vegan pasta dishes

One of the few things I did miss about going vegan was lasagna without ricotta cheese which is strange because it is the ONLY time I like the stuff, and because I didn’t miss any other cheese products. Then I found a recipe for vegan ricotta. My first instinct was gross because personally, I don’t feel all the ‘cheese love’ for vegan cheese products and I’m okay without it in my diet.

But there is something about lasagna that just requires ricotta cheese and now that I’ve had it, I can pass along the knowledge to you.

Let’s get right into it, starting with the tofu ricotta!

What you’ll need:

Firm tofu (1 brick)
Nutritional yeast (2-3 tbsp. per brick)
Salt & black pepper
Vegan Parmesan

Pop those ingredients in a food processor until it is thick like ricotta, it will also have a slightly grainy texture, much like ricotta. Don’t over blend it. Once the tofu ricotta reached the perfect consistency, I tossed it with chopped spinach.

It was thick and creamy and I had to drop it by spoonfuls and spread it with the back of a spoon!

The rest of the vegan lasagna is a blend of crimini & button mushrooms, onions, bell pepper and garlic PLUS a homemade tomato sauce with fresh basil and oregano! Layer it up and pop it in the oven for 40-55 minutes depending on your oven and you are good to go.

This is another area where you can experiment with different vegetables and proteins to get plenty of different idea from a single recipe. I was in a traditional mood so I kept it simple here.

As you can see it turned out pretty well, staying in one piece during the cutting process.

If I could pick apart anything with this recipe it would be the cheese. I used it because this was a traditional vegan lasagna but I still am not a fan and I could have done without all of it, minus the vegan parm. It isn’t melty enough and I don’t like the taste of it but since the rest of the lasagna was so flavorful it didn’t bother me.

Much.

This was an amazing way to satisfy my desire for lasagna but it is time intensive if you make everything the way I did so I don’t imagine I’ll do it often but it was definitely worth the effort.

Beans, I’ve learned, are a pretty controversial food when they don’t need to be. Beans are an excellent source of protein and fiber, and beans are also incredibly inexpensive which means you get a lot of meal for your buck. We all (mostly??) have our favorite beans, mine include black beans and garbanzo beans because they’re so flavorful and versatile.

Why am I spouting the benefits of beans? The simple answer is that I’ve become quite a bean advocate over the years, looking at it as a cheap and healthy way to cook. These days I love that there are so many beans when I get the urge for a burger or a patty or some kind of meatless balls. But when I tell people I’m having a black bean & corn taco, I get wicked side eye like I said I was eating toenails and cola. They’re missing out and that’s fine by me.

More for me!

I picked up a half kilogram bag of black beans at the market, soaked them and popped them into the slow cooker for most of the day until they were soft enough to enjoy and I only added salt, herbs and vegetable stock for flavor.

Once the beans were done, I chopped: onions, celery (leaves and all), bell peppers, corn and garlic. Get a good crisp on the vegetables before you add the beans to the mix, this will enhance the flavor of Dish #1, black bean stew.

Along with the black beans I added cumin, smoky paprika, cayenne pepper, jalapeno, oregano and thyme. Oh, and I took a can of vegan chili beans, sauce and all, and put them in the blender until they were thick and creamy…and I added that to the broth/bean mixture for a thick stew-y texture that made my mouth water.

Scoop it in a bowl and garnish it as you wish and Dish #1 is complete.

Dish #2 is based on one of my favorite things back in my college days. Chili Mac from Steak n’ Shake. About fifteen minutes from campus there was an all night restaurant and chili mac was an amazing distraction, reward or way to commiserate about something I thought was life or death at the time. Ah, the stressful ol’ days.

But I saw this cute lasagna style noodles in the pantry and I knew what to do with the leftover bean stew. Chili Mac!

All you need is noodles, jalapenos (okay, more jalapenos) and cheese (optional) and you’re ready to go.

This particular cheese was a vegan Gouda that smelled a lot like Gouda and it wasn’t too bad on the taste buds either. I only added a little to my plate but the Hubs ate it up. Twice!

Grab y our favorite ice cold beverage and enjoy.