Forget pasta. Yes I know that’s a bold statement, and no I am not drunk. I’m just gitty because of this vegan lasagna I made without pasta is all. Moreover, I didn’t even use cheese! I try to eat cheese in moderation… but that gets pretty hazy sometimes and I need a timeout. So in order to make sure that actually happens, having a batch of cashew cheese on hand is key and turns out it works perfectly here! Then, we have the pesto… I could eat pesto on anything and everything, so that was just an obvious choice and way more interesting than tomato sauce in my opinion.

I made a batch of this on a Sunday while hiding from the freezing cold tundra that is NYC right now, and the smells from the kitchen were pretty wonderful, it’s so comforting. It has the sweet, salty, creamy, gooey thing going on and is pretty easy overall to put together. I made both the pesto and the cashew cheese the night before to have on hand and then just had to roast the squash and assemble the next day! Aced it.

Ingredients:

gluten-free & vegan // serves 4-6

Squash (noodle replacement!)

1 medium-large butternut squash

2 tsp olive oil

Kale Pesto:

4 cups kale, ripped (no stems)

1-2 cloves garlic

2 tsp nutritional yeast

1/3 cup+ olive oil

dash of salt

dash of pepper

Cashew Cheese:

2 cups cashews (soaked in water for at least 2 hours & drained)

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp nutritional yeast

Directions:

Make the cashew cheese first, submerge 2 cups of cashews in water and let sit for at least 2 hours to soften up. Drain cashews and add all cheese ingredients to a blender, mix until smooth and set aside. Make the pesto next, mix all ingredients in a food processor, add more olive oil as necessary (I add maybe 1-2 tsp more). Set aside. Pre-heat the oven to 450f degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Peel a butternut squash, and cut the bulb off and set aside. Half the top part and then cut into (approx. 1/4 inch thick) half-moon shaped slices. You should have enough for about 3 layers of the lasagna using an 8 inch dish. Toss the butternut squash slices with 2 tsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper, arrange slices in a single layer on the baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes until tender. Let squash cool for 10 minutes until you can handle the slices, reduce the heat to 350f degrees. Lightly grease a glass dish or casserole dish and start by arranging the squash slices slightly overlapping. Next, add dollops of pesto all around, then the same for the cashew cheese. Add your 2nd layer and continue until you’re done, you may have a little pesto or cheese leftover depending on how much you use. Bake lasagna for approx. 25-30 minutes and serve!

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Hope you enjoy!

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**Alison

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