No Nightshade Vegan Lasagna & Pesto from scratch

No-nightshade vegan lasagna


1. Make or buy a vegan pesto in a jar and spice it up however you like it. My recipe pesto is at the very end ***



2. grate 2 zucchini and one carrot and dice one yellow onion fine, saute with the tastiest veg oil you can find (but not olive oil for high temps remember) and add the pesto last to the saute just to stir it up and heat thru.

3. No-boil vegan pasta sheets are a great time saver - I used 14 made with spelt flour - but there are some who would make theirs from scratch.

4. for the oval casserole dish pictured I used half of a tofu container for this step. Silken is best but wasn’t available this time so I used firm and mashed it with a fork along with oregano, basil, Italian seasoning and purple onion, if you prefer you can add the onion and even the mushrooms to the next step but I prefer not to as fewer enzymes are lost this way.

5. chop an onion fine if you havent used it in the last step or want more and chop some garlic finely to taste and add it to an iron skillet with soysages til browned.

6. meanwhile chop up several mushrooms and prepare some fresh spinach. These will get added to the layers raw before baking.

7. now its time to layer it up. There is room for variation on this but basically start with a watered down layer of pesto on the bottom. The extra water added there is really necessary so it doesn’t burn. Also if you are using a jar of it may need more water.



Here is the order I used this time:

Zucchini /pesto, the flat noodle sheets, more zucchini /pesto, spinach, tofu mixture, soysages mixture, mushrooms, more zucchini /pesto, noodles, sauce, spinach, tofu mixture, soysages mixture, mushrooms, a bit of zucchini/ pesto with the remaining liquid from the pan, tofu mixture, mushrooms, fill in any spots with liquid on top too covering all the pasta so it cooks well.

Tip to using no-boil lasagna sheets is that a wet saucy thing must go under and on top of each layer of them.

8. now cover it up with foil tightly and bake 350 F for 35 - 45 min

• note: you can also use vegan rice-cheezes which makes it really nice but I didn’t have any at this time. If you do, take the foil off for the last 7 – 10 min to brown it.

another note – this is a heavy soy meal which is why I used only half the package of tofu. The soysages add more flavor but can be omitted if too much soy at one sitting. both together make it seem more the traditional way we envision lasagna but I skipped it for this time where I took the photos.


this is so good make it if you want a real pesto experience
*** home made VEGAN PESTO

We love to grow our own basil when possible – other herbs we grow indoors, but since pesto takes a lot of basil (and arugala in this case) farmers markets enable us to have organic greens a lot more often.

1. chop up equal parts of basil and arugala until you have 3 cups loosely packed. This can be done by hand with a big chef knife along with the entire recipe -taking time to get it really fine – I went for years without a food processor or electricity. I have also used a hand plunger nut chopper for this too in my past -- or -- chop it coarsely by hand and throw it into the food processor with the rest of the ingredients.

2. chop up the garlic fine – we use a lot (like 7) but the faint of heart may use 2 or 3.

3. gather up 1/4 to 1/3 cups of nuts - now I like to use walnuts with the arugala version, if you want more traditional, use pine nuts along with all basil.

4. add herbs: I use a handful of oregano and parsley each but if I have cilantro I will throw that in too. A bit of sea salt and cayenne pepper to your liking too.

5. This can all get a good whiz in the processor before adding the oil and yeast.

6. add 1/4 to 2/3 cup oil adding spoon by spoon after the first 1/4 cup. Olive oil is the traditional way but walnut oil rocks the arugala and you will find some interesting ways to vary pesto by just variations in veg/ nut oils and spices.

7. optional vegan bonus (instead of parm) use 1/4 to 1/3 cup of nutritional yeast.


Note for the recipe above a little more than “normal” water will be required to bake in a lasagna. For tossing on pasta or grains, not to do that.

