No-Noodle Vegetarian Zucchini & Tofu Lasagna Recipe

I love Italian food. Spaghetti, lasagna, eggplant parmigiana, you name it. What I don’t love about Italian food is that gross, overstuffed feeling I get probably 90% of the time because it’s so good I overeat and it’s so heavy in all it’s carby, saucy goodness. Then came this recipe. Blaine and I usually devour half of this lasagna when I make it and I don’t even feel guilty. Check out the nutritional info at the very bottom. Not too bad, friends. It’s filled with veggies, tofu & cheese. What’s not to love?

Keep in mind because there are no noodles to soak up moisture, this lasagna isn’t as neat and tidy as most. As you can see in the image above it just kind of does what it wants. It wants to be saucy and delicious. The better to dip your garlic bread/rolls in, I say.

P.S. as with most of my recipes, I honestly am nowhere near chef-status. Not even line cook at the local diner status. I do what works for me and this recipe is what works for me. If you want to switch up ingredients or change around baking times/temps, go for it!

Ingredients:

• 3 zucchini
• half onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 lb mushrooms
• jar of pasta sauce
• 1/2 of 9-10 oz bag of spinach
• 1 block tofu
• 1.5 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Wash zucchini and then slice or peel long-ways (so the slices are long, not round). I used a peeler since the one I have can make pretty thick slices. I’d say 1/4″ or less thick. Throw slices in a colander in the sink and sprinkle with salt to drain.

3. To prepare tofu, drain water and then set on towels to soak water. Put some towels on top and put a heavy plate or cutting board on top to squeeze out moisture. Switch out towels as needed until you need to tofu in step 6. Note: I hate wasting paper towels so I usually just squeeze it gently over the sink for 2-3 minutes. However, this doesn’t get all the water out so add a bit more moisture to the recipe, but I don’t mind a sloppy lasagna. I’m using a fork either way.

4. Heat a pot on the stove with enough oil to cover the bottom. Add chopped onions and bell pepper. Cook for a few minutes then add mushrooms. Cook for several minutes until everything starts to soften a bit.

5. Stir in a jar of spaghetti sauce into onion, bell pepper and mushroom mixture. Heat for a couple of minutes and then add spinach. Stir occasionally until spinach starts to wilt. Turn off heat.

6. In a bowl crumble the tofu then add 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella and the egg. Mix together and set aside.

7. Time to start building! Layer it as follows:

• scoop 1/3 sauce & veggie mixture in bottom of pan
• layer of 1/2 your zucchini
• 1/2 of your tofu and cheese mixture
• another 1/3 of sauce and veggie mixture
• the rest of your zucchini
• the rest of your tofu and cheese mixture
• the rest of your sauce
• top with the 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella you saved

8. Cover with foil and put in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil after 30 minutes and put back in the oven for another 10 minutes or until cheese starts to brown. Remove once cheese is how you’d like it and let sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Nutritional info (varies based on sauces, cheese, etc you use)
One serving (6 servings total): 308 calories, 22g carbs, 15g fat, 24g protein, 900mg sodium, 14g sugar