Whole Wheat Lasagna with Italian "Sausage" and Peppers

Alicia Silverstone Alicia Silverstone
posted Mar 4, 2011
Editorial
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Attached Recipe Photo

This recipe comes from Morgan, chef, mom, and creator of the blog Little House of Veggies. It looks good! Let me know if you try it out.

Ingredients

  • 1 box of whole wheat or brown rice lasagna noodles
  • 1 (16-ounce) box of frozen spinach, thawed, squeeze excess water out
  • 2 (26-ounce) jars of vegan marinara (Morgan used a basil marinara)
  • 4 vegan Italian "sausages" cut into cubes
  • 2 green bell peppers, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 handful vegan shredded cheese (enough to sprinkle on top only)
  • 1 pound extra firm tofu
  • 1 Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 teaspoon tsp sea salt
  • 1 pinch of black pepper to taste
  • 4 tablespoons chopped sundried tomatoes
  • 1 cup (a few huge handfuls) chopped fresh basil
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano

Directions

  1. Press water out of tofu by wrapping in a clean towel, and placing a pot or pan on top for about 10-20 minutes
  2. Crumble the tofu in a bowl, and add lemon juice, garlic, nutritional yeast, sea salt, black pepper, sundried tomatoes, fresh basil, and dried oregano
  3. Using a potato masher, smash up the tofu really well until it resembles ricotta cheese in texture
  4. Set aside until ready to use
  5. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water with 2 T olive oil to a boil, and cook noodles according to package (the oil will prevent the noodles from sticking together)
  6. Cook them for a few minutes less than suggested, so that they can finish cooking in the oven
  7. When noodles are done cooking, drain and rinse in cold water
  8. While the noodles are cooking, heat 2 T olive oil in a saute pan, and saute sausage a few minutes
  9. Use a potato masher to help crumble the sausage into slightly smaller pieces
  10. Add 2 jars of marinara sauce and 2 chopped green peppers to the pan, and let simmer about 10 minutes
  11. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
  12. In a rectangular pyrex glass dish, start layering your lasagna
  13. Start by adding a little sauce on the bottom, then 4 noodles, then sauce, spinach, tofu ricotta, 4 noodles, sauce, spinach, ricotta,4 noodles, and then end with sauce and cover the top with shredded vegan cheese (you should have 3 layers of noodles) Cover top of dish with foil, and bake for 30 minutes
  14. Uncover and cook an additional 10 minutes until cheese melts a little on top
  15. Let cool 5 minutes
  • cook time
    30 min.
  • prep time
    45 min.
  • yields
    6 serv.

Diet Categories:

  • Flirt

Ingredient Restrictions:

  • Peanut Free
  • Sugar Free
  • Tree Nut Free

Join the Discussion!

