Vegan Lasagne

My Daughter....

Has been bugging me to make Lasagne... So I obliged her a couple of weekends ago. I made theirs.. Theirs being my husband, son and daughter.. 1/2 meat for the hubs and 1/2 cheese and spinach for my kiddos. But what was I to do being a new Vegan eater.. well I will tell ya..

I decided to make my own veggie lasagne. Unfortunately I only have 1 photo of a bite of this delicious creamy lasagne.

 I often times make things then think, "why didn't I take photos for the blog?" this was one of those times folks.. so sorry.. but I will totally share the recipe with you!

I know is doesn't look like much in this picture but YOU HAVE TO GIVE IT A TRY!!!

Vegan Veggie Lasagne

You'll need..
sauce of your choice ( I'd get 2 jars. you want to use the sauce liberally because you won't be cooking the lasagne noodles before layering them. The sauce will absorb and help them cook in the oven. Trust me.. I have never cooked my noodles before layering and baking any lasagne I've made. This is always how my mom did it)
1-2 Small Zucchini Shredded and squeezed
6-7 Sliced mushrooms
1/2 a brick of crumbled organic extra firm tofu.. if you get the stuff in water make sure that it has been  pressed between paper towels and is very dry.
Fresh baby spinach
lasagne noodles.. reg or whole wheat, your choice and like I said.. I've been vegan for about 2 mos. I do check ingredients and don't think the lasagne noodles had any animal products.. if I'm wrong kindly let me know what brand doesn't :)
Daiya Mozzarella shreds this makes the lasagne so creamy I couldn't believe it.
a little bit of Italian seasoning

This is how you assemble the lasagne....

I peeled and cut the ends of 1 small eggplant, then sliced it lengthwise in about 1/2 in slices then cut them in 1/2 to make for easier layering.. then I let them set between a couple paper towels to absorb the moisture, while I prepped the rest of my ingredients. 

I sauteed the mushrooms just a little to soften them and added in the crumbled tofu and a couple pinches of Italian seasoning and mixed it well, remove the mixture from the pan and add the eggplant into the pan just to brown a bit on each side. 

spray your baking dish with what ever spray you use.. then spread a layer of sauce, place your uncooked noodles in the pan, then layer the mushroom tofu mixture, some shredded and drain zucchini, a layer of eggplant, a layer of a couple handfuls of the fresh baby spinach and then a lite layer of Daiya Mozzarella. That's your first layer..

Next your gonna add another layer of uncooked noodles directly on top of the spinach layer then add a liberal layer of sauce. Then layer the rest of the ingredients as you did in the first layer.

Continue your layers like this until you've reached the top of your pan.. the last layer is going to be a layer of Mozzarella.

Cover with foil and cook in a preheated 350 degree oven. After about 30 mins check it.. when your fork goes in easily, with out any resistance from the noodles it's done.  You want to take off the foil when you've got about 15 mins of cooking time left to brown up the top or you can broil it for a few mins when it's done.

I had my sister and niece over for dinner that night who are non vegan and gave them a piece of my lasagne for leftovers the next day. They both said it was great. This is the text my niece sent me.

I hope that you will give this recipe a try.. it's so good. I shoveled it in like I was never going to eat again.. not gonna lie!! I will be making it again soon :)

So for now 

Sherice OXOXOX

Stuffed Eggplant

I don't know about you but I LOVE Eggplant!

On my recent trip to Trader Joe's a picked one up thinking I could make something yummy with it.. Something yummy? Yes indeed!!

I've been enjoying reading through this cookbook and I found a delicious looking recipe for an Braciole-inspired Stuffed Eggplant. In true Sherice fashion I changed a few things and had a delicious dinner!

Stuffed Eggplant

Start by cutting off the top and bottom of your eggplant. Then peel it or if you don't mind the peeling you can leave it on. I peel mine. Then cut the eggplant in 1/2 lengthwise.
scoop out the inside of the eggplant making a "boat" or shell like this..

