This was another winner that everyone loved and it was mostly super easy!
As tweaked from the recipe from Brand New Vegan.
Ingredients
- Jar of Marinara Sauce (or make your own)
- 1 box of Manicotti shells
Tofu Ricotta
- 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 30 minutes
- 12-16 oz extra-firm Tofu (one or one and 1/2 packages)
- 2 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup Nutritional Yeast
- 3 Tbls Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground pepper
- Box of Frozen Spinach (approx 9 oz) or you can use cooked fresh
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Soak 1/2 cup Cashews in hot water minimum one hour ahead of time.
- Prepare pasta per package instructions, set aside (if stuffing immediately cool with cold water first)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Drain cashews and add to blender along with a few cloves of garlic and olive oil
- Process until well blended
- Drain and press Tofu and add to blender along with nutritional yeast, lemon juice, vinegar, and seasonings and process.
- You may have to scrape down the sides a few times to ensure it’s well blended. You may need to add some water to get it to blend. In the end you do not want it runny. It should be thick.
- Add to large bowl and fold in spinach. (If using frozen spinach, cook in microwave for a few minutes first to soften)
- Layer 1.5 cups of Marinara in a baking dish, something about 9×13
- Spoon ricotta mixture into each shell. This is easiest done with your fingers but messy. Set each filled noodle into the pan.
- Cover with remaining 1.5 cups of sauce
- Sprinkle vegan parmesan cheese on top.
- Bake at 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.
The alternate recipe that came from Brand New Vegan uses this method:
- Instead of Manicotti, cook lasagna noodles.
- Lay noodles out flat and line ricotta mixture on each noodle, stopping 1″ short from the end.
- Roll each noodle and place in pan
Ricotta mix: