A HUGE Pan of Healthy Lasagna - to Make your own Frozen Entrees

ATTENTION FOOD MANUFACTURERS:

     I have a suggestion for you -- how about creating a new line of "inclusive" frozen dinners? (Feel free to use this recipe for your first entree!)

     There is a HUGE untapped market for gluten-free-vegan, low-sodium, little to no-oil  frozen dinners.

     I know because my parents are about 90 years old and I do most of their grocery shopping. I am unable to find frozen dinners that meet their dietary needs. My parents were ahead of the curve. They have a  long history of using a whole-food-plant-based diet to avoid surgeries and drugs. Though they have at times fallen off the wagon, more often then not for the past 30 years they have followed this lifestyle. It started when my father was In his 60s and had three blocked arteries, angina and his  blood pressure and cholesterol were both high. His cardiologist wanted him to have immediate by-pass surgery. But after doing some research, my Dad refused to follow the doctor's orders. He cut out meat, dairy, eggs and oil instead. The results were nothing short of miraculous, and it's been pretty clear: A whole food plant based diet has helped my parents immensely, and almost every major health set-back they have experienced, followed the periods of time where they ventured too far from this lifestyle.

Me and my parents

My parents about seventy years ago.

     Though my parents were ahead of the curve -- as baby boomers age, they are also embracing plant-based diets in growing numbers -- just as Bill Clinton, and Al Gore have.  Millions more smart, educated people -- many who've been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease are making a similar choice. They are fortunate to know that the only diet ever shown to arrest and even reverse established cardiovascular disease is one based upon whole plant foods, and avoids  meat, dairy, eggs, fish and oils.  In addition millions more seniors are being told to reduce their sodium.  Together this means there is a HUGE market for people who would LOVE to have some delicious frozen prepared meals that they could simply remove from their freezer and heat up. That's why it just completely boggles my mind, that very few food manufacturers have any products to serve this niche.  I am talking about gluten-free vegan foods, that use little to no oil, and have a sodium to calorie ratio of less than one. Unfortunately there is almost NOTHING you can buy at the store pre-made that is inclusive for the growing numbers of people embracing this lifestyle.

That's why I decided to post this recipe.  It is an example of the type of food I have been making for my parents.  Though it's not 100% compliant with Doctors Esselstyn, Ornish, or Fuhrman, it's pretty darn close. At this point, my father doesn't care about eating healthfully at all --- he just wants to eat what tastes good, but my mother still cares deeply about maintaining her functionality, and thanks me all the time for my efforts to help her eat healthfully. She believes that the reason they are still alive, is because they have been eating whole-food-plant-based for large stretches of the past 30 years. So the food I make for them now strikes a balance between what the science says is best, and what will keep my dad happy. We are not trying to reverse disease at this point --- just to enable the best quality of life possible, and maintain their ability to get up and walk around while slowing possible cognitive decline.

So I have created frozen entrees to store in my parent's freezer.  This one is not  entirely oil-free because it does use a small amount of vegan cheese. It's not possible to completely eliminate oil  -- on top of cutting so far back on sodium, and still make things that my Dad will eat. That's because other people express their love to my parents by bringing them things with meat, dairy or eggs from time to time. The reason that is a problem (beyond the possible health harms from just eating those things) is the fact that occasionally eating animal foods, oil and high-salt, reset's the brain's pleasure-center to WANT more of those things. So for a time after eating them, everything else just doesn't taste as good. I have certainly noticed this to be the case with my parents. After a non-vegan meal -- for several days, my Dad will refuse to eat many of the healthier items that he had been enjoying in the weeks prior, and my mother's appetite for the healthier food appears to decline as well. But then they rebound and enjoy the lighter fare again.

I make this lasagna in a restaurant sized pan about 12 x 20 x 3 inches. If you do not have one of these pans, you can use several smaller casserole dishes (as long as they are 3 inches deep) instead. After the lasagna completely cools, I neatly cut it into 24 generous single-servings each weighing about 12 ounces. I wrap two of these side by side in parchment paper, with foil around that (I NEVER let food come directly in contact with foil -- because I don't want aluminum particles in my food) and then I freeze this in a Ziploc bag (and the bags get reused over and over.)

Each serving has about 375 calories and under 300 mg of sodium.  If you need it to be even lower in sodium than that, you can reduce the amount of packaged vegan cheese in half, and then each serving would be 345 calories with 230 mg of sodium. Not bad for something that tastes SO DECADENT.  And here is the thing -- I can still serve this to my salt-loving friends -- with the salt-shaker.  Even when someone adds a sprinkle of salt right on top, they are still consuming far less sodium than if the salt was cooked in.  When it's right on the surface, you can really taste the salt -- without needing to use that much.

So without further ado, here is my lasagna recipe.

