Hello, friends. Long time no talk! I apologize for my radio silence – I was away at a conference and had only the very best intentions of blogging from the hotel room, and then we hosted LeeLee’s family for the week and had only the best intentions of blogging once they’d gone to bed. But good intentions did not yield any blog posts! I apologize for that.
I’m back on the wagon (and in the kitchen) today, though –
with only the second homemade meal I’ve cooked in the last two weeks! Usually, LeeLee and I like to go out on
Saturday nights, but we found ourselves craving something healthy and
homey. My mother’s spinach lasagna
recipe fit the bill, as usual!
I’m not following her regular recipe precisely to the letter
tonight, however. Instead, I’m using
tofu to replace the cottage cheese and vegan cheese to replace the dairy
mozzarella. We’ve been trying to eat
less dairy and eggs at home for a number of reasons, and what better time to
experiment than with a tried-and-true recipe that only the two of us will eat
this weekend? No dinner party to prepare
for; nobody to “show off” for. This gave
me the perfect opportunity to test some substitutions.
So, here’s what I did.
First, I made the sauce by emptying two cans of tomato sauce into a
saucepan, then adding a diced onion, a jar of sliced mushrooms, and some basil,
oregano, garlic powder, and sugar. As
that simmered, I defrosted a package of chopped spinach and added it to the mix
as well.
Once the sauce had come together nicely, I put the lasagna
together. First, in a normal-sized
lasagna pan, I added a half-cup or so of sauce to the bottom, just giving it a
nice base layer. Then I added one layer
of uncooked lasagna noodles, then a container of extra-firm tofu, which I
crumbled with my hands to give it a ricotta-like texture. Next, I added about half of the remaining
sauce, spreading it out nicely, and then topped that with half of my vegan
mozzarella. Then I added another layer
of lasagna noodles, the rest of the sauce, and finally topped it with the rest
of the mozzarella.
I covered the lasagna with aluminum foil and placed it into
a 350-degree oven for an hour. In the
last 15 minutes of the bake time, I added a loaf of garlic bread to the oven
and tossed a fresh salad to accompany the meal.
Once the timer dinged, dinner was ready, and LeeLee and I feasted while
watching the latest installment of the NCAA basketball tournament!
As far as the vegan substitutions went, they didn’t miss a
beat. The lasagna was as comforting and
hearty as ever, and the taste was fantastic. LeeLee felt the taste was slightly different -- though "just as good," he insisted -- from the dairy version, but I confess I didn't notice any change in the taste or texture at all. The only difference I did notice was the slight lack of cohesion when slicing pieces of lasagna for serving; when I do it over again, I'll use Daiya mozzarella rather than the Trader Joe's brand (the Daiya tends to hold up a little better in baking). Either way, I will definitely feel comfortable serving the vegan version to friends,
family, and other dinner guests! And I'll bet that most of them won't even notice the lack of dairy. The secret's in the sauce, as usual!
:)
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