Sausage Lasagna with Basil Cream Sauce

I've been leery of trying lasagna, given all the substitutions that would be required. But I ran across a vegan site, Oh She Glows, that has a wonderful basil cheeze sauce used in a vegan lasagna. I was so intrigued, I gave it a try. It was wonderful! Both the basil cheeze sauce and the vegan lasagna. Even my picky Aspie son, who has a hard time when different food groups touch, liked it. That's success, my friends.

My version is not vegan anymore, but I did enjoy the vegan version. The carnivores in the family, however, requested a little more protein. And so I obliged.

I did not alter the original basil cheeze sauce, so I'm just posting the link. But I did tweak the lasagna.

Sausage Lasagna With Basil Cream Sauce
Recipe adapted from OhSheGlows.com 

On box of lasagna noodles 
1.5 bottles of pasta sauce 
3 garlic cloves, minced 
1 sweet onion, chopped 
2 small zucchini, chopped 
1 large red pepper, chopped 
several handfuls of spinach 
Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder 
Italian chicken or turkey sausage (container) 
Lemon Basil Cheeze Sauce 
Daiya cheese (for top)

1.      Preheat oven to 400° F.

2.      Bring a large pot of water to boil.

3.      Meanwhile, saute onion and garlic over medium heat for 5 minutes in a large skillet. Add remaining veggies and saute another 10-15 minutes. Season well with Italian seasoning, Celtic salt, and black pepper.

4.      As veggies sauté, brown sausage and boil lasagna until el dente. Rinse in cold water.

5.      Add 1 cup of pasta sauce on the bottom of your casserole dish. Add a layer of noodles, half the basil cheeze sauce, half the vegetables, more pasta sauce, another layer of noodles, the rest of the cheeze sauce, the sausage, the rest of the vegetables, more pasta sauce.

6.      Sprinkle top with Daiya cheese.

7.      Cover with tin foil and prick with fork a few times. Bake 40-45 minutes.

8.      Remove tin foil and broil for 5 minutes if desired.

Corn-free Southwest Black Bean Salad

This is not perfect, but it wasn't too bad for my first attempt at improvising an ingredient.

There are many versions of this salad available in cookbooks and online, but I adapted mine from Gina's Southwestern Black Bean Salad at SkinnyTaste.com.

1 15.5 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
8 oz roasted carrots, diced (about 3 carrots)
1 tomato, chopped
1/4 C red onion, chopped
1/4 C cilantro, chopped
1 scallion, chopped
2-3 T extra virgin olive oil
salt and fresh pepper
juice of 1 lime, divided
1 small Hass avocado, diced

Combine black beans through salt and pepper. Add half the lime juice. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Before serving, add avocado and the rest of the lime juice. Correct seasonings and serve with chips, as a topping for tacos, or as a side dish.

Gluten Free Vegan Coconut Pecan Pie Crust

This pie crust comes courtesy of The Gluten-Free Goddess. She is an allergyland food magician as far as I'm concerned. I find recipes on her site that I didn't think I'd ever enjoy again. I nearly wept when I tried her Cheesy Uncheese Sauce on rice pasta. Not cheese sauce really, but a tangy, creamy ocean of yum for your taste buds. But that's a gush for another post.

This crust is pressed into a parchment-lined Springform pan and placed in the oven to set before use. I've tried it two different ways: using coconut oil and using Earth Balance Soy-free margarine. The first time I baked with the oil, it leaked all over the bottom of my oven and generated enough smoke for a four alarm fire. I figured it was the oil content, so I tried the Earth Balance the next time. Oh so much worse. Did I learn from the first experience and place foil on the bottom of my oven to capture the smoke monster? Nope, nope, NOPE. A five alarm smoke fire ensued. My house still reeks.

I don't know if Springform pans are known for such leakage and I'm a complete noob for not knowing that, or if I just have a malfunctioning one. Suffice it to say, I will line the bottom of my oven with foil the next time I make a pie - or anything else - with a Springform pan. Experience is a harsh mistress.

The crust tasted just fine using either fats. I'd say the crust using coconut oil was oilier, so maybe I would use less next time, but it was no less yummy.

So proceed with cautious optimism. And line those ovens.