Vegan Apple Kake

light as a snowflake Vegan Apple Kake


1 - 1/4 cup water

2 small apples finely diced or grated

12 medjool dates chopped fine

1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger

1/2 cups sesame, groundnut or veg oil

2 - 1/2 cups flour (for this i used
1 cup spelt, 1 cup unbleached white, 1/2 cup buckwheat)

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup ground nuts (i used hazelnuts)

3 tsp cinnamon/nutmeg/clove to taste (i used powdered
spices for chai masala)



first prepare the fruit by heating in the water til soft or puree it

when the fruit is soft (5 min) add the liquids incl the oil to the dry ingredients and
stir it up til smooth.

bake in an oiled and floured pan for 30- 35 min til done.

cool and turn onto a plate where you may want to sprinkle it
as shown thru a paper snowflake with some carob or cocoa.

this works well with pears too but may need to reduce the
water just a touch. any nuts will do that you like with
apples. brazil nuts are divine.

Vegan Lasagna

fit for a special holiday meal.

Vegan Lasagna

This recipe is more of an art than a step by step. Its so flexible. Here is the basic order to follow. get creative using ingredients on hand or to suit your fancy.




1. Make or buy a tomato sauce with organic tomatoes and spice it up however you like it. *** my bonus plum tomato sauce recipe at the very end

2. No-boil vegan pasta sheets are a great time saver - I used 14 -but there are some who would make theirs from scratch.

3. for the oval casserole dish pictured I used half of a tofu container for this step. Silken is best but wasn’t available this time so I used firm and mashed it with a fork along with oregano, basil, Italian seasoning and chopped red pepper, if you prefer you can add the pepper and even the mushrooms to the next step but I prefer not to as fewer enzymes are lost this way.

4. chop an onion fine with some garlic to taste and add it to an iron skillet with soysages til browned.

5. meanwhile chop up several mushrooms and prepare some fresh spinach.

6. now its time to layer it up. There is room for variation on this but basically start with a watered down layer of sauce on the bottom. The extra water added there is really necessary so it doesn’t burn. Also if you are using a jar of sauce it may need more water.

Here is the order I used this time:

Sauce, the flat noodle sheets, more sauce, spinach, tofu mixture, soysages mixture, mushrooms, sauce, noodles, sauce, spinach, tofu mixture, soysages mixture, mushrooms, sauce, tofu mixture, mushrooms, fill in any spots with sauce on top too.

Tip to using no-boil lasagna sheets is that sauce must go under and on top of each layer of them.

7. now cover it up with foil tightly and bake 350 F for 35 - 45 min



• you can also use vegan rice-cheezes which makes it really nice but I didn’t have any at this time. If you do, take the foil off for the last 7 – 10 min to brown it.

* another note – this is a heavy soy meal which is why I used only half the package of tofu. The soysages add more flavor but both together make it seem more the traditional way we envision lasagna. We made it for Xmas dinner as a treat.

BONUS! *** make your own home made plum tomato sauce:

• olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic finely minced,
• a bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked from stems and coarsely chopped
• 2 – 4 T dried or fresh oregano
• 15 – 20 plum tomatoes from your garden or the farmers market OR
3 big tins of good-quality, whole plum organic tomatoes chopped up a bit
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• one bay leaf
• small amount of water

in a large heated cast iron or heavy pot pour in a bit of olive oil.
Add the garlic, (onion too if you like and mushrooms, peppers, etc but not for this recipe above)
add the basil and the tomatoes together. Stir and mash up the tomatoes to make a chunky sauce as it cooks down
stir and check it often but in between stirrings, leave a lid on it at a simmer.
sea salt and cracked pepper last.

notes:
Some folks will prefer a smoother sauce than I do and would push it thru a sieve after cooking just the tomatoes in garlic and oil without the other veg and herbs yet and before the salt and pepper. And then return it to simmer and cook fully. That’s fine if you do so after its cooked to a good bubble for a few minutes and cooled. But the other veg and herbs will have to be done separate to add after straining. You could theoretically cook it all up as I do and then strain it to make a totally thin smooth sauce with the flavor but not the pieces of herbs, garlic and onion etc in there but why would you want to do that? Some folks do.

Water is another thing that depends entirely on the tomatoes used. The cans generally have enough liquid but fresh tomato tends to need a bit more. I also remove the seeds which is just a preference not necessary but juice is lost there too. Just a touch of water so it doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pot for pasta pouring and more water needed for lasagna.