Vegan Lasagna

Hi All!

Today I have something a little different for you.

Vegan Lasagna!

One of the guys in my son's wedding party and his girlfriend

are vegan and since I will be doing the rehearsal party, 

I wanted to see what I could make that they would be able 

to eat.  I talked to Sara, Jaryd's fiance, and she said they

like lasagna and they make their "ricotta" with cashews.

I researched it on the internet and found a recipe for the

ricotta and decided to give it a try.

It was really quite simple.

I took raw cashews, soaked them for a couple hours.

after draining off the excess water, they went into the 

food processor.  I added some garlic cloves and other 

seasoning including nutritional yeast,

then gave it a good whirl.

I was surprised at how tasty it was.

The texture was not quite as creamy as ricotta, but 

worked nicely in the lasagna.

I didn't want to use pasta and love to use zucchini instead,

so that's what I did, no gluten in this baby.

I forgot to take a picture before I added more layers,

but you can see that ricotta, it's a beige color.

I did get some vegan mozzarella, so that went in too.

More zucchini and sauce and it was ready for the oven.

I filled this with lots of veggies, broccoli, cauliflower, 

mushrooms and the zucchini.

I should have kept some of the mozzarella for the top,

but there wasn't a lot of it.

Okay, I know, this doesn't look all that pretty.

Would have looked better if I had let it sit for a little

longer before serving it. Once it was cooled, it sure 

did cut and serve better.

How did it taste?

FABULOUS!

We both absolutely loved it.

What would I do differently?

I probably wouldn't use the vegan mozzarella at all.
I didn't think it added much flavor to the dish, the

various veggies, the cashew ricotta and the sauce were

plenty of flavor.

The other evening, I made some more of the cashew

ricotta from the left over cashews and made

some zucchini roll ups with it.

This time they weren't vegan, I use real mozzarella

along with the ricotta and rolled it up in

slices of zucchini added some sauce and it was delicious.

Here's the funny part. 

After all that research and trying out this 

vegan dish, I was talking to the kids and they

want to have a taco bar for the rehearsal dinner.

I don't need the vegan lasagna now,

but I'm glad I learned how to make it and 

we really did love it.
If I need a dairy free dish, I'll be able to make it.

Now to find a vegan taco filling and dessert.

I hope you have enjoyed hearing about my adventures

in vegan cooking.  I'll let you know how the tacos and 

dessert go.
Thanks for stopping in, come again soon,

you never know what you'll find on 

Kristie Kreates!