Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: The Plates That Sparked A Movement

Thursday, January 24, 2008

The Plates That Sparked A Movement

Lasagna is a beautiful thing you know? To me, it’s a bit like chili in that you can kind of go your own way with it, and I never really do it the same twice. So not only is lasagna delicious, it is a way to get creative with your food. Oh yeah, and it is also a good way to use up veggies.

So, I bet you can guess what we had for dinner last night, and thus what is the subject of this post.














This was a bit of a lazy recipe as I just used a store bought organic, vegan mushroom and onion marinara sauce. I made Veganomicon’s Tofu Ricotta. It is pretty good and really easy to make too.

The sauce, of course, didn’t have enough veggies in it, so I sautéed some zucchini, bell pepper, artichoke hearts, carrot, onion, garlic, mushrooms, and a bit of spinach and threw that in the sauce to make it nice and chunky with veggies. I also cooked up some plain spinach and used a layer of that in my lasagna, ‘cause, well, I love spinach!

I made up some lasagna noodles according to the package directions and then layered the noodles with spinach, the Tofu Ricotta, and the chunky veggie sauce. I popped it in the oven at 350 degrees for about a half hour, until things began to get bubbly. Once it was done, I let it sit and cool for a few minutes (which is always grueling when you’re hungry!), and served it with a nice green salad and Annie’s Tuscany Italian dressing.

All around it was a fairly simple meal, and Brett was pleased that there were leftovers for him to have for lunch.

You know, these plates are so cool I bet a massive movement is going to spring up around them.

Bet you want to know where you can get yourself a set of these bad boys, eh?

3 comments:

Lizzy said...

Lasagna, I haven't had that in ages <3
It looks very tasty and the way you described how you pimped that marinara sauce... ohhhh my!! I want veggies now =p

I've always wanted to try tofu ricotta. Or vegan cheese in general. And now I really feel the need to make a vegan Lasagna. Something my meat-loving boyfriend would probably also eat. Do you think I could tell him that I used real cheese? Or is the taste difference rather noticeable? Ah whatever, I might as well top half of it with real cheese before he stops eating anything at all. I hate cooking a huge load of awesome food and then realizing that there is no one who is willing to share it with you. Some people just don't know what they're missing out on. The end!

J said...

Ha! I love that you said I "pimped" the sauce, I might have to use that and be a hip vegan as well.

I bet your omni boyfriend would love this, as mine sure does. There were leftovers of this, and he pretty much insisted that I leave it for him to have at lunch. I wonder if there isn't some sort of way to make your BF more open to trying new things.

Arrgh! I don't remember what "regular" lasagna tastes like, you know with the meat and the cheese in it. I imagine that this does taste different than regular lasagna, but not in a bad way, only different. Perhaps it would be best to top your BF's side with cow cheese so he'll give it a try. Leave the Tofu Ricotta in though and just don't say anything!

No kidding, if I was there, I would MOST DEFINETLY share it with you, he doesn't know what he's missing, a ton of good food for one!

Lizzy said...

You're so sweet =p
Hey, let's invent some fancy vegan-lingo, haha!

Yeah that's a plan! Now I can't wait to go grocery shopping.
Well, looks like I'll cook the following this weekend: Chili and Lasagna, yummmm! Thanks for the inspiration ;)