Who doesn’t love lasagna? Who doesn’t love Mac-n-Cheese? Put the two together….can you say Vegan Heaven? Or as the famous food connoisseur, Homer Simpson, puts it “Aaaarrrrrrhhhh!”

I made this special for my oldest daughter, the diva extraordinaire. She lives with her mother in Cleveland and she’s always complaining about the extravagant meals we make and she doesn’t get to share. Then she proceeds to complain I don’t put any pictures of her on our website. So, now I’m making food and trying to take pictures of her.

And, as any typical teenager…she complains about no pictures, but doesn’t want to take pictures. Never satisfied. True Diva! But you know what, this recipe made her and it’ll make you very happy!

The assembly of this is a cinch, but you’ll need to do some prep work first. You’ll need the following recipes:

Creamy Soy Cheese – 1 and 1/2 times the recipe. Add an additional 1/2 tablespoon of Sea Salt. You want the cheese salty because it will be flavoring the bland pasta.
Tofu Ricotta – 1 recipe
Ste Martaen Marinara Sauce – 1/2 recipe

Our Veggies:

1 red pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1 bulb garlic, diced
12 oz sundried tomatoes (the kind packed in olive oil), diced
1/2 lb fresh spinach, washed

You’ll also need one package of Tofurky Italian Sausage links. Slice them up and put to the side.

All prep work is done, time to start cookin! Cook 1 pound of elbow macaroni until just before al dente. You want it a little firmer because it will finish cooking while in the oven. Other than that, it’ll get all mushy. Also, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large pot saute your veggies (all but spinach) on medium high with 1 and 1/2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

After 5 minutes, add your Tofurky slices and saute and additional 5 minutes.

Add the cooked pasta to your saute veggies and mix.

Add Creamy Soy Cheese to the mix until everything is real creamy and moist. At this point you have Sundried Tomato Mac-n-Cheese. You can cook this by itself for 30 minutes at 350 degrees for a great tasting Mac-n-Cheese dish. But we’re taking this a few steps further.

Time to turn up the yumminess!

Ladle some Ste Martaen Marinara sauce in the bottom of a 11″ x 15″ casserole dish. Cover the bottom of the dish completely.

Add a layer of the Sundried Tomato Mac-n-cheese.

Add a layer of fresh spinach.

Next, add a layer of the Tofu Ricotta.

Top with some more Marinara sauce.

And, another layer of the Sundried Tomato Mac-n-Cheese.

Finish it up by covering the top with the rest of the Creamy Soy Cheese.

Put in your 350 degree preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes.

Wow, that looks awesome! Let the Lasagna glory sit for about 7 minutes then dig in!

Layers of comforty goodness!

Our parting shot. Time to eat. My taste buds are happy…very happy .

Nothing like a dish that incorporates the goodness of faux meat, pasta, vegan cheese and tomatoes. Complete happiness in every bite. We are starting our 6 Weeks, 6 Lasagna’s with a bang. This lasagna is power packed with taste and body. There will be 3 types of faux meat and two types of vegan cheese; and who can resist our own special marinara sauce.

You’ll need to prepare the following basics:
2 recipes Creamy Soy Cheese – *add 1/4 cup Dried Parsley to each recipe
1 recipe Ste Martaen Marinara Sauce

Our 3 faux meats are:
1 package Upton’s Naturals Ground Beef Style Seitan
1 package Upton’s Naturals Italian Sausage Style Seitan
1 package Tofurky Italian Sausage

Most of you have most likely heard of Tofurky. In Chicago, there’s a great vegan owned company Upton’s Naturals. They are not national yet, but as good as their products are, look for them soon. Check out their website and order you some faux meat excellence. The seitan products we are using are already pre-crumbled and taste outstanding. They are better than any of the national brands I have tried.

For the Upton’s Naturals “meats” you’ll need to sauté each one separately in 1 ½ tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil until evenly browned. It should only take about 5 minutes for each. Once browned, remove from heat and empty into a small bowls.

For the Tofurky Italian Sausage, slice in ¼ inch pieces and also sauté until browned in 1 ½ tablespoons EVOO. Remove once browned a put aside in separate bowl.

There we have it, all 3 browned and ready for duty.

While browning your faux meats, boil your lasagna noodles according to directions. You want to cook them to just before al dente. You want the noodles to be pliable, but not thoroughly cooked. They will finish cooking with the sauce once baked.

Assembly time!!
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a 9×13 cassorole dish, cover the bottom with the Ste Martaen Marinara sauce.

Add a layer of lasagna noodles. Lay your strips side by side lengthwise overlapping each row.

Add your sauteed Upton’s Naturals Ground Beef-Style seitan.

Cover with marinara sauce.

Pour on a layer of Creamy Soy Cheese.

With a spatula, spread out the Creamy Soy Cheese in an even layer.

Add another layer of lasagna noodles.

Add the Upton’s Naturals Italian Sausage-Style seitan.

Cover with marinara sauce.

Pour on some more Creamy Soy Cheese and spread out.

Now add your Tofurky Italian Sausage pieces.

Shred 1/4 pound of Ste Martaen Vegan Muenster Style Cheese evenly over the top.

Ready to bake. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Oh. My. God. That looks good.

I know this will be hard, but let the lasagna cool for 10 minutes, then go ahead and cut a piece. As Kevin from Delicious Cafe said: “The combination of the creaminess of the cheese and the faux meats is mouth watering. I ate a piece and I couldn’t resist going back for more.” I couldn’t have said it better myself! Enjoy!

My husband and I watch Food Network often. One show that I enjoy is the Barefoot Contessa, she did a white mushroom lasagna and it looked delectable. Because this recipe is so simple, it is quite easy to veganize.

Giving credit where it is due, the original recipe can be found here.

Boil 3/4 box of lasagna, drain and set aside. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Chop up 1 1/2 pounds of mushrooms. I used a combination of Oyster, Shitake and Cremini.

Saute the mushrooms in olive oil and season with salt to taste. Set aside and get ready to make the white sauce.

Heat four cups of plain soymilk until scalding hot and set aside.

Melt a stick of vegan margarine.

Add a half a cup flour and a half a cup of nutritional yeast.

Pour in the hot milk and add a tablespoon of salt, a teaspoon of fresh nutmeg and a teaspoon of black pepper. Stir well and simmer for about five minutes and take off of heat.

Pour a layer of sauce to coat the bottom of the pan.

Add a layer of noodles.

Pour another layer of sauce over the noodles and then top with a layer of mushrooms and then repeat. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

I forgot to take a picture before putting it in the oven, but you will forgive me when you make this dish!