Lasagna made with zucchini and NUTS: a dairy-free dish That you can add dairy to
I love it when Paleo dishes and vegan dishes intersect. You can serve this dish to serve to Paleo peeps and vegans/vegetarian alike with a little tweaking (just leave out the optional dairy and bacon).
Because my vegan days are long behind me (I did an 8 month raw food experiment that failed miserably), I added bacon and cheese to my lasagna. But for dairy free and vegan folks leave those out and add more nut cheese and tomato sauce. You can even add nutritional yeast to give it a cheesier flavor.
If you suffer from candida replace the yeast with a splash of apple cider vinegar.
This dish is perfect for getting rid of leftovers. Layer last nights dinner between piece of thinly sliced zucchini. And if you want this dish to have more protein, mix a can of tuna or cooked ground beef with the crushed tomatoes.
And if you like crunch, sprinkled some crushed kale chips on top after it comes out of the oven. I used these vegan, cheese flavored chips.
A handy tool for making noodle-thin strips of zucchini is a mandoline slicer. You can adjust the settings to get thinner or thicker slices.
I use my mandoline slicer to cut onions and carrots into quick rounds. It saves a ton of time and creates perfect, evenly sliced veggies.
If you don’t have a mandoline you can also use a cheese slicer to get thin strips of zucchini, but you can’t adjust the thickness.
And make sure to use crushed tomatoes from a jar, not a can because the acidity of the tomatoes can leach bad chemicals from the can.
Ingredients
2 medium sized zucchinis, cut into thin, flat slices
1/2 cup of crushed tomatoes (I use organic tomatoes in a jar like this one)
2 slices of bacon, chopped
1/4 of an onion, diced
Optional: for more protein mix a can of tuna or 1/4 pound of cooked ground beef with the crushed tomatoes before you start layering the lasagna.
Nut cheese (you can make this with cashews only but the pinevnuts give it an amazing flavor)
1/2 cup of cashews
1/2 cup of toasted pine nuts Superior Nuts Raw Pine Nuts (1 Pound) – Grade A
1/4 cup of sunflower seeds
1 or 2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon of salt or Fish Sauce
1 whole lemon, juiced
1 to 2 tablespoons of water to create a smoother sauce
1 teaspoon of Smoked Paprika
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Optional: 1 teaspoon of red chili flakes
Optional: 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast or 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
Optional: 2 tablespoons of crushed kale chips.
How to
In a food processor, combine, the nuts, chopped garlic, salt or fish sauce, lemon juice, pepper flakes, and nutritional yeast.
Add water one tablespoon at a time to create a smoother texture. Or instead of water you can add more lemon juice or apple cider vinegar if you want your nut cheese to be tangy.
Slice the zucchinis with a mandolin or cheese slicer. If you want to make a thicker lasagna, slice 3 zucchinis.
Saute the bacon and onions in a pan until they are cooked through.
Line a baking dish with parchment paper and start layering the first layer of zucchini strips. Cover the bottom of the baking dish.
Pour a little bit of olive oil on the first layer of zucchini and sprinkle with salt. Spread the first layer of nut cheese on top and cover with another layer of zucchini strips.
The next layers should be onions and bacon and a little bit of tomato sauce and layer more zucchini on top of that.
Keep layering nut cheese, sauce and onions and bacon until you run out of ingredients.
If you do tolerate dairy, sprinkle some grated mozzarella and/or Parmesan cheese on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Sprinkle some kale chips on top for added crunch.
Enjoy your sexy veggies, Italian-style…
- Ingredients
- 2 medium sized zucchinis, cut into thin, flat slices
- ½ cup of crushed tomatoes
- 2 slices of bacon, chopped
- ¼ of an onion, diced
- Nut cheese (you can make this with only cashews but I mixed cashews with toasted pine nuts and sunflower seeds)
- ½ cup of cashews
- ½ cup of toasted pine nuts (link)
- ¼ cup of sunflower seeds
- 1 or 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 teaspoon of salt or fish sauce (link)
- 1 whole lemon, juiced
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to create a smoother sauce
- 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
- Olive oil
- Optional: 1 teaspoon of red chili flakes
- Optional: 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast or 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
- In a food processor, combine, the nuts, chopped garlic, salt or fish sauce, lemon juice, pepper flakes, and nutritional yeast.
- Add water one tablespoon at a time to create a smoother texture. Or instead of water you can add more lemon juice or apple cider vinegar if you want your nut cheese to be tangy.
- Slice the zucchinis with a mandolin or cheese slicer. If you want to make a thicker lasagna, slice 3 zucchinis.
- Saute the bacon and onions in a pan until they are cooked through.
- Line a baking dish with parchment paper and start layering the first layer of zucchini strips. Cover the bottom of the baking dish.
- Pour a little bit of olive oil on the first layer of zucchini and sprinkle with salt. Spread the first layer of nut cheese on top and cover with another layer of zucchini strips.
- The next layers should be onions and bacon and a little bit of tomato sauce and layer more zucchini on top of that.
- Keep layering nut cheese, sauce and onions and bacon until you run out of ingredients.
- If you do tolerate dairy, sprinkle some grated mozzarella and/or Parmesan cheese on top.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
