Zucchini Noodle Lasagna with Lentil Bolognese

With all my classes recently, I’m starting to develop new courses for schools where I’ve already taught the same classes over and over again. I LOVE having previous students come back, so offering new classees is a great way to get them to come back and not have to repeat all the same information and recipes that they already know.

And since many people are big fans of meals that are cost effective, easy to throw together and can serve a full family, I’m happy that one of my newest classes is Easy Weeknight Vegan Meals which will be held at Minuteman in Lexington on April 8th. So I’ve been developing lots of dishes that fall under that category, and even though this lasagna seems like it has a lot of steps, it really is a pretty easy dish. Hopefully my students agree! And even if they don’t think it’s super easy to put together, I’m pretty sure they’ll still end up making it themselves since it’s super delicious.

UPDATE: Made this in another class this week and it was a massive hit! Here are some of my students at the Boston Center for Adult Education preparing this dish.

LASAGNA

2 medium/large zucchini, sliced into strips on a mandolin (about 30 strips)

5 cups baby spinach

2 ½ cups sliced mushrooms

1 yellow onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp oregano

1 tbsp tamari

1 tsp all-purpose seasoning

Sea salt and black pepper

Olive oil

WHITE BEAN CHEESE SAUCE

2 cups cooked white beans

1 cup soaked cashews

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

2/3 cup coconut milk

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 clove garlic

Sea salt and black pepper

LENTIL MARINARA

3 cups organic tomato sauce

2 cups cooked green lentils

1/4 cup tomato paste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Begin by slicing your zucchini, lengthwise, into thin strips with a mandolin
Place strips in a colander and season with salt to drain excess moisture for 15 minutes
Meanwhile, heat a few tbsp of olive oil over medium heat with crushed red pepper in a frying pan
Add onions and cook for 8 minutes or until translucent
Add spinach, mushrooms, tamari, oregano, salt, pepper and all-purpose seasoning and continue cooking until mushrooms are tender and spinach is wilted
In another frying pan, cook a little more olive oil over medium heat and add lentils
Stir in tomato paste until well dispersed
Add tomato sauce and bring to a boil, then let simmer for 10 minutes
Meanwhile, pulse all ingredients for cheese sauce in a food processor until creamy
Once sauce is done, ladle one cup of it onto the bottom of a greased 9X13 baking dish
Layer strips of zucchini over that, then top with half of the cheese sauce, and then half of the veggies
Repeat layers one time, then top second layer of veggies with zucchini and finish with the sauce
Cover, and cook at 350 degrees for 40 minutes
Remove cover, and cook for an additional 15 minutes