Rule Number 23091 in marriage:
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Do not feel required to tell your husband what is in his lasagna.
There’s a reason for this. You see, as I was thinking about a new dish I wanted to make for us, I thought about how I wanted some good old comfort food. Some ooey gooey casserole that could feed us for days — basically meaning I didn’t have to wash a new dish for at least three days. That’s winning in my book. I went through all the basics and realized I make them or have made them in the recent past, which led me to my jaw dropping realization.
I have been gluten free for two years now, and I had yet to make a lasagna. I know, I know — pick those jaws up off the ground. I was a little scared for myself too. I made myself a promise that a lasagna would be made, and boy did it deliver. Although, as I was making the lasagna, I was cursing myself and remembering that the reason why I haven’t ever made a lasagna since becoming gluten free wasn’t because I didn’t want to have lasagna for dinner. It was because making lasagna is kind of a pain in the butt.
I spent my afternoon on Saturday making spaghetti sauce. I spent my afternoon on Sunday assembling this lasagna. I baked it on Monday. That’s a three day long project, folks. This was quite an achievement as knowing what I want to eat three days in advance is quite a feat.
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I don’t mean to scare you away from making lasagna — in fact, you should make it. You should really really make it. And then you should drizzle it with this hummus and nutritional yeast sauce I whipped up since I was wallowing in the fact that I couldn’t have hot toasty bubbling cheese on top of my lasagna. And then you should put a few sprigs of rosemary on top of it. And then continue to add more rosemary once you eat what you have on your plate. Because let’s be honest with ourselves, the rosemary makes this lasagna.
And you could totally make this in one day too. Especially if you have the sauce already made. But don’t use jarred sauce — please for the love of God don’t do that. Make your own. Freeze it. Pull it out when a recipe calls for jarred marinara. You’ll thank me later when you’re not attempting to eat enough after dinner chocolate to get the marinara jar taste out of your mouth. No? Just me? I swear I can taste the jar.
Anyways, back to why you shouldn’t feel the need to tell your husband what’s in his lasagna. He may think he ate ricotta, but in reality, he ate tofu. Don’t tell him he ate tofu. Just let him think whatever he wants and if he doesn’t say anything about how you are eating a lasagna made with ricotta when his wife doesn’t eat cheese, just go with the flow. Don’t ruin it for yourself. Smile as he gobbles up his plate and calls down the hall that dinner was “great” and he “loved the lasagna”. Yeah, I bet you loved that tofu lasagna, honey.
Spinach, Rosemary, and Tofu Lasagna with a Humnut Drizzle
Serves: 4-6
Difficulty: Moderate
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ready In : 60 minutes
For the lasagna:
- 1 box brown rice lasagna noodles
- 2-3 cups marinara sauce (I used my best ever marinara sauce)
- 10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed
- 1 block organic tofu
- 2/3 cup almond milk
- 3 tbsp. nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1/4 cup rosemary sprigs, divided for filling and garnish
- 1/2 tsp. basil
- 1/4 tsp. oregano
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- salt and pepper to taste
For the drizzle:
- 1/4 cup hummus
- 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp. water
Directions: Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil and cook your lasagna noodles per the instructions on the box. While the lasagna noodles are cooking, press your tofu for 10-15 minutes to get some of the water out of the tofu. Once the tofu is pressed, crumble it with your hands into a large bowl. Add the 2/3 cup almond milk, 3 tbsp. nutritional yeast, 1 tbsp. lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. basil, 1/4 tsp. oregano, 1 tsp. garlic powder, and 3 tbsp. of your rosemary sprigs. Mix until all spices are well incorporated and add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. Drain and press all the liquid out of the thawed spinach and set aside as well.
Once your lasagna noodles are finished cooking, drain and place in a single layer on paper towels to dry. Then, begin to assemble your lasagna — put a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9×9 pan and put 3 noodles on top. Add half of your tofu mixture, half of your spinach, and another layer of sauce. Cover with 3 more lasagna noodles, the other half of the tofu, the remaining spinach, and another layer of sauce. Cover with 3 more noodles and another layer of sauce. Loosely cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes, uncovering for the last 10 minutes. Once done cooking, let the lasagna sit for 5 minutes before serving.
To make the humnut drizzle, combine the hummus, nutritional yeast, and water in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth. To serve the lasagna, plate up a generous portion, drizzle with humnut sauce, and garnish with more rosemary sprigs. Enjoy!
In the end, we both got our comfort food. I wore stretchy pants. I may have used my finger to clean my plate. I “mmm’ed” along with the Husband as we talked about our days. One thing we didn’t talk about? Tofu. And that is the secret to our happy marriage.
Haven’t had quite enough comfort food? Feel free to visit Kelly Confidential to vote for your favorite food and/or share your own. Just so you know, Electrolux will donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund as part of its $1 million commitment to thecause1.
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