Lasagna with Roasted Cauliflower Ricotta and Spinach

I am back to cooking more at home and trying new recipes.  This one comes from Appetite for Reduction, a cookbook I definitely want to use more often. I did find I didn't quite have enough of the tofu/cauliflower ricotta so I think next time I'll get a larger cauliflower (if possible) and use more than a pound of tofu.  I used fresh spinach.    I can't wait to try this, but I'm trying to hold off until at least one of my kids is home to join me.  The taste?  Maybe a touch bland.  I would prefer some pepper in the tofu/cauliflower ricotta, but that's just me.  It was light, but satisfying to eat.  Brian said he liked it also.

Lasasgne And Meaty Beany Chili

Amy did something wonderful:  she cleaned the kitchen Saturday.  I hate cooking in a filthy kitchen, and sometimes, especially if we make something pan- and bowl-intensive during the week, stuff gets piled up in the sink and on the counters, until you cannot navigate the place at all.  But Amy rose to the occasion - she cleans the kitchen and cleans and refills the cat boxes in exchange for gas money, so it works out great.  I had quite a bit of cooking I wanted to do, so it felt good to pull out my chopping knife and cutting board in a clean kitchen.  I also have The New Farm Cookbook, which I had made the melty cheeze recipe from a few nights ago and had some left over.  I was feeling lasagne, so...

I took the vegan lasagne recipe from The New Farm Cookbook, and messed with it a little bit.  In addition to the melty cheeze, I added some mozzarella flavored Daiya, which really enhanced the mouth-feel of the lasagne.  I made this last night, but since no one has been home for dinner besides me, and Amy doesn't like lasagne anyway, I have dined on it two nights in a row.  And I plan on taking some of it to lunch this week.  I'm still not so sure about the melty cheeze recipe from that cookbook - I think the nooch flavor is too heavy, and for some reason, it doesn't taste cheesy to me, even though Amy says it tastes cheesy to her.

For the church pot luck this afternoon, I made Meaty Beany Chili and Corn Muffins.  People ate up the corn muffins.  The chili was pretty good, I think I will make it again, and not use quite so much chili powder, and use green peppers instead of the golden pepper I used.  Maybe even add an extra jalapeño or two, though I really don't like my chili all that hot.  This tasted a bit too tomatoe-ey for my taste.  Maybe I should have added two TBSP maple syrup instead of just one.  I am not sure.  I did use diced tomatoes instead of tomato purée.The lentils make it "meaty" just like ICM says they will.  So, a definite keeper.  I do know one thing - the house sure smelled wonderful when we woke up this morning. (I cooked it overnight because the pot luck luncheon was directly after church at 1115.)  The corn muffins turned out practically perfect.  I just wish I had a larger lidded box to carry them in.  I will definitely make those again as well.

Pumpkin and White Bean Lasagna

For lunch today, I have prepared Pumpkin and White Bean Lasagna from The Vegan Slow Cooker by Kathy Hester.  She writes the recipes so that some of the work for them is done the night before cooking.  This one is like that.  Last night, I made the Pumpkin-Tofu ricotta filling for the lasagna.  It called for 3 sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrated, buzzed in the food processor with the tofu and the pumpkin and various spices.  My food processor is too small, so I ended up buzzing the tofu and sun-dried tomatoes until smooth, then blending that with everything else by hand.  I stored the mixture in the fridge overnight, and this morning, made the lasagna in the crock pot.  I used Grandpa's Sauce Goes Vegetarian from Wegman's which tastes really good.  More later.

Later:  It's delicious.  However, the tofu-pumpkin ricotta is very mushy and I used firm tofu, so, I don't know.  Maybe I buzzed it too much in the food processor.  The taste, however, was out of this world!  The Italian Spices coupled with the onion and garlic powders really was spicy.  I used garlic powder instead of fresh garlic, which might be why it was so spicy.  But since I've become vegan, I like spicy foods quite a bit more than I used to.