GFCF Hearty Chicken & Veggie Lasagna

My recent visit to my in-laws house for Christmas inspired this next dish. My mother in law, makes her famous lasagna once a year, on Christmas eve.  My immediately family was unable to partake due to our GFCF restrictions. I ended up making another GFCF pasta dish that was pretty tasty but we sure missed having lasagna with everyone else.  So I came back home with a mission to make my own version of lasagna just for my family, GFCF southern style. I started with Whole Foods basic GFCF lasagna recipe and added my southern twists. My additions are highlighted purple.  I made this for dinner tonight and received rave reviews from my family. It was sooo good, if I do say so myself. Go ahead and try it, you will be pleasantly surprised.  My husband had 3rds, both of my daughters (4 & 6) had seconds and my 1 year old son had 3 small portions and wanted more.  I love finding ways to make old recipes work! Until next time...enjoy!  Janice

You will need:

1 (14 oz) package of soft tofu, drained
4 italian GF chicken sausage links (if you buy them fresh from the meat department, you can just peel off the casing) or you can just use ground turkey or chicken. I like Sprouts because they make fresh GF sausages everyday.
1 large onion, finely chopped
3/4 button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 diced yellow squash
1 cup of Daiya Vegan Mozzarella Style Shreds (ooh ooh, while I was looking up this link, I found this recipe for Lasagna Roll ups).
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped or 2 tsps of freeze dried garlic
2 tbs of freeze dried oregano
1 tsp of season all
1 bunch of baby spinach coarsely chopped
2 tbs of freeze dried basil
5 cups of GF marinara sauce (I use Ragu's garden combo**)
2 eggs beaten
1 can of chili pinto beans (Yes that's right!)
1 pkg of GF uncooked lasagna noodles (I use DeBole's rice Lasagna- no precooking required)


To prepare the filling, coarsely crumble the tofu onto two layers of a lint-free dish towel. Wrap tofu in the towel and lightly press out excess moisture; set aside

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until tender. Add Chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until just brown. Add diced squash, mushrooms, garlic, oregano, season all and cook, stirring occasionally until liquid has evaporated.

Add spinach in 2 batches and cook until just wilted. Stir in basil and marinara sauce, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 15 mins. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Open 1 can of Chili Pinto beans. Drain. Puree or mush up beans really good. Set aside.
Whisk 2 eggs and pour into bowl with pureed pinto beans. Mix and blend well, until thick. Unwrap tofu, crumble it into small pieces and add to egg/bean mixture. Add in 3/4 of Vegan Mozzarella Shreds. Stir well; set aside.

Preheat oven  to 350 F. To assemble Lasagna, ladle 1/4 cup of the sauce into the bottom of a medium size casserole baking dish and spread it out evenly.  Arrange 3 Uncooked lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Place 1/3 of the tofu mixture on the lasagna sheets along with a 1/4 of the sauce, distributing evenly. Repeat layering two more times. Finished last layer should be a final layer of noodles covered with remaining sauce, taking care to spread sauce evenly all the way to the corners. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 of Vegan Mozzarella Shreds on top.  Cover dish tightly with parchment paper and bake for 60 minutes.  Set aside, uncovered, to let stand for 15 minutes.


**Ragu GF sauces ( I really like Ragu because a good portion of its Sauce line is GFCF and I can use it for quick pizza sauces. These listed below are GFCF)
Chunky: Garden Combo, Mushroom & Green Pepper, Roasted Red Pepper & Onion, Sundried Tomato & Sweet Basil, Super Chunky Mushroom, Super Vegetable Primavera, Tomato Garlic & Onion
Light: No sugar added Tomato & Basil, Tomato & Basil
Old World Marinara
Organic Garden Veggie
Pizza: Homemade Style, Pizza Quick Traditional
Robusto: 7 herb Tomato, Chopped Tomato Olive Oil & garlic, Roasted Garlic, Sauteed Onion & Garlic