Wellness Wednesday- Vegan, Gluten & Dairy Free Lasagna

This past Friday I hosted the monthly Ventura Pop Up Yoga family/team dinner at my place. I love cooking but become very anxious of the idea of preparing food for more than 2 people; What if I don’t make enough? What about dietary restrictions? So I default to what any Susy Homemaker would do and decide upon a dish that can be pre-created in a casserole dish and thrown in the oven before company arrives; LASAGNA!

After determining the main course I scoured Pinterest for “a” recipe. Per usual I couldn’t settle on just one recipe. Wanting the veggies in one recipe, a similar sauce from another, etc. I have a tendency to kind of mash several recipes together to get the ingredients I like to come together.

I’m also not very good at using real measurements (real meaning US standard measurement tools) to cook with. I’m kind of a dash here, a spoonful of that, and a quick taste test to see how it’s coming along. So in efforts to give you some guidelines, here is a compilation of the 3 Pinterest recipes I combined to get this piece de resistance; aka Vegan Gluten & Dairy Free Lasagna.

Vegan Gluten & Dairy Free Lasagna

1 finely chopped white onion

2 large diced zucchini

1 diced red bell pepper

2 Cups fresh spinach

½ Cup fresh basil chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes

1 15oz can crushed tomatoes (if you like less sauce you can cut this can out)

1 Cup Tofutti Ricotta dairy free cheese

½ Cup Daiya mozzarella style shredded dairy free cheese

1 box of gluten free lasagna noodles

2 tsp olive oil

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Pour 1 tsp olive oil to warm pan and toss in white onions. Cook for approx. 2 mins. As the onions start to become clear add the minced garlic and dried oregano. Sauté combination for another min or two.

Stir in tomato paste, evenly coating garlic and onions. Add cans of crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste. Allow sauce to simmer for approximately 20 mins. Stirring occasionally to avoid burning the bottom of the sauce. Add fresh basil for the last 10 mins.

While the sauce is simmering utilize this time to cook your chopped veggies. In an additional pan add remaining olive oil, zucchini and red peppers. Saute for 5-6 mins. As they soften add the spinach and simmer for another 1-2 mins until spinach has wilted. Drain any settled water from the bottom of the pain. Set this pan aside.

In the meantime preheat your oven to 325 degrees. As your sauce continues to simmer, bring noodles to a boil for 6-8 mins. They’ll be half cooked to a nice al dente.

Grab your oven safe dish and coat the bottom of it with a nice layer of tomato sauce. Cover sauce with a layer of lasagna noodles. Layer the noodles with some ricotta cheese. Add veggies over the top of the cheese. Repeat for 1-2 more layers ending with a tomato sauce layer. Cover this top later of sauce with the mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 25 mins. Serve immediately.

Side Salad (optional):

Heather whipped together a yummy salad that sided perfectly to this warm hearty lasagna.

Arugula, asparagus (fresh/non-cooked), cherry tomatoes, and pumpkin seeds. Toss in a light olive oil based dressing.