While watching the Food Network the other day, I was inspired by one of the dishes that Giada was making. She made these individual lasagne and I thought I could do the same, but make them vegan. The dish was a surprising success!  Also, you could prepare these ahead of time, like over the weekend, and throw them in the oven for a quick weeknight meal.  Just be sure to let them come to room temperature before baking.  Putting a cold ramekin into a hot oven probably isn’t a good idea.

For mine, I used some spinach lasagna noodles that my cousin-in-law brought back for me from Argentina. These noodles are wider and shorter than normal lasagna noodles, so I cut them in half to give me two longer, skinnier pieces. Also, my noodles are the “no boil” type, but since they need to be soft for this dish, I soaked them for a few minutes in some hot water. I bet you could take a similar approach with regular “no boil” noodles or use the boil type and cook per package directions.

The tofu ricotta that I used in mine are based on this recipe, but I changed the recipe just a tad.  Here’s how I made mine:

Tofu Basil Ricotta

1/2 lb tofu, packed in water (use the kind that comes in those twin packs and just use one side)

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

2 TB nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp. salt

15 large basil leaves

Pat the tofu dry and add it and the rest of the ingredients to your food processor.  Process until completely smooth.

Step 1: Begin by preheating the oven to 425 degrees.  Liberally grease your ramekin dishes and place them on a baking sheet.  Take one noodle and layer it in the bottom of the dish so that the edges of the noodle hang over the edge of the dish (again, since my noodles were wider and shorter than normal noodles, I overlapped the two pieces at the bottom):

Step 2:  Place another noodle in the bottom of the dish, but the in opposite direction to form a “X” in the bottom of the dish.  Top with a generous amount of tofu ricotta (recipe above– I put mine in a piping bag to make it easier to dispense into each dish):

Step 3:  Put a generous amount of marinara sauce on top of the tofu ricotta.  I used about 3 TB.  Top that with a layer of sliced zucchini (or other vegetable of your choice– eggplant slices or spinach leaves would be yumy).

Step 4:  Fold over one set of the noodle edges.

Step 5:  Top with a little bit more tofu ricotta (not as much as used in Step 2; maybe half that amount).  Top with about 1 more TB of marinara and more zucchini slices.

Step 6: Fold over last set of noodle edges.  Top with another TB of marinara and vegan mozzarella of your choosing.  I used Diaya, which I had been keeping in my freezer (just to explain why it looks a little funny in the photo).

Step 7:  Bake uncovered at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is golden and the sauce is bubbly.

Step 8:  Allow to cool for a few minutes, then use a large spoon to scoop it out of the ramekin and place onto a plate.