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  • Lizzie
    Jul 31, 2012 at 6:30am
    0 0
    My whole meat eating family loves this dish. I use fresh spinach instead of frozen and diced tomatoes instead of sundried if I don't have any on hand. I have also added mushrooms and did not add the "sausage" in another iteration of this lasagna....either way it's YUMMY!!!!
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  • Danielle
    Mar 23, 2012 at 5:19am
    0 0
    Just wanted to share a "spin-off" of this recipe that I've been chowing down on lately:
    I had a lot of the tofu "ricotta" filling left over from making this lasagna (which was DELICIOUS, btw).
    Anyway, I froze it for a while and then rediscovered it the other day. I sauteed some shallots, cremini mushrooms, and green bell peppers in a little olive oil until they had some colour. Then I added the tofu mixture til it was nice and fragrant. Next, I threw in some marinara sauce til heated and voila! Delish! Especially topped with Daiya cheddar.
    Try it, you'll love it. And it's super quick and easy too. :-)
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  • AO
    AO
    Mar 15, 2012 at 8:24am
    0 0
    Fantastic, newish to the vegan thing and cooking thing. It was simple to make and tasted fantastic to even my non vegan friends. This recipe likely feeds 8, given it's density.
    Thanks!
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  • Haylee Corliss
    Nov 22, 2011 at 10:35am
    0 0
    My friend and I made this a few weeks ago, and I still think about it. It was the best lasagna I've ever had, to be honest, vegan or not. We also shared it with our two carnivore friends, who were very impressed. We made a few substitutions: 1) we used fresh raw spinach instead of canned, and just layered it somewhere in there; 2) we added slices of portobella mushrooms, yum; and 3) we left green bell peppers out of the sauce, as neither of us really care for them. Make sure you really do get EXTRA firm tofu, as it most resembles ricotta cheese. Mmm so good. Enjoy!
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  • Krista Wilson
    Sep 9, 2011 at 4:52pm
    0 0
    I made this tonight but I tweaked it a little. I didn't have whole garlic but garlic powder subbed nicely. I decided to make a ziti since I had Ziti noodles but not lasagna. I added Follow Your Heart sour cream to the marinara and left out the dried tomatoes (there were tomato chunks in the sauce) and the "sausage." It. Was. Amazing!! Even my mom who is just now starting to cut out meat and has turned her nose to anything I've made (even though she likes it when I make her try) wouldn't stay out of my bowl! Every time I turned around she was sneaking bites! That says something!
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  • Andie Aiken
    Aug 3, 2011 at 5:17pm
    0 0
    I made this tonight for dinner and it turned out Great!! Even my meat and cheese loving husband and boys thought it was fantastic. I will definitely make this again and again!!!
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  • Stefanie Yoho
    May 29, 2011 at 12:00pm
    0 0
    I made this last night for dinner and even my meat-loving step dad liked it. I left out the sun-dried tomatoes and put a layer of fresh ones in instead. Also, I added chopped mushrooms and black olives as well. I think I'll use a little more spinach next time, but I was very pleased with the way this one turned out.
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  • Firefly
    Apr 30, 2011 at 9:40am
    0 0

    Made this last night. It was actually my first experience with the vegan sausage as I've been avoiding most processed vegan foods. It was a really good lasagna, and I'm Italian! I also had the vegan cheese for the first time, too. It was good and very flavorful. It makes A LOT, so make sure your family is home. I would probably eliminate the "sausage" next time, do less tofu and maybe add thin slices of eggplant. It's awesome as it is, Alicia is a genius in her recipes and I've enjoyed this one from Morgan. I've been superhero for awhile now, this was a treat. And I've never had whole wheat lasagna noodles before- DELICIOUS. This lasagna comes out tender/moist/easy to cut. Enjoy!

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  • Harmony T
    Apr 27, 2011 at 8:29am
    0 0
    I'm going to make this for dinner tomorrow night. I'll come back and let you know how much we like it!
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  • Spring
    Apr 26, 2011 at 11:19am
    0 0
    super yummy! i thought it tasted even better the next day after the flavors had time to sit for a while. i made it for easter dinner with some breadsticks and my husband (who loves loves meat) thought it was very good! he told me i should make it again when his family comes to visit :)
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  • mel
    mel
    Apr 19, 2011 at 2:30pm
    0 0
    I made this for my family and they all liked it, thank you for a great recipe.
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  • BCD
    BCD
    Apr 6, 2011 at 10:02am
    0 0
    We just made this and my husband went crazy for it! He kept saying "it's just like how I remember!". It was so amazingly delicious I think this will be a staple in our meals now. It's also PACKED with protein! Yummers!
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  • mel
    mel
    Mar 30, 2011 at 4:38pm
    0 0
    oops, I accidentally flagged this recipe, not sure what that means.
    This looks great, I cant wait to try it :)
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  • Valerie Uliana
    Mar 26, 2011 at 7:21pm
    0 0
    I made this for dinner tonight as my 1st vegan recipe and I have to admit, it was super tasty! If everything vegetarian/vegan tastes that good, it'll be an easy transition!
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  • Mark Orlando
    Mar 14, 2011 at 3:04pm
    0 0
    Wow! I'd love to see places like The Carlyle, The Four Seasons or yeah The French Laundry offer this, do you know what I mean and then maybe Troitiers, Panache or the Whitney. God I am looking so forward to The Red Lion Inn, The Woodstock or The Inn at Little Washington getting back to basics and fresh creative hearty wholesome and healthy ways! Imagine if The Yale Club New York made something just like this!
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  • amber
    Mar 7, 2011 at 4:43pm
    0 0
    I just made this tonight, and to my surprise, it is so yummy. It taste just like "real" lasagna. I will definitely be making this again. However, I think I'll probably use fresh spinach instead of frozen and maybe add even more veggies.
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