I have been making veggie lasagna for almost 15 years since my kids were little. I always led my family towards eating healthier food and avoiding processed junk and GMO laden foods. So I had to come up with recipes that helped them to enjoy what their friends and others were eating but that also protected their health from chemicals and poisons.
When I was raising a young family so many mothers around me would say, “well we follow the 80:20 rule – 80% of the time my kids eat clean and 20% of the time we allow them whatever else they want.”
I remember how this statement just rubbed me the wrong way. I thought, why put in the 80% of the effort to eat clean when you are poisoning your kids 20% of the time? Some things are important enough to put 100% effort into doing right. I mean you would not send your kids running into the street only 20% of the time to just keep things ‘balanced” right? Keeping kids safe on the street is a 100% all the time, never wavering effort. As is keeping kids safe from being electrocuted from putting their fingers into sockets.
So why oh why with foods do people think it’s OK to protect kids from danger to their health only PART of the time? I wish that there was less manipulation in this world so that the way to stay healthy and avoid common health pitfalls was clearer. We are up against so many different health agendas keeping people from the truth and adding to the “Sea of Confusion,” a Medical Medium term connecting to the fact that in order to stay healthy and overcome sickness you really have to dig for the truth.
For my family 80:20 is not an option and that’s okay. Of course, mistakes and mishaps happen. My daughter ate dairy at a restaurant on a school trip and the other one got a gluten-filled donut at school once instead of the clean ones I had made for her. And then I remember yet another kiddo of mine who reacted to DeLand bread (DeLand told me their bread was gluten-free when it wasn’t) and that was the longest exposure to gluten my gluten-allergic daughter had. She ended up with welts and sores on her hand and I knew there was something that I had missed.
Yes, we all get exposed at some time or the other. But, that is the vast minority of the time and never on purpose.
Veggie Lasagna: Tailor it to you!
Because of my commitment to my kiddos and helping them not to feel deprived of things others could eat but they couldn’t, I endeavored to create a healthy veggie lasagna recipe that our family and friends have come to adore. It is loaded with veggies and goodness and while it’s not a quick recipe, it’s a hearty one that can be made fat-free if you so choose. As always it is 100% oil-free, and you will always have plenty of leftovers!
If you want to keep your veggie lasagna super low-fat, you could eliminate the cashew sauce and only use the pesto and tomato sauce. If you want to stay completely fat-free, then use only the tomato sauce, or eliminate the pumpkin seeds from the pesto (it will be more watery, so reduce tomatoes).
If you have time to fat-free pasta sauce beforehand I recommend my tomato sauce recipe- it is mineral rich, fat-free, and oil-free. I like to make it batches and freeze for later. Otherwise, I have a few varieties I use from trusted brands:
- DeLallo Fat-free Marinara (check ingredients carefully, the online label was clean but mine showed up with citric acid)
- Mariangela Prunotto Organic Arrabiatta Pasta Sauce
- Lucini Tuscan Tomato Marinara
Let me know in the comments how this veggie lasagna dish goes for you. I love seeing you guys cooking up my recipes – and I also love seeing you make them your own. When you make them, please also tag me on Facebook and Instagram.
Wishing you health and happiness this holiday season,
Muneeza
P.S. Are you looking for more inspiration on your journey from the Standard American Diet? I have created The Ultimate Clean Food Guide, a FREE DOWNLOAD, with all of the Medical Medium® friendly foods I recommend. I cover everything from burgers, bread, pancakes, dessert, canned food, pre-made meals, and more! Eating healthier doesn’t have to be hard and I am here to help support you on your journey.
Decadent & Healthy Veggie Lasagna (Gluten-free and Dairy-free)
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant thinly sliced
- 2 zucchinis thinly sliced
- 4 cups mushrooms thinly sliced
- 6 cloves garlic sliced
- Pizza seasoning Frontier Coop
- Lasagna pasta I use Zen B or Jovial
- Sea salt optional
Cashew Sauce
- 2 cups cashews
- 4 garlic cloves mashed
- 2 lemons juiced
- ½ cup water add more if needed
- 1 tsp mustard powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp sea salt optional
Tomato Sauce
- I recommend making my tomato sauce recipe ahead of time. **If you do not have time to make it use a ready made fat-free sauce option. **See notes for links to both options.
Pesto Sauce
- 3 cups basil
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
- 1 lemon juiced
- ⅓ cup cherry tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic
- ½ tsp crushed black pepper
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp sea salt, optional
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 425 F
- For this recipe I would recommend using this trick to get your lasagna pasta ready: I don’t like to boil them ahead of time but instead I like to soak them in hot water.
- Fill a glass baking dish with hot water from your tap or if you are using filtered water, heat it up (but not boil) for prepping the pasta.
- Place the dry pasta in the water making sure it's fully submerged for about 20 minutes. Start this process before you roast the veggies.
- While the pasta is soaking, start prepping the veggies. Use a mandoline to thinly slice the eggplant and the zucchinis. I personally don’t slice them in rounds, but rather longways. This way, they resemble lasagna strips.
- Prep a baking sheet (or two) with parchment paper. Lay the vegetable slices on the baking sheet. Place the garlic slices evenly distributed over the veggies.
- Sprinkle pizza seasoning (and salt, if using), over the veggies and bake for 10 - 12 minutes until the veggies are soft and slightly roasted.
- While the veggies are roasting, you can prepare the cashew sauce. This should take about 3 - 4 minutes.
- Place all the ingredients for the cashew sauce in the blender. Blend at high speed for 60 seconds. Pour out and keep it ready for assembling the lasagna.
- Rinse out your blender and blend the pesto sauce. Place all the pesto ingredients in the blender and blend but keep the sauce chunky. Save for later until you assemble the lasagna.
- After making the two sauces your veggies should be roasted slightly, take them out of the oven. Don’t turn your oven off as you will need it for the lasagna next.
- You can make the lasagna with veggies only, or you can add in the pasta as well. When I make it for my family I only use veggies. And when serving guests I often add the lasagna.
- Drain the pasta (don’t rinse). And start assembling.
- Layer a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of your baking dish, spreading it evenly.
- Add a layer of the roasted eggplant. Add drops of pesto evenly distributed. Then add a layer of the pasta.
- Add a thicker layer of tomato sauce. Place the sliced mushrooms on top of the tomato sauce. Then a layer of zucchini, followed by a layer of cashew sauce.
- Then repeat. Eggplant, drops of pesto, pasta, tomato sauce, mushrooms, zucchini and cashew sauce and keep going until you have run out of space.
- Wherever you end up in the layering, top the lasagna with tomato sauce and cashew sauce so that it bakes with a “cheesy” melt on top.
- Bake for 45 minutes. I like to serve it right out of the oven.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- DeLallo Fat-free Marinara
- Mariangela Prunotto Organic Arrabiatta Pasta Sauce
- Lucini Tuscan Tomato Marinara
