water

Other necessary ingredients:

• 1 & 2/3 cup Tomato sauce, either homemade (your favorite recipe) or store bought (I love Victoria brand marinara)
• no-boil vegan lasagna noodles
• 1/3 cup Daiya brand vegan mozzarella style cheese, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Prepare the walnut meat. Place walnuts, onion, garlic and portobello into a food processor and blend until everything melds together but remains chunky.
3. Place this mushy walnut meat into a bowl, and fold in the remaining ingredients.
4. On a parchment lined baking sheet, pat down the “meat” into a thin layer with a spatula.
5. Bake 15 minutes. Take out of the oven and with a spatula, scrape up the “meat” and flip it.
6. Bake for 15 more minutes and set aside.
7. Prepare the pesto. First place the basil, parsley, and garlic and chop in the food processor until finely ground.
8. Add the pine nuts and olive oil into the mix, and blend. You will need to scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula to ensure that everything gets properly mixed together and to get a good consistency. Set aside, in a bowl, but leave some of the remnants of the pesto in the food processor for the next step.
9. Make the ricotta by adding all the ingredients into the food processor and blend until smooth. Scrape down the sides with the rubber spatular once or twice to get everything together.
10. Grease a 9 x 13” pan with cooking spray.
11. Lay out three dry lasagna noodles (or more if you could not find the no-boil type after boiling them, of course) on the bottom of the pan.
12. Spread 2/3 cup of the sauce on top.
13. Spread 1/3 of the ricotta and pesto on top.
14. Crumble and sprinkle 1/2 the batch of the walnut meat on top with your hands.
15. Place another layer of dry lasagna noodles on top and repeat steps 12-14.
16. Place the final layer of noodles on top, and add just 1/3 cup of the sauce and the remainder of the pesto and ricotta (with the ricotta on the top layer!)
17. Sprinkle 1/3 cup daiya mozzarella on top.
18. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes.
19. Let sit 10 minutes after taking out of the oven, and enjoy.

The pesto

The ricotta

The first layer of the lasagna

Buon Appetito!