This week, I had a conundrum.
For our family Thanksgiving celebration, we enjoyed a bunch of appetizers instead of doing a full spread with the usual fixings.
As an app-loving kinda gal, it was awesome.
However, I also had a TON of leftover food.
Leftovers from our more traditional Thanksgiving with A’s extended family. Leftovers from our second appetizer Thanksgiving. Two jars of leftover homemade sauce from the lasagna I had intended to make and freeze earlier in the week in preparation for December’s festivities. And a whole ham that I had gotten free thanks to a local grocery store chain promotion.
Most of the leftovers were odds and ends and despite my general habit of randomly making recipes up, I was feeling a little stumped.
UNTIL….
I thought about that lasagna I had wanted to make and freeze, and the following deliciousness was born.
VEGAN LASAGNA – MADE WITH LEFTOVER SPINACH ARTICHOKE DIP
Maybe this doesn’t seem radical to you, but I have been making my vegan lasagnas with a tofu “ricotta” for years. I’ve also used a vegan melty “mozzarella” in lasagna before. Both versions are also super delicious and satisfying, but I had never considered using this dip in the lasagna.
Here’s the recipe from It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken for the basic “mozzarella.”
I had trouble finding the original dip recipe on the website, but here is a PDF version that includes the dip recipe I followed plus the vegan mozzarella at the bottom.
I tripled the recipe when I made it for Thanksgiving, so I had at least a full batch leftover, possibly even more.
I also already had the jars of sauce sitting in my fridge. Here’s the gist of what I did:
- Sautee 8 oz chopped mushrooms and a whole chopped onion (I did this entire process in my InstantPot). You can also add chopped bell pepper if you have one.
- Add in roughly 3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped, and a full jar of marinara (I used garlic I had minced and frozen previously and a jar of sauce I had canned earlier this summer using garden tomatoes)
- Grate 8 oz tempeh and add to sauce
- Add additional seasonings if desired; my marinara was pretty flavorful already, so I didn’t add anything.
- Slow cook for at least an hour; the longer you go, the more the flavors develop, in my opinion. I used the slow cook setting on the InstantPot for 2 hours.
- Taste and adjust seasonings, if desired.
This ended up making 2 quarts of sauce for me.
Since I already had the sauce and the dip sitting in my fridge, the actual lasagna was super easy to throw together:
Assembling the Lasagna
Makes 2 9×13″ pans
- 2 boxes whole wheat lasagna noodles
- 2 quarts sauce (of your choice)
- 4-6 cups spinach artichoke dip
- 8 oz vegan shredded mozzarella
- 1 pint plain marinara sauce
Directions
– Spread a thin layer of sauce on bottom of pan
– Add layer of lasagna noodles, slightly overlapping and covering the entire bottom of the dish
– Spread on a thin layer of spinach artichoke dip, more sauce, and a sprinkle of shredded vegan mozzarella (I go light on the store-bought shredded cheeses)
– Repeat process until pan is full; finish top layer of noodles with a generous spread of plain marinara sauce and another light sprinkle of shredded vegan mozzarella
– Repeat entire process for second 9×13″ pan (or do them simultaneously!)
– Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour and 15 minutes; check doneness of noodles with a butter knife. The knife should slice through easily. If noodles are still a bit al dente, continue cooking at 15 minute intervals until your preferred doneness. I cooked mine about an hour and 20 minutes total.
