happy monday! Some sailing & vegan lasagna

I hope everybody had a fabulous weekend like I did! I neglected my blog a bit because I was too busy enjoying this beautiful Colorado weather. Man-hunk and I spent all day Saturday and Sunday cleaning the sailboat and getting it ready to put into the water onto Lake Dillon. It’s quite an intense process. Aside from washing, waxing, and some basic repairs and maintenance, the process of stepping the mast, getting the boat off the trailer into the water and putting the sails back on is LOT of work. The boat has been in storage for the winter, which is why it took us two whole days! I wish I would have taken more pictures, but it’s really a two-man process and I was pretty involved every step of the way. Stepping the mast is probably the most intense part. It has to be done while the boat is on the trailer and out of the water. It’s a pulley-system and you use an actual crank and pulley on the trailer to hoist the mast into the air. But hard work pays off, and the rest of this week we’ll be enjoying some fabulous time on the boat and sailing the lake!

The view of the lake from the marina. Some of the mountains still have snow!

The boat finally in the water, at the slip.

Our gorgeous views.

Cleaning and organizing the cabin.

Raising the sails.

After a long and worn-out weekend, I still spent some quality time in the kitchen. I decided to conquer vegan lasagna! Call me crazy, huh?

My mom makes a fabulous veggie lasagna with cottage cheese that I indulge in on occasion, but I’ve been fussing over the idea of making a delicious dairy-free version. It turned out perfectly moist, full of flavor, and I can’t believe I’m saying this but you won’t even miss the cheese! My man-hunk is a complete omnivore and he loved it, so that’s saying something!

Lentil Vegan Lasagna

Ingredients:

2 qt. of homemade marinara (or 2 jars store-bought)

1 pack organic firm tofu

1/2 c. fresh chopped basil

1 tbs. dried rosemary

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 c. cooked lentils

1/2 lg head broccoli, chopped (florets and stem)

1 c. chopped cauliflower

1 lg leek, sliced

1/2 c. chopped carrots

1/2 med zucchini, chopped

1 yellow squash, chopped

1/2 pack button mushrooms, sliced

2 tbs. olive oil

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

1 pack no-bake whole wheat lasagna noodles

Print this recipe

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash, prep and chop all veggies. Chop into 1″ pieces.

2. Lay veggies out onto non-stick baking sheet(s) and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. (I prepped about twice as many veggies as listed in the recipe because I wanted leftovers to toss in with pasta or rice throughout the week)

3. Bake in 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until they just begin to brown, stirring every 5 minutes for even cooking. (In my opinion, cooking the veggies beforehand keeps the lasagna from being too watery, because vegetables excrete juices when they are cooked.)

4. Remove veggies from oven and allow to cool. Turn oven down to 375 degrees.

5. Cut tofu block into quarters and place into large bowl. Use a fork to mash tofu into a “cheese-like” consistency. Add fresh basil, salt, pepper and garlic powder.

6. Set-up your lasagna making station. Set out cooked lentils, tofu-riccotta, marinara sauce and no-bake lasagna noodles. I used this delicious brand by Archer Farms. They are no-bake, whole-wheat and organic. The ingredients include whole wheat flour and water. These noodles can be described in one word–FABULOUS! I got mine at Target, which I’m happy to say has a huge line of organic foods these days.

7. Start your lasagna layering! Begin with a generous portion of marinara sauce. Add one layer of lasagna noodles. Follow with lentils, more sauce, tofu-riccota, veggies, more sauce, more noodles, etc. Your number of layers will depend on how deep your pan is. You want your last two layers to be noodles, followed with a very generous layer of sauce on top. This is essential to make sure the noodles underneath don’t get crispy.

I did not put enough quite sauce on top of mine, and the edges of my noodles turned kind of crispy, but I just cut them off when I pulled it out of the oven.

8. If you want, you can top your lasagna with dairy-free cheese, Daiya is a fabulous brand that melts beautifully. Or you can add some fresh basil leaves for garnish.

9. Cover your lasagna with aluminum foil. Place onto a large baking sheet (so the juices do not drip down and dirty the oven).

10. Bake in 375 degree oven for 40 minutes, covered. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes to make the top a little crispy. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Serve with a salad of greens or some crispy french bread, and enjoy!

Lots of yummy layers – lots of delicious flavor!

Thanks for reading, hope everyone has a fabulous Monday! Thanks for all the sweet comments you left on my last post–random facts about me.

This recipe has been entered to win Get Grillin’ with Family Fresh Cooking and Cookin’ Canuck, sponsored by Ile de France Cheese, Rösle, Emile Henry, Rouxbe and ManPans.

Love you all!

~Peace, love & veggies xo

Comments

inspirehealth16 says:

June 13, 2011 at 8:22 pm

Looks amazing, cannot wait to try it! The pics are beautiful and glad you had a lovely weekend.
Suzanne

simplynutritiouskate says:

June 13, 2011 at 8:44 pm

this dish looks so amazing I love that its loaded up with veggies, bookmarking for sure

ordinaryarts says:

June 13, 2011 at 8:45 pm

Wow!

1. The lake and the sailboat looks breath-taking! It's rainy and grey here in Oregon, so I am going to live vicariously through you for now!

2. I was just planning meals for next week, and I think I have everything to make your vegan lasagna. I'll let you know if I can swing it!

-Emily

Maria @ Beautiful Busy Bee says:

June 13, 2011 at 11:41 pm

Wow, I never imagined lasagna without cheese could look so good! Your boating pictures made me really happy, and now I'm yearning for the sea a bit!

KateLainey says:

June 13, 2011 at 11:56 pm

Holy Cow this looks amazing! I never thought of lentils in lasagna! Wow!

vegansunshine says:

June 14, 2011 at 12:37 am

That lasagna looks wonderful! I love lentils.

Whitney

Emily @ One Sweet Vegan says:

June 14, 2011 at 12:37 am

That looks AMAZING! I love the close-up photo at the end. It makes me want to reach my head through my computer screen and steal a bite!

Lindsay says:

June 14, 2011 at 2:22 am

thanks ladies! It turned out so delicious and we are having leftovers tonight. Leftover lasagna is always better in my opinion

lee says:

June 14, 2011 at 3:04 am

That looks really good!

Alaina Rose says:

June 14, 2011 at 4:58 am

Wow, what gorgeous views from the boat! Beautiful. How did you make such an immaculate looking lasagna?? Seriously. It's amazing. Whenever I made lasagna, it ends up being the sloppiest looking thing ever. But, at least it always tastes good

Alexa @ SimpleEats says:

June 14, 2011 at 6:41 pm

That lasagna looks so good! I'm glad you had a fun weekend!

Keelie Sheridan says:

June 15, 2011 at 1:34 am

OMG I want to smoosh my face in that lasagna!

Boat trip looks like perfection!

Great blog- glad I found it!

debbie says:

June 15, 2011 at 2:37 am

MMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmm that looks DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!

tan says:

June 15, 2011 at 4:48 am

That lasagna looks so yummy!!!! The pictures of the lake looks so beautiful!!

veganaphrodite says:

June 15, 2011 at 1:16 pm

So glad you had a great weekend
That lasagna looks delicious!! It holds together so well! And I love the idea of lentils is it , guess it makes the whole dish moist and filling!
Have a wonderful day

Marla says:

July 2, 2011 at 1:21 pm

This lasagna looks AMAZING!! Thanks so much for adding it to our Get Grillin' round up

Caitlin says:

July 22, 2011 at 4:33 pm

your lasagna is beeeautiful!