The Best Vegan Lasagne

Look at it. It looks delicious. That’s because it tastes delicious too. And it’s super easy to make.

If you’re used to making your own lasagnes, this one is no different. If you’ve no idea how to make a lasagne or just find convenience in ready made ones, I urge you to give this a go!

I’ve made this for my meat eating family (truth be told, everyone was tired and asked me to cook. While I have no problem cooking meat for them, that night, I wanted a lasagne and I told them that was what I was cooking; take it or leave it).

They actually loved it.

My Mum is trying to cut down on fat so she was up for giving it a go. My Dad lived on-and-off in China for a good five years so he’s eaten snake, cat, dog, testicles from an unknown animal, you name it (he did admit that had he known what he was eating, he would have probably had a salad instead), so as you can imagine, he’ll eat pretty much anything. My poor steak loving boyfriend will eat anything I give him as he says it’s all tasty and definitely feels a benefit eating vegan food, so he was more than happy to give it a go.

This makes a small lasagne which we cut into quarters and had with a massive salad. Double up on ingredients if you want a bigger one.

Ingredients:

1 packet of Granose soya mince (leave this out if you don’t like meat substitutes and just add extra veg. It gives great texture and flavour)
1tbsp olive oil
2-3 cups of chopped mushrooms
1 bag of spinach
1 large red onion (White onions work fine too!)
1 yellow pepper
1 red pepper
1 lazy ass tin of ratatouille
1 tin chopped tomatoes
However much garlic you like (We’re garlic monsters in this house so we use about 5-6 cloves!)
Big handful of fresh basil
1 1/2 tsp sugar or a tbsp of agave nectar
1 pack of lasagne sheets (Sainsburys are totally vegan)

“Cheese” Sauce:

I’m no good with measurements so use your best judgement

About 250ml water
Some plain flour…
Parmesan style soya cheese (I like this one because the flavour is so damn strong that you don’t need to use a lot)
Mixture of mozarella and parmesan style “cheese” to top

The path to deliciousness:

1) Big pan. Start to heat up the olive oil. Crush the garlic (never chop!), dice the onion and peppers and shred half of the basil and sauteé in the oil on a low heat. Add a pinch of salt. This stops the onions from burning and helps them sweat.

2) When your onions and peppers are soft, add the mushrooms and spinach. If you find the mushrooms are too dry, add a tiny bit of boiling water to help cook them instead of extra oil.

3) Add the tin of ratatouille and chopped tomatoes and let them heat up and simmer.

4) Completely ignore the instructions on the granose mince and add it straight into the sauce. Stir in the sugar/agave nectar and remaining basil.

5) Keep this on a low heat while you make the “cheese” sauce.

6) Heat up the water in a pan and sieve a tbsp at a time of flour in. It usually takes about 1 1/2 to 2 to make a thick sauce.

7) Add a bunch of “cheese” and stir it in. If your sauce is too thick, add tiny bits of water to thin it out. If it’s too runny, add more flour and cheese in small quantities.

8) Basic lasagne preparation; layer of bolognese, layer of pasta; copy + paste.

9) When you’ve used up all the tomato sauce, add a final layer of pasta and cover with the “cheese” sauce and “cheese”.

10) Bake it on a standard heat in the over for about 45mins to an hour to give everything chance to cook through and the veg to soften.

This will serve two hungry people or four who want heaps of salad with it.

I swear it is delicious and worth the effort.

Let me know how you got on!

Just 8 Weeks

Let’s take a look at Jodie Marsh for a moment.

While this isn’t the body I want for myself, this is a great motivator.

In all fairness, she was in pretty good shape before she started her tranformation, and she managed it in just 8 weeks.

While it is impossible for you and I to achieve that body in 8 weeks, I think it’s worth speculating what you could achieve yourself in just 8 weeks.

A year ago, in just 8 weeks, I lost 2 stone. Granted, I made myself very poorly because my body couldn’t deal with the stress of losing so much so quickly, and I slowed my last stone and a half down and lost it over the next three months.

But the point is, I did it. I don’t reccommend losing that much so quickly, but just think;

If I can lose two stone in 8 weeks, what can you do in 8 weeks?

It’s the time of year where we’ve all over-indulged, myself included, and I felt a deep loathing for myself for probably gaining 2-3lbs over the last month.

But why should I feel so bad? I’ve done so well and restricted myself so much this year, what does it matter if I’ve enjoyed myself a little bit?

January, once again, marks the beginning of the “Phase Tone Up”. I’ve got a little more fat to lose before the rest is converted to muscle.

It is going to suck.

For about a week. And then it will feel amazing. If you hate the gym, you don’t actually hate the gym. You hate the first week, and rightly so; you’ll ache, feel exhausted, feel like you’re starving, but push through.

Once you get over that first week, every workout after that will leave you feeling euphoric. Your body will stop craving bad food and you’ll have a secret smugness because you know you’re finally in control.

“But I’m too fat!”

“People at the gym will laugh at me!”

No, you’re not too fat to exercise, and anybody who is serious about fitness will only admire and encourage you. Nobody laughs at anyone who wants to improve themselves, especially when they know what it takes to get there.

That’s me at 12.7 stone on the left, and that’s me at 8.10 stone on the right.

It isn’t impossible. I have some work left to do to have the body I so desperately want, but if I can lose two stone in 8 weeks, what else can I do in 8 weeks?

8 weeks is a fragment of your lifetime, so invest 8 weeks in making an effort to feel good about yourself.

I was totally unfit. I was a smoker and despite being a vegetarian, I ate a lot of bad food.

I gave up smoking (I cheated; I now use an electronic vapour cig) and I went vegan. You don’t need to go to that extreme; it’s what works for me.

If you’re thinking about hitting the gym as a New Year’s Resolution, don’t bother. You have to want it. Don’t make it a resolution, you need to make it a lifestyle choice.

There is nothing better than the feeling you get from working hard and earning what you want.