You know how you can order a pizza half and half when you just want veggies but your friends want all-the-meats? Well, you can make lasagna like that too! Enter the half vegan, half low fat turkey, all grain and noodle free veggie lasagna! I have to say, while I was expecting the vegan one to pale next to melty cheese, (and let’s be real, visually this might be true) in all reality, the flavors of the vegan side were much tastier!! Feel free to make one side or both to your own tastes! The ingredients below apply to the half/half style, but you can adjust it accordingly if you only want one of the sides for your whole lasagna 🙂
You need:
1 medium eggplant, sliced longwise into thin strips
2 zucchini sliced likewise
3/4 Jar organic marinara (I used Newman’s own basil tomato sauce)
About 8 oz firm tofu
About 8oz lean ground turkey
About 3 large mushrooms sliced thinly
About 2 cups frozen spinach, thawed
About 1 cup low fat cottage cheese
About 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella
About 3 TBS goat cheese
4 TBS nutritional yeast
Plenty of:
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Black pepper
Crushed red pepper
Oregano
Basil
And a little nutmeg
Layer some eggplant and zucchini in the bottom of a greased (and foil lined if you prefer) large casserole dish. Take your ground turkey and half of your marinara sauce and combine in a bowl, along with your onion/garlic powder, oregano, basil, and crushed red pepper. Then spread 1/2 of this mixture over the chosen “meat” half of your lasagna. Next spread your cottage cheese over the top of this half of the lasagna. Sprinkle with black pepper and nutmeg.
Then place tofu, spinach, 3tbs nutritional yeast, and some of all the spices mentioned (including the nutmeg) in a high speed blender until you have a creamy green purée. Spread this on the vegan half of the lasagna. Next place thinly sliced mushrooms single layer on top of the creamy greenness, and sprinkle with black pepper and nutmeg.
Then, lay down the second half of your thinly sliced zucchini and eggplant. On the meat side, go ahead and spread the remaining turkey mixture, then sprinkle shredded and crumbled cheeses on top. On the vegan side, spread a generous layer of marinara sauce, then sprinkle the top with the remaining nutritional yeast.
Cover with foil and place in oven preheated to 450F and bake for about 50minutes. Take off foil for the last 5 minutes and then broil about 2 minutes if desired. Let cool slightly, slice and enjoy! So delicious and worth the extra efforts to please all types of eaters 🙂 Just make sure to serve full vegans the slice farthest away from the meat side! ENJOY 🙂
