Vegan Lasagna

Last night my girlfriend, Des, joined me for dinner.  Des is definitely not a vegan, but she seems to enjoy what I make for her -- at least she says she does.  Last night she helped me cook a delicious lasagna.  She told me that she doesn't usually like lasagna, but she like this one.  I recently purchased a few gorgeous basil plants at Lowes for about $4 each -- they have already gotten plenty of use.  So much so that for this dish I had to purchase some more basil -- Albertsons has small, but full, basil plants for sale for about $3.50 that can be potted and reused.

Ingredients:

• lasagna pasta
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 small jar of roasted red bell peppers, sliced thinly 
• 1 small jar of artichoke hearts, sliced thinly 
• 2 cups of baby portobellos, sliced thinly 
• 1 jar of tomato sauce 
• 1 container of firm tofu, 
• A handful plus some of fresh basil leaves, sliced thinly 
• 2 T of lemon juice
• 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast
• 5-10 garlic cloves (I love garlic), minced 
• salt and pepper to taste 

Preheat oven to 350.  Cook the lasagna according to package directions.  Add olive oil to a pan on medium heat on the stove and throw in 4 of the minced garlic cloves (about 1/2) and onions.  Wait about 2 minutes and add the mushrooms.  Wait a few more minutes (until the mushrooms show a little brown) and add the zucchini. Cook a little longer, but don't letter the veggies wilt.  Once complete take the pan off of the heat. 

In a medium sized bowl add the tofu and crumble with a fork.  Add the lemon juice, basil, nutritional yeast, remaining garlic and salt and blend well.  

Add about 1/4 of the pasta sauce to the bottom of a glass baking pan.  Layer the pasta and veggies your favorite way.  The top layer will be the remaining sauce and the tofu mixture.  Bake for about 30 minutes.