First I sauteed...
1 onion chopped
1/2 Sm Zucchini cubed
1/2 Portabella Mushroom or 4-5 Sm Mushrooms
2 garlic cloves minced..
the inside of the eggplant cubed
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and some Italian seasoning.  I just eyeballed it.

Then add in..

a handful of chopped fresh Spinach
a handful of chopped fresh Basil
a handful of chopped fresh Italian Parsley
let that saute a few mins and then remove pan from heat add in
1/3 cup Nutritional Yeast
1 cup Panko flakes

Now time to stuff your eggplant boats...
I sprayed my baking dish with a little pam then set my boats in and filled them. As you can see I had a bit of the mixture left over so I just added it around the eggplant boats.

 Next I added about 1 1/2 cups Marinara sauce on top of the stuffing and sprinkled a little leftover Mozzarella Daiya cheese and some Vegan Parmesan on top..

Cover with foil and put into a preheated 350 degree oven.. let cook about 1/2 an hr and remove foil. continue cooking until the top browns up

In my haste to scarf down this incredibly delicious meal I forgot to take a photo of the finished product before I dished it up.. Sorry!

But as you can see the top is melted and the middle is cooked and delish..

I paired my eggplant with steamed french green beans and made some garlic bread using Earth balance original spread

This dish is entirely Vegan.. Hooray!!

If you make this dish let me know what you think!

Sherice oxoxo

Bring it on down to Veganville

Hi There ~ 

So glad you stopped by. I hope there is something in all my rambles that appeals to you. 

I wanted to talk a bit today about becoming a Vegan.. Or almost Vegan. I'm finding that Vegan goes way beyond eating and can be a bit overwhelming at times. I just take it a day at a time and try to educate myself as much as possible. 

 DISCLAIMER: THE OPINIONS YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ ARE STRICTLY MINE AND MINE ALONE.

I'm sure there are those die hard Nazi Vegans, as I call them.. that would beg to differ that I am not actually a vegan because I use active yeast and honey. But that's ok. I don't mind. I can only do MY best. 

I'm really loving this new healthier way of eating and living. It's such a comfort for me to know that I will never have to worry about what I'm eating. I think everything is a process and the further down the road you go the more you learn and things make sense. 

I'm not going to go into all that I've learned but I will post This. A ton of podcasts by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. She has tons of info and will most likely have a podcast to answer some of your questions. Also the documentaries Forks over Knives and Vegucated are great starting points for anyone looking to learn more about why someone would start a vegan or plant based diet.

When I first started cutting out meat and dairy, I thought "well if I want a burger or cheese than I will have it" but I've gotten to a point now that I DON'T want those things. But I'm not going to stress about eating out places. most places have salad and olive oil right?!! 

A few Vegan things I'm really excited about are...

This Cheese is delicious.. you have to be open minded enough to realize that NO it's not dairy cheese but it's an awesome substitute! The texture of this reminds me of Laughing Cow cheese wedges. 

also these...

one might ask.. "well if you don't eat dairy why would you want to eat vegan cheese substitutes?" Ummm.. because it's not that I don't like dairy cheeses but vegan options are so much healthier and just as good with out any animal products being used.

This...

I can't wait to try the Chedder and the Pepperjack shreds next! I have tried this kind of mozzarella

and I must say that the Daiya is superior.. it melts, stretches and contains NO SOY!!! it's creamy and even my non vegan sister and niece liked it.

It made my vegan lasagne so creamy and delicious that my niece texted me this....

So if you are lactose intolerant or have any other dairy issues give the Daiya cheese a try.. :)

I will have some new recipes for you soon :) 

a little teaser...
 vegan lasagne
cheesy kale chips
delicious pancakes 
and perhaps something sweet 

I have yet to try vegan baking but am very intrigued by the idea of it. 

for now that's all I've got for ya.. have a fantastic day :)

oxox Sherice