Chickpea Lasagna

My favorite food is pizza, but lasagna is a very close second.  Lasagna has to be one of the unhealthiest things a person can dive into, but ohhh.... so delicious!  I really hated the thought of not being able to splurge on this heavenly dish, so I made it my mission to try and find a vegan way to make it. 

When I first started out as a vegan, I was eating a lot of soy and was able to find some really yummy vegan lasagna recipes with tofu.  But after a while I decided maybe soy wasn't for me and so I needed to find a way to make lasagna without tofu.  I think I have been able to come up with a good alternative.  My real test was having my kids try it.  When they ate almost a whole 9x13 inch dish of it I figured it was a winner!  Surprisingly the chickpeas are delicious in this lasagna.  It is really creamy and oh so good!  It isn't the normal "American" lasagna that everyone loves, but it is much healthier and yes healthy (at least in this case) is a good thing!  You don't have to be vegan to enjoy this recipe, sometimes it is just nice to try something different and healthier.  I would love to put some chopped mushrooms in this recipe, but my kids hate mushrooms.  So for now I am going to enjoy my kids' delight when I make lasagna for them and leave out the mushrooms, but I highly suggest putting some in the sauce if you'd like.

If you are one of my many non-vegan friends, you can replace the Vegenaise with regular mayo since you probably don't have Vegenaise in your fridge.  Nutritional Yeast is a very good source of vitamin B12 and has a "cheesy" flavor - so I highly suggest you give it a try.

Chickpea Lasagna

Ingredients

9 whole wheat lasagna noodles
12 oz. can tomato paste
2 cans of water
1 pkg. spaghetti sauce mix
4 ½ cups chickpeas
3 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
4 ½ Tbsp Vegenaise
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1 Tbsp parsley
½ Tbsp minced garlic
18 oz. pkg. Daiya mozzarella (optional)

Directions

Cook noodles according to package directions. 

In a medium saucepan, stir together the tomato paste, water and spaghetti mix.  Let it simmer for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pulse the rest of the ingredients (except for the mozzarella) in a food processor until there are no more whole chickpeas and you have a somewhat chunky paste.  It is OK to have small chunks of chickpeas left.

Spoon just enough sauce to cover the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan; top with 3 of the cooked lasagna noodles.  Spread with 1/3 of the chickpea filling.  Sprinkle with a handful of cheese if you are using it.  Repeat layers twice more, except after the last chickpea layer spread the red sauce over it then sprinkle the cheese.  I usually have some leftover cheese when I am done, but feel free to use the whole package if desired.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Let stand for 5-10 minutes to set layers.