Ingredients:

2  -- 10 oz boxes of gluten-free rice lasagna noodles.
3 -- one pound bags unsalted frozen spinach
1 package sliced Follow Your Heart Gouda
1 1/ 2 cups So Delicious or Daiya Mozerella Cheese Shreds
    (1 1/2 cups is actually 3/4 of the package)
2 lbs of zucchini

For the Marinara Sauce

2 large onions
5 large cloves of garlic
4 large cans (28 oz size) crushed unsalted tomatoes
1 cup water
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
20 drops liquid stevia (or use 1-2 TBS of sugar instead)
2 TBS each of marjoram, parsley, oregano
2 TBS Costco "No-Salt Seasoning"
1 TBS each of ground rosemary and thyme
optional --1/ 4 cup of dehydrated or 1 cup diced fresh red pepper

The Tofu Layer

3 14 oz packages organic extra-firm water packed tofu
3 15 oz cans unsalted chick peas.
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 TBS dill weed

The Crumble layer
2 1/2 cups raw walnut halves
3/4 cup unfortified nutritional yeast flakes
1 TBS onion powder
1 TBS garlic powder

Directions:

1) Fill a large covered pot with water and bring it to a boil  -- once it is rapidly boiling add the two boxes of lasagna noodles and cook about 10 min until soft, then drain through a colander and rinse well to keep them from sticking to each other. set aside.

2) While waiting for the pasta to cook, make the Marinara sauce. Chop and then water saute 2 onions in a large skillet.  If you have never water-sauteed -- it is similar to frying in oil -- except it takes a bit longer and you must watch the onions more closely.  The trick to getting them to brown is to use only enough water to keep them from sticking, but not so much that you are boiling/steaming them.  Start by putting about 1/2 cup of water in the pan with the onions and turn heat to high. Use a spatula to keep the onions from sticking as the water evaporates. When the sticking just starts to get so bad that your spatula can't prevent it drizzle in about 1 TBS more of water. Keep doing this for about 10-15 minutes until the onions are nicely browned.

Onions that have been water sauteed.

Finely chop the garlic cloves and add them to the onions, continue heating for a couple more minutes and then transfer the onion/garlic mixture to gallon-sized pot.  Now add the tomatoes, water, stevia (or sugar if not using the stevia) balsamic vinegar, and herbs, and the red pepper if you are using it too. Cover and bring to a boil.  Turn heat down and let it simmer for at least 30 minutes -- stirring frequently to keep it from sticking.

3) While the marinara sauce is simmering prepare the spinach. If the spinach is still frozen, cut open one bag and pour the spinach into a fine-mesh strainer.  Let warm water from the faucet run over the spinach until it thaws enough that you can press it tightly against the strainer to squeeze out most of the water. Transfer spinach to a bowl and repeat this with the other two bags.

4) Wash and cut the zucchinis as thinly as possible. If you are comfortable using a mandolin that is the way to do it. I have one, but find it a hassle to assemble and clean up. Plus I fear injuring myself on it -- so I just cut the zucchini with a knife.  Honestly -- if you want a nicer finished product (that is easier to eat) the mandolin is the way to go -- but I am ok with the thicker slices. Here is what mine look like after cutting with a knife -- I cut them on an angle:

5) Make the crumble layer by placing the walnuts, yeast, garlic and onion powders into a blender or food processor and process on low just until walnuts are powdered.  Don't over process or it will turn into walnut butter -- which won't be easy to sprinkle on the dish.

6) Now make the tofu layer. Begin by opening the packages of tofu and draining the water. Use your hands to squeeze, smash and crumble the tofu into a large bowl so it looks like this:

Next open and drain the chickpeas and then place them into a blender or food processor and pulse until all smashed up.  Scrape the the smashed chickpeas into the tofu and mix well. Sprinkle the mixture with the lemon juice and dill weed, and then set aside.

7) Now you are ready to assemble the lasagna.  Scoop two cups of the marinara sauce into the bottom of your pan, and spread it around to completely cover the bottom surface.  If using several smaller pans split this amount between them. Carefully lay out the noodles touching side-by-side, but not overlapping so that they cover all the marinara sauce. Next spread out the  spinach over the noodles like this:

8) After the spinach is evenly spread over the pasta. Put the tofu mixture on top of the spinach. Use your hands to press it all firmly into place.  Now take the Gouda cheese slices and break them up and distribute them evenly over the tofu like this.  If you cut this amount of cheese in half to reduce the oil/sodium content -- just break them up smaller to still get good distribution of the cheese. You don't need to use the exact cheese I used -- although I think this one really goes well in this dish -- you could use another type/flavor.

Now pour about half of the remaining marinara sauce over this and then layer on top of that the zucchini slices like this:

9) Crumble the walnut --yeast mixture over the zucchini, add a second layer of the noodles

10) Spoon or pour the last half of the sauce over the whole thing and then sprinkle with the Cheese Shreds --- note I used 3/4 of the package to make this one, but really I could have used less and it still would have been good. Since the cheese is THE source of both the oil and most of the sodium in this recipe -- take that into account when deciding how much to use.

11) Cover the pan with a layer of parchment paper and then secure the paper into place with aluminum foil.  Don't let the foil come in contact with the lasagna or you will find the foil pitted after cooking -- and the bits of aluminum missing from it will now be incorporated into your food!

And here it is fresh  out of the oven: