Vegetarian Lasagna with Spinach, Pumpkin and Tofu "Ricotta"
This vegetarian lasagna is a lighter, heathier take on lasagna. Its loaded with layers of wholesome, nutritious foods like spinach, pumpkin and tofu "ricotta". And if you thought it couldn't get any healthier, in between each layer is a creamy "bechamel" sauce made with cauliflower to boost the nutrition even more!
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
For the cauliflower "béchamel"
- 1 cup cauliflower chopped and steamed
- 3 cloves garlic leave whole and steam with cauliflower
- 1/2 cup skim milk
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- Pinch of nutmeg
For the tofu "ricotta"
- 1 pack 340g of firm tofu
- 1 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Pinch of pepper
For the rest of the lasagna
- 200 grams frozen chopped spinach thawed
- 1 cup pumpkin roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper then mashed or canned pumpkin for convenience
- 250 grams lasagna noodles
- 1/2 cup cheddar
- 1/2 cup parmesan
Instructions
For the cauliflower "béchamel"
- Chop cauliflower. Steam with garlic until soft.
- In a high-powered blender, blend steamed cauliflower, garlic, milk, butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg until smooth.
For the tofu "ricotta"
- In a medium sized bowl, add tofu, nutritional yeast, parmesan, salt and pepper. Mash the tofu with a fork while mixing in the other ingredients.
For the rest of the lasagna layers
- Squeeze the thawed spinach to remove excess moisture.
- For the pumpkin layer, you can roast and mash fresh pumpkin. Or use canned pumpkin for convenience. Mix with a pinch of salt and pepper.
To assemble the layers
- Preheat the oven to 375°F
- In an 8" x 8" baking pan, spread 1 cup of cauliflower "béchamel" on the bottom.
- Layer uncooked lasagna sheets on top. I prefer to not precook the sheets to save a step and a pot in the kitchen. Instead, I make sure there is extra sauce because the uncooked noodles will need it to rehydrate while cooking.
- Then layer cauliflower "béchamel", pumpkin, lasagna sheets, cauliflower béchamel, tofu "ricotta", lasagna sheets, cauliflower béchamel, spinach, lasagna sheets and cauliflower "béchamel".
- Mix cheddar and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle on top of lasagna.
- Cover in foil and bake in the oven for 35 mins. Remove foil and bake for an additional 15mins to allow the cheese to brown. Enjoy!