Monbento Square #25 (Single Tier)

My first-ever vegan lasagna and garlic toast.

Susan at Kittens Gone Lentil made vegan lasagna a while ago, and after I read her post about it I couldn't get it out of my mind. I used to make lasagna every so often, and I loved ricotta, but even though I knew of the concept of vegan lasagna I figured it was just one of those things I was never going to get to eat again. (I'm not sure why or how this belief became so firmly entrenched.)

Susan had made her own ricotta. Even though I knew of a source of vegan ricotta, it had terrible online reviews, and I figured, like the infamous Vegan Toona in a can (I can't believe they still make that stuff--who eats it?), it was best left on the shelf at the store. But if Susan made ricotta, could I not also make ricotta?

So I found a recipe for vegan ricotta at From My Bowl and took the plunge. Even on its own, the ricotta was amazing, so it was a good start. All the no-boil noodles available to me had eggs in them, so I boiled regular old noodles. I made a "meat" mixture with onions, peppers, and Wegmans' Don't Be Piggy sausage crumbles. And then I assembled my lasagna (noodles, ricotta, Violife mozzarella, "meat," jarred pasta sauce, repeat three times; top with a last layer of noodles, sauce, mozzarella, and a bit of Violife Parmesan), baked it, and proceeded to eat the best lasagna I've ever made in my life. The leftovers made a great lunch.

I suppose after nearly four years I am still, somehow, sometimes, transitioning to veganism. Even though it may seem odd, I'm going to go ahead and tag this post accordingly. I definitely leveled up my vegan skills here. And what is silly about it is that I could have made this lasagna ages ago. I was just intimidated by the idea. Live and learn.