Lasagna With a Side of Thumb Damage

Hello hello again!

I have a magical tale for you today of creation, experimentation, and loss.

Moving, tragic, and beautiful.

It starts with a leftover piece of homemade cashew cheese that just did not quite meet expectations. Whether it was due to using the food processor and not the Vitamix, or if it just didn't have the right blend of spice, it did not live up to the glorious title of "cheese".

But I am not one to waste food. So I usually try to repurpose things: to convert them and make them better. Then they can transcend their current pitiful state and be reborn! I know, so dramatic.

So I decided to incorporate it into a lasagna. I started finding a lot of recipes for tofu ricotta and then amazingly also cashew tofu ricotta. Perfect! Now, don't ask me for a recipe because I used about 4 different recipes to make my ricotta. But basically it had tofu, my leftover cashew cheese, lemon, and some seasonings. (Sorry!)

Of course this wasn't going to be your run of the mill lasagna. I had spaghetti squash in the house for goodness sake! Way better than noodles!

So I found this fantastic recipe online for Zucchini and Spaghetti Squash Lasagna (sin pasta).

http://greenlitebites.com/2007/12/zucchini-and-spaghetti-squash-lasagna/

All I had to do was substitute my vegan cheese. (Although you may notice I couldn't resist putting a bit of real cheese on top). Oh, and I had to thinly slice zucchini to layer in the lasagna. No big deal. Just had to use our mandoline. 

It looks like this if you are wondering.

It has open blades and it comes with this dinky plastic "protector" to use when you get down to a small piece of vegetable. But it doesn't always hold the food well. And this requires that you pay attention as your vegetable gets rapidly smaller and smaller so you are able to switch to the plastic protector. Unfortunately, I was not paying enough attention. So my zucchini rapidly shrunk until I suddenly sliced off the side of my thumb on the oh so sharp blade. Yikes. I'm not going to go into detail, no need to get gruesome, but it was rough. The worst kitchen injury I have thus sustained (and hopefully the worst I ever will).

Luckily I have a fantastic cooking partner in crime who stepped up to save the day and assemble the lasagna. My mother lovingly layered cooked spaghetti squash, sauce, vegan ricotta and my oh so thinly sliced zucchini to create a warm and satisfying veggie filled dish. Success!

Was it worth it? Who's to say. But it was delicious. :)