Vegan Baked Ziti with Lentils, Tofu Ricotta, and Cashew Mozzarella

Can I tell you something

I have been avoiding baked ziti since I've been vegan because I was afraid of being disappointed

by a subpar vegan mozzarella. But that fear is no more. A couple of weeks ago, I showed you how to make my homemade vegan mozzarella

and today I'm going to use two batches of it in this baked CD. If you miss that video

I'm going to put a link in the description below to the video as well as a link to the recipe as usual so you can follow along

So the first thing I'm going to do is prepare my tofu ricotta, which is super simple. I'm going to start with a 14 ounce block of extra firm tofu. I'm just going to squeeze it ever so slightly just to get some of the water out, but I do want most of the water to stay in so that the ricotta isn't too dry. I'm just going to squeeze it ever so I'm just going to squeeze it ever so I'm just to get some of the water. I'm just to get some of the water. I'm just to

just to get some of the water out, but I do want most of the water to stay in so that

the ricotta isn't too dry. So just a little squeeze here and then I'm going to break it up and toss it in the blender

And we're putting in a tablespoon and a half of lemon juice, two teaspoons of maple syrup

three tablespoons of nutritional yeast, and half a tablespoon of salt. So when you blend this up you are probably going to need to scrape down the size of the blender a bit to get it even be blended but you do want to leave a little bit of texture in there so watch it while you blending it don let it blend all the way into a cream so next i have a cup of green

lentils which i'm just going to prepare according to the package instructions so i'm going to

rinse them and boil them for about 15 to 20 minutes the lentils are options

but if you're gonna use them I recommend either plain green or plain brown lentils

You might find in the store french lentils or sprouted lentils or something like that

I've tried those and the texture on those is different and it doesn't really go too well with the pasta

So while those are cooking I am gonna start on my sauce. I am using rouse marinera sauce which I really like

But you can also use a homemade sauce if you prefer or whatever brand you really like

Just make sure that the sauce that you use is a really like. is a good one because it really is a lot of the flavor in this recipe so a good sauce can make all the

difference. So over on the stove I have a medium sauce pan and I'm going to cook two cups of

diced onion with two tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat until the onions are translucent

Then I going to add two tablespoons of minced garlic which is about six cloves and let that cook for another minute Now I going to stir in three and three quarters cups of mariner sauce which is about one and a half 24 ounce jars And I going to add in a tablespoon

and a half of maple syrup as well as one and a half cups of water. So I'm just stirring that up

and then I'm going to let it cook for another 10 minutes. And I'm also going to cook my

Ziti, which on the box it says it needs to be cooked for 10 minutes. So I'm going to actually

cook boil it for eight minutes instead because it's going to soften more when it

bakes in the oven. Alright so my lentils, my sauce, and my pasta they're all ready. So I

am going to preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and then I'm going to take

all three of those, mix them in this bowl here and then start assembling my casserole

Alright, so here's how this is all gonna happen. I've got my casserole dish here

I'm not sure how big it is, I wanna say maybe three quarts, three or four quarts should be fine

I am going to start by putting half of my ziti and sauce

into the pan. Then I'm gonna put half my ricotta on top

And then I gonna grate one of my batches of mozzarella on top of that Then I just gonna repeat it and it ready to go in the oven It doesn need to be covered I can just pop it in the oven just like this and I leave it for about 35 or 40 minutes until it baked all the way through

After it's done, you do want to let it cool for about 10 minutes or so before you serve it, because it will be very hot

I have missed you so much. Before I go, I just want to mention that the reason why I make these videos, I make these recipes, I built my website

All of it is to help make vegan food more accessible to everyone

I know a lot of people have told me they would like to be vegan, but they don't know where to start or they think vegan food doesn't taste very good

So I just want to do my little part to help change that

And if you would like to help me with that, I would so appreciate it

You can subscribe to my channel. You can share one of my videos

You can share a recipe from my website. You can leave a comment on one of my videos

All those things help me reach more people. Thank you for watching and I'll see you in the next one