The Lasagna Recipe That Convinced My Family to Eat Plant-Based

Let's make a plant-based sweet potato lasagna. Welcome back to the Whole Food Plant-Based Cooking Show where we make plant-based cooking easy. I'm Jill, and today I'm gonna teach you how to make this delicious sweet potato lasagna. It is so packed full of flavor and nutrients. All right, we're gonna hop right in. I've got one diced onion that we're gonna start sauteing. You're just gonna cook it for about five minutes. We're just trying to cook some of the rye out, and then we'll incorporate our other ingredients. Okay, now that our onions are done, we're gonna add garlic. So this is three minced cloves of garlic, and then two cups of chopped frozen spinach. But you could also use chopped kale, or even cabbage would work. All right, so we're just gonna cook this for a few minutes just to cook that garlic and to wilt that spinach a little bit. All right, now we're gonna throw in our lentils. So this is one and a half cups, or one can of cooked lentils. And these are just the regular brown lentil, but you can use whatever lentil you like. One teaspoon of a low-sodium tamari, and then some cracked pepper. And really, you're just gonna stir this in and set it aside. So now we're gonna move on to the sauce. Okay, for the sauce, you're gonna need 28 ounces of crushed tomatoes. Pour that in there. A half teaspoon of onion powder, half teaspoon of oregano, half teaspoon of basil, a fourth of a teaspoon of thyme, one teaspoon of a low-sodium tamari, and three tablespoons of tomato paste. And we're just gonna stir this together. We don't even have to cook it, but if you're using diced tomatoes or something like that, where there's a lot more liquid, it's a lot waterier, you're gonna need to cook it a little bit just so you can cook out some of that water first before we start layering it in the lasagna. Okay, there we go. Now we're going to start making the cheese sauce. Okay, now onto this delicious cheese sauce. And all of our pantry ingredients today are from our partner, Essential Organics, who carry over 600 organic products. And if you wanna check them out, you can use the code PLANTBASEDEASY at checkout for 10% off your order. All right, so one cup of cashews or almonds. And if you're going nut-free, you could actually do it with a mixture of sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. One tablespoon of Dijon mustard, half a cup of nutritional yeast, one tablespoon of lemon juice, two tablespoons of white wine vinegar, a half teaspoon of onion powder, and one cup of water. And we're just gonna blend this until the cashews are completely pulverized and it's super creamy. Okay, cheese is finished, and now we are on to assembly. So I'm gonna get my sweet potatoes out and I'll show you how to assemble. While we're waiting for that, I'd like to share some background on our show. The Whole Food Plant-Based Cooking Show is crowdfunded, which means these free weekly recipe videos, along with our entire catalog of free printable recipes on our website, plantbasedcookingshow.com, and our Plant-Based Cooking Made Easy Cookbook series are all made possible in part by the generous patronage of our supporting membership community. So if you love our recipes, I invite you to join us on our mission to make plant-based cooking easy and follow the link in the description to become a supporting member today. There's no denying the plant-based diet is a nutrient powerhouse, but did you know there are a handful of hard-to-get nutrients even well-crafted diets are often lacking? The latest research suggests that complementing your diet with a few specific vitamins, minerals, and omega-3s will help boost your energy and keep you thriving for the long-term. That's why my daily health routine includes Complement Essential. Complement Essential contains the eight critical nutrients lacking from most plant-based diets in dosages optimized specifically for us. As a special discount for our viewers, just use code plantbasedeasy at checkout to save 15% off of your order. Okay, so before we start assembly, you need to preheat your oven to 350 degrees and cut your sweet potatoes. So I just use some white sweet potatoes because I love their flavor. They're a little bit more flowery than the orange sweet potatoes. The orange sweet potatoes are very, they're more creamy. You can use those too, they'll taste wonderful. I just prefer these. So I just slice them pretty thin, about a quarter of an inch thin because that will help them cook better. All right, so what you're gonna do, you're gonna layer those. Do one layer on the bottom first. And this is really, this is taking the place of lasagna noodles. And trust me, you won't miss the noodles in this dish. It is so delicious. And this was roughly about three medium-sized sweet potatoes. All right, next you're gonna put in your filling. And we're going two layers here, so you just need to use half of each thing each time. Just sprinkle it over your potatoes. And then we're gonna layer on some of this delicious sauce. So about half. And then you're gonna pour about a little less than half of the cheese sauce. We just need a little bit of that cheese layer in there. But most of that cheese is gonna be poured on the top. Okay, and now you go in for your second layer. Okay, so if you have sweet potatoes left like I do, just toss them in a bag and toss them in the freezer, and you can just stick them in your next stir fry. All right, one more layer of tomato sauce. And this one, you wanna make sure you get it, you completely cover the dish so that it will bake well. The moisture from those tomatoes or from that tomato sauce is gonna help cook the sweet potatoes. Okay, and there you go with your cheese. So you just use the rest of your cheese on the top. Okay, there we go. Look at that, isn't it gorgeous? Okay, so our oven is on 350, so you're gonna stick it in, and we're gonna start with 45 minutes, and then you're gonna take a fork and poke it through to feel if those sweet potatoes are done yet. It all depends on your sweet potato and how thick you got it to how long it's gonna take to bake. So let's start at 45 minutes, and then we'll check. Okay, guys, it is out of the oven. So at 45 minutes, it was still a little bit too firm. The sweet potatoes were a little too firm, so I put it in for 15 more minutes, and now it's perfect. So come on in and take a look. Smells wonderful. I'm gonna let this cool for a bit, and then I'll meet you at the table for a taste. Okay, guys, let's dig in. Got a piece of this. Oh, man, I wish you could smell this. Oh, it smells so amazing. Ooh, look at that. Wow. Okay, here we go. Ooh, it's still very, very hot. Mm, mm, mm, mm. Oh, the sweet potatoes are so delicious, and the tang of that sauce, mm. You are going to love it. Come on back next week for another great recipe.