A tossed Italian Blend Salad with alfalfa and bean sprouts, avocado with homemade Italian dressing
Vegan and Non-Vegan Spinach, Mushroom and Sausage Lasagna
Italian Bread with tomato and spinach and olive oil and herb for dipping
To drink: Woodbridge- Cabernet Sauvignon
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What Can I say? My spinach lasagna is yummy, so much so that I have people asking me to make it for them when they come to visit. I haven’t made this particular dish in quite sometime since it is a rather heavy meal and normally it’s just me and sometimes my roommate who are in attendance to partake of the meal.
The non-vegan recipe is loaded full of fat, cheese, eggs and sometimes, I’ll add an Italian sausage to the mix. Needless to say, it is packed with carbohydrates and when you get done enjoying a slice you want to unbutton your pants because you WILL, and I guarantee it, you will want to go back for seconds.
With that being said, let’s begin with the famous non-vegan recipe. So, get your pasta press and creativity and sense of humor… and let’s do this!
Prepare a 9 X 13 pyrex baking dish with a little olive oil and diced garlic glove and set aside; preheating your oven to 325.
Collect all of your ingredients which includes dry spaghetti sauce, 5 cans of stewed and diced tomatoes, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, eggs, spinach, mushrooms, lasagna noodles and anything else that you feel would make an incredible tasting lasagna. In this instance I am using an Italian, mild, sausage because I like a little bite.
You beat two eggs in a large bowl adding the ricotta and cottage cheeses, spinach, diced mushrooms and parmesan. Mix together well or until all is blended consistently. I love how this mixture tastes so I sometimes will dip my spoon so I can have a taste. Careful not to eat too much because there is raw egg and if too much you can get sick. Set this mixture aside.
In a separate bowl you are going to add your dry spaghetti and the 5 cans of tomatoes. Mix together until there is a spaghetti sauce thickness. Sometimes I will heat the sauce up and add onion to the mixture to give it a bit more zing. In your sauce add the desired spices. My staples are usually garlic, oregano, basil, parsley, salt and pepper. It’s all about your desired taste. Fresh herbs are guaranteed to make a recipe pop so if you have an herb garden use those herbs. Unfortunately, my herb garden is still maturing so I had to buy some fresh basil from the corner market.
Once your egg mixture and sauce are ready, take your baking dish and begin to layer”
Uncooked noodles
½ Egg /Cheese/spinach mixture
Mozzarella cheese
Sauce
And repeat the steps. I usually have 2 layers of noodles and end with the sauce on top sprinkled with a little mozzarella cheese and fresh spinach on top.
Bake for at least 1 hour.
While your lasagna is basking in the heat and preparing itself for your enjoyment, prepare your bread. I usually make a home-made bread but just didn’t have time to do that this time. I picked up a loaf of Italian bread and cut diagonal slices. In the slices I add a garlic butter and on top I add tomato, spinach and cheese. Set aside and begin preparing your salad.
Salads are simple. Get whatever type of greens that you like and add the toppings that you like. For our salad, I have an Italian leaf mixture and I will add alfalfa and bean sprouts, avocado, mushrooms and tomatoes with roasted almonds.
The dressing:
A little bit of apple cider vinegar
A little bit of vegetable or olive oil
Garlic powder
Italian herbs
Salt
Pepper
Mix together and serve.
After your lasagna is finished baking, sit aside and cool for about 15 minutes, otherwise you will get a big heaping glop of everything. I’m about presentation, too, so if you come to my house for dinner, it has to look good as well as taste good. While this is cooling, stick your bread in the oven and let heat. Remove from oven and serve with your lasagna.
As you can see by the plated version- this non-vegan lasagna looks amazing and tastes even better. Everyone will be sent home with leftovers.
Luckily for those Vegans and Vegans to be, there are a lot of items that are now available in your local grocery health food section or at your local health food store. I remember when I was first attempting this when I was 18, there was hardly anything readily available.
In much anticipation, here is the vegan version and the review of how said veganization turned out. Was it a success? Was it a fail?
This is the most delicious lasagna that I have ever made. There would be no way that anyone could tell that this was a vegan lasagna. I was a bit nervous because I know how my real version tastes and I didn’t want this to come out that much different.
For the ricotta “cheese” I used a firm tofu and crumbled it in my hands in a large bowl. I added lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic cloves, a bit of salt, ¼ cup of nutritional yeast, fresh basil leaves, chopped fine and black pepper. After I was done mixing this together, I added the chopped spinach, chopped mushrooms, vegan parmesan and flax seed (egg replacer). After mixing all of those ingredients together until nicely blended I added a touch of coconut milk to make it a little thinner. I set the bowl aside and began to prepare my baking dish. Layer upon layer, the lasagna began to take shape and into the oven to bake for about an hour.
The sauce had been simmering for a good ½ hour and it was decided that it would be best to add the “sausage” to the sauce instead of to the “cheese” mixture. Sheri crumbled up some Light Life “sausage” and heated in a skillet until slightly brown and then added to the sauce.
While the lasagna was baking, I prepared the bread- roasted garlic butter (Earth Balance whipped buttery spread), a loaf of Italian bread, fresh spinach and sliced tomatoes. I cut four slices down to the bottom and stuffed each slice with roasted garlic butter, fresh spinach, tomatoes and sprinkled the loaf with daiya mozzarella cheese. I, then, stuck it in the oven to broil for 10 minutes to get that crispy top. It was delicious. The salad, I discussed early but it was a lovely blend of Italian greens, alfalfa and bean sprouts, avocado, mushroom, carrot and tomatoes and topped with roasted almonds. I added some fresh basil to give it that extra zing as well as fresh garlic clove. Sprinkled a bit of olive oil and apple cider vinegar with a dash or two of salt and pepper and dinner was served.
Like I said, unbutton those pants because you WILL go back for seconds or Thirds in some cases.Vegan YES or Vegan NO? A definite VEGAN YES!
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