Coconut Pecan Pie Crust

Adapted from a pie crust recipe nestled within her recipe for Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie with Praline and Coconut-Pecan Crust.

Line a 9-inch Springform pan with parchment paper. Line the bottom of your oven with foil to catch oil drippings.

Ingredients:

1 cup flaked unsweetened organic coconut
1 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup all purpose gluten-free flour blend*
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons vegan butter (Earth Balance or coconut oil)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Place dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse sand.

Add vegan butter and pulse several times until crumbs are moist and begin to fall away from the sides of the bowl.

Dump crumbs into pan and spread them evenly. Using your fingers gently press the crumbs across the bottom and up the sides - about 2/3 of the way up.

Bake in the center of the oven for about ten minutes to set.

Remove the pan and set aside while you make your pie filling.

*I used Karina's Basic Gluten-Free Flour mix with a slight tweak (can't use xanthan gum):

1 C sorghum flour (or millet)
1 C tapioca starch (or potato starch)
1/3 to 1/2 C almond meal (or buckwheat flour)
1 t guar gum (or xanthan gum) 

It's pretty versatile. If you don't have time to whisk together a blend, I think any GF flour would do. 

Gluten Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie

I've made many gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin pies over the years for my son, but none have come close to the actual taste and mouth feel of the Gluten-Free Goddess' Pumpkin Pie recipe. She is a wizard in the kitchen, no question.

This pumpkin pie stands up on its own and requires no crust. It's good enough to impress gluten, dairy and egg enthusiasts alike. I'm bringing it to a Christmas party this afternoon and expect people to genuflect at my feet. No joke. Paired with this sweet cashew cream, the response is inevitable.

I was feeling adventurous and poured this into the goddess' Coconut-Pecan Crust, also a yum! The recipe can be found in her Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie with Praline which I will give a try at Christmas time. I'll post the pie crust recipe next, as I tried it two different ways and found one worked better than the other.

Don't ask me why I choose the other pumpkin pie recipe. The fact you can dump all the ingredients into a food processor, give it a whirl, and pour into the pie crust might have had something to do with it. Also, I didn't have any soaked cashews on hand to make cashew cream, so the other version earned the first test drive.

Once I find a recipe that works and is not only tolerable, but distinctly palatable, I hesitate to put work into another version only to come up short. There are a lot of disappoints on the journey through allergyland. When I find something that works, I stick with it. Still, Karina's concoctions haven't let me down yet. Its worth the leap to give her other pumpkin pie recipe a try. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

As Karina advises, I went with full-fat canned coconut for this recipe. To make the recipe corn-free, I subbed guar gum for xanthan; to make cane sugar-free, I used coconut palm sugar instead brown sugar.

After I heated my coconut pecan crust at 350ºF until it set (ten minutes of so), I left the oven on and set the crust on top to cool a bit while I processed the pie mix. I have a KitchenAid Professional 670 which I've had for years. One of the best investments I've ever made!

Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Preheat oven to 350°.

To the bowl of a food processor add:

• 1 15-oz can organic pumpkin 
• 1 1/2 C full fat coconut milk (or vanilla soy/almond milk)
• 2 t corn-free vanilla extract
• 2 T light olive oil (I used EVOO)
• 1 T Ener-G Egg Replacer
• 3/4 C organic coconut palm sugar
• 1/2 C GF buckwheat or sorghum flour (I used sorghum)
• 2 T tapioca starch
• 2 t corn-free baking powder
• 1/4 t guar gum
• 1/2 t celtic salt
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 t ground ginger
• 1/2 t nutmeg

1. Cover and process until smooth and creamy. Stop and scrape the sides to incorporate all dry ingredients that stubbornly cling to the edges of the bowl. 
2. Pour into the prepared pie plate or pie crust and smooth. Bake in the center of a preheated oven for about an hour until done. The pie should be firm but with a little give when lightly touched. The center should not be wet.(I live in the Pacific Northwest. It's a tad rainy here. I had to bake this a bit longer - four minutes or so.)
3. It will fall a bit as it cools. The price we pay for egg-free baking.
4. Cool the pie on a wire rack completely. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until serving. 

Yield: 1 pie with 8 slices (cut mine smaller to feed more.)