Gluten-free, Plant-based Zucchini Pesto Lasagna
Pesto, Zucchini Lasagna – gluten free and plant based!I LOVE my lasagna. I grew up in an Italian household and lasagna was a special treat. Of course my childhood version contained gluten, dairy, beef and Italian sausage. So what is a lasagna-lover to do when she’s gluten-free and plant based? Create an equally decadent recipe that is still gluten-free, dairy-free and wholly plant-based.Honestly, if I don’t mention it, most people have no idea how many traditional ingredients are not present in my lasagna. You just wouldn’t know, or care, because it’s so darned delicious… in my opinion! This is a tried and true recipe that is not new in our family. I’ve never put it on the site before because I pride myself on sharing recipes with you that are healthy, easy and relatively fast to make. This recipe fails in the “fast” category, big time. But… when is homemade lasagna ever fast? So I decided that if you wanted to make lasagna you probably were ready to set some time aside and just relax and have fun making a delicious, healthy dish. This lasagna freezes beautifully so you may want to consider “biting the bullet” and making two. That’s what I do and I’m always glad that the second one is waiting for me! Take you time, read through the whole recipe and then enjoy your time in the kitchen. The vegan cashew cheese can easily be made ahead of time by a day or two, so that will make lasagna day a little easier. Once it’s cooled you can shred it with a grater the way you would any cheese. It’s truly delicious.You can also make the pesto ahead, and in fact, when fresh basil is in season consider making and freezing a bunch of pesto to use later in the year. Frozen pesto literally lasts close to a year in the freezer. Please let me know how you enjoy this and any variations you come up with.
Ingredients
- 1 package rice lasagna noodles – I like Jovial best
- 2-3 cups vegan cheese. Make Dr Vikki’s Vegan Cashew Cheese Recipe in advance or you can use 1 bag of Daiya mozzarella grated “cheese”.
- 2, 25 ounce jars Tomato Sauce – You can certainly make your own but you don’t have to with so many well-made options available to purchase. I like Cucina Antica Tomato Basil.
- 2 Tablespoons organic avocado oil
- 2 large organic zucchini sliced into circles about ¼” wide.
- 2 cups organic cremini mushrooms sliced thin
- 1 bag Quorn chik’n tenders this product has a small amount of egg whites; avoid it you cannot tolerate eggs.
- 2 teaspoons Dr Vikki’s pesto – see recipe below
- 1 – 1 ½ cups fresh organic kale chopped well
- 1 ½ cups cashew cream see recipe below – 1/2 cup set aside.
- 1 Tablespoon organic nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon organic garlic powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
Dr Vikki’s Homemade Pesto
Ingredients:
- 1-2 cups fresh organic basil. If you cannot find fresh basil you can purchase pesto sauce but ensure it has no cheese in it. They do exist but they are not easy to find which is why I like to make pesto when basil is in season and freeze it. It will last for a year.
- 2 Tablespoons organic extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons organic walnuts
- 1 small garlic clove
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Method
- Starting with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil, add all ingredients to a food processor and process until smooth. Slowly add more oil while processor is running if needed to get the correct texture. If you have more than 2 teaspoons of pesto it’s fine to add an extra to the dish or simply save it for your next meal. Pesto is good on almost anything… that’s an Italian speaking, of course!
Dr Vikki’s Cashew Cream Sauce
- Take 1 1/2 cups of raw organic cashews and cover in water for about 20 minutes. As long as you have a high speed blender, even 10-15 minutes will be fine because cashews are so soft.
- Drain the cashews into a high speed blender and cover with about 1 cup of purified water.
- Add a small squeeze (1 teaspoon) of organic lemon juice and blend until creamy.
- You should have a thick cream sauce. If it’s still chunky add a little more water. It it’s too thin just throw in another 1/4 cup of cashews.
- You can’t mess this up.
- Add salt
- You’ll be using 1 cup for the Creamy Pesto Sauce, set aside about 1/2 cup to drizzle atop the lasagna before you cook it.
Method for Creamy Pesto Sauce
- Heat the avocado oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Fry the zucchini slices until lightly golden brown on both sides.
- Remove the zucchini and set aside. In the same pan add 1 or 2 teaspoons avocado oil and saute mushrooms on high heat until lightly brown.
- Add the Quorn and cover, reducing the heat to medium until it’s heated through. This will take about 5 minutes. Stir the quorn and mushrooms to ensure nothing burns.
- Add the zucchini back into the saucepan.
- Add the pesto (either homemade or purchased – recipe above) and kale and cook for a couple of minutes to combine.
- Add 1 cup of the cashew cream (recipe above), nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Simmer gently for 5-10 minutes and put aside. If it’s getting a little dry you can add a splash or vegetable broth, but I don’t typically find that’s necessary.
To Assemble
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Grease a 11 x 7 inch casserole glass dish.
- Place 2-3 Tablespoons of tomato sauce on the bottom of the dish and using the back of a spoon spread it evenly.
- Place 2 or 3 sheets of dry, uncooked lasagna noodles on the bottom of the dish. Ensure to cover the entire bottom. You can break the noodles if necessary to get coverage.
- Layer 1/3 of your cheese on top.
- Spoon about half of the Creamy Pesto Sauce on top.
- Top with a layer of noodles, this time running them perpendicular to your first layer.
- Layer another 1/3 of vegan cheese.
- Put the remainder of the Creamy Pesto Sauce on top.
- Finish with a final layer of lasagna noodles, this time running the same direction as your first layer.
- Carefully pour the entire jar of tomato sauce on top, making sure it seeps through the side and edges. You can push down with the end of a wooden spoon or knife but make sure you see the tomato sauce making its way down through all the layers.
- Since the noodles are raw it’s important to make sure the top layer is well covered.
- Drizzle some of the remaining cashew cream sauce over the top in a zig zag pattern, ensuring the tomato sauce is visible through it.
- Bake for 45- 50 minutes until golden on top. I like to start with it covered for about 15-20 minutes with aluminum foil. Take it out at that point, remove the aluminum foil and again push down on the top noodles so they don’t bow up. Pushing down on the top layer ensures the cook evenly. Cook for the remaining time.
- After the total time has elapsed put a knife through the top layer of noodles to ensure they’re soft and cooked. If so, remove from the oven and let it cool for about 20-30 minutes.
Notes
Is Your Health At Its Optimum?If you are suffering from any of the problems listed above—contact us for a consultation. Call (727) 335-0400 to schedule. Our medical clinic is located in Clearwater, FL. If you are not local to us, our medical team treats patients from across the country and internationally via telemedicine consultations. We help you find the underlying root cause of your health issues. To your health,
Dr. Vikki Petersen
DC, CCN
IFM Certified Practitioner
Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Author of the books:
“The Gluten Effect”
"Hiatal Hernia Syndrome",
and of the e-book “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
