welcome to my kitchen and in this week's
episode of don't eat it out of a box so
I asked my twitter followers what they
were interested in seeing me cook and
you guys really gave me a lot of
feedback and that may be really happy to
know that you were so engaged but I
would say the overwhelming top thing
that people ask for was lasagna I'm
going to go with a vegan lasagna but I
want you to know right up front that in
your tomato sauce if you want to add
anchovies into that if you want to add
ground pork if you didn't want to add
meat but you didn't want to go with
vegan you could add cheese and that
would be really yummy and the cheeses I
would recommend is some grated Parmesan
maybe some grated mozzarella but for
today we're gonna go with vegan and I'm
really excited about this I've made it
before I love it I don't miss the cheese
I don't miss the meat definitely one of
the things about doing a vegetarian
lasagna as you are getting all these
vegetables it's really healthy
everything in here has antioxidants and
nutrients and I imagine it is on the
anti-inflammatory diet which is
basically no wheat no dairy no sugar no
alcohol no coffee that's kind of your
basis of a general anti-inflammatory
diet and you know I'm not a doctor nor
have I ever played one on TV that's not
true and so dish I played doctor Monica
de Monica I don't think she could
perform any kind of medical anything so
I would recommend this for a Sunday meal
that you either make put in your
refrigerator unbaked and then save it
for in during the week when you want to
cook this meal for your friends or your
family or you could even freeze it and
the same thing or you can make it
and I'm gonna stick to my game of
Thrones then you could eat it while
you're watching Game of Thrones because
that's what I'm doing on Sunday night I
want to talk about the tomato sauce
because I've cheated a little bit here
and I'm not sure if you saw either my
video with Gigi gorgeous my friend Gigi
gorgeous where we did turkey meatballs
and red sauce over kale noodles great
video check that out if you haven't seen
it already or if you saw my red sauce or
pasta that I did with my daughter
Emerson
please me smile just thinking about her
anyways I've got I've gone over red
sauce quite a bit so either make
yourself some tomato sauce by following
one of my other videos or get yourself a
can of tomato sauce that's already made
or a jar that's like that you would use
for pasta my pinch on that is that many
many many companies with the jarred
spaghetti sauce have hidden sugars in
there so please turn the label around
look at the ingredients and don't buy
one with hidden cane sugar so beyond our
tomato sauce we have all of these lovely
vegetables and let me kind of give you
the rundown of where we're going with
this whole thing the idea is going to be
to be replacing the noodles that would
normally be in a lasagna with strips of
eggplant and strips of yellow squash and
strips of Tzipi so those are going to be
our noodles then our Center is going to
be we are going to do a beautiful kale
and mushroom pate and that is going to
mimic the meat that's going to be a
layer and then for our cheese we're
gonna do a tofu blend with
and garlic and salt and pepper and
that's gonna mimic our ricotta cheese
and then we're gonna layer it all up and
it's gonna be fabulous
the first thing I'm gonna do is I am
going to start making our noodles maybe
we should call them doodles because
they're vegetables and boodles if
anybody use that you guys should coin
that expression boodles okay we're gonna
start with the eggplant once we get it
sliced I'm gonna put it in the oven at
about 350 I just want to let these
vegetables go for maybe 10-15 minutes
just to try to get some of the moisture
out of them I think the biggest problem
with vegetarian lasagna is that you end
up with like soupy and watery
I think roasting them for just 10 maybe
15 minutes is it is a good idea I'm
gonna just square off the sides of this
eggplant you noticed I cut both ends so
that I've got flat ends I'm going to
that is gonna be a noodle so I'm using
my mandolin you could if you don't have
a mandolin let me see how this is going
to work the best idea would definitely
be to give yourself a flat surface and
then as soon as you can you want it
slice straight down and that's a lot
thicker than what the mandolin did but
it's it's not it's not unmanageable but
I'm just going to go down here so that
is all of our eggplant noodles I've got
a cooking tray I'm going to spray it
with a little olive oil and then I'm
just gonna lay out my mind eggplant
boodle
okay you're gonna have to let me know if
you think that's stupid
it's probably stupid but you know when
you're alone in your kitchen talking to
a phone making food
it's amazing what things seem like good
ideas to you all right I'm going to need
two cookie sheets to get through all
this eggplant and I would say this is
enough of a recipe for probably three to
four people we're going to be making the
lasagna in this deep square pan I'm
still over there did you guys see that
well that's my room and they do if you
want to make it for twice as many people
you could double all the vegetables and
use a bigger rectangular pan I think for
three to four people it's gonna be deep
and heavy and warm and comforting and I
would slice it like that and give each
person the square so these are going in
the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes I'm
gonna move on to mandolin slicing our
yellow squash and zucchini noodles
noodles I'm just gonna keep saying it
you know once you come in that's the
thing got to commit to something just go
for it don't know looking back there
boodles that's what I'm calling them
Hatcher's vegan lasagna with vegetarian
boodles there you go so I'm going to
chop up the ends need my knife for that
just square it off
I'm telling you this is such a
satisfying feeling I I do worry that
inexperienced and/or rushed and or wine
induced people could potentially cut
themselves and that would not be good
but I love my mandolin I'm going to get
the topper and show you that safety
safety safety seein the idea most of
them have like this kind of hand cupping
topper on it I don't know where mine is
I I never really use it but there you go
I still have all my fingers kind of zap
is now also going to go in the oven for
about 10 minutes our first sheet of
eggplant is coming out and this is
pretty much what I wanted you see how it
got a little bit Brown you can see it's
starting to sweat there I'm going to now
flip it over I think I'm going to put
them back in for another 5 minutes so
it's gonna take you about a half an hour
I think to prep the boodles
between slicing the eggplant and the
squash and the zucchini and giving them
rounds in the oven the last vegetable
that we have to mandolin is our zucchini
and I'd be mindful of my fingers I
really do like making healthy meals but
also healthy meals that they're
satisfying you know like like lasagna to
me and it makes sense to me why so many
of you asked for lasagna
I mean lasagna is it's just home right
it's just comfort it's almost like
eating chocolate it's like that same
satiating feeling you get from lasagna
nice glass of red wine or you know just
sparkling water
I actually have been trying to do the
anti-inflammatory diet for a while I
don't like the word diet actually but
just trying to see you know what what
effect does sugar and wheat and dairy
and alcohol what does it have on my body
if I cut it out for a month will I feel
any differently and actually it's been
about two weeks I think I maybe do feel
better
so it's interesting I just I think it's
good to try things and you can't expect
there would be any changes instantly you
know I think I think we all want things
to just happen instantly and it's hard
to be consistent and stay with something
for a long time if you don't see changes
right away and I don't think you will
see changes right away but I think in a
month if you commit something for a
month I think you probably will I think
I actually am starting to feel better
like more just alert more energy it
might be worth trying going in the oven
I've got my first sheet of eggplant out
of the oven and that's exactly what I
wanted it to look like it's just a
little bit browned and you can feel that
a moisture coming out of it so I'm gonna
pile them up here and I'm just gonna
kind of squeeze just press some of that
water out so this is gonna be our plate
and we're gonna stack up all of our
boodles here I'm just going to stick
with it I'm calling them that hashtag
boodles eating whole foods that's the
healthiest move you can make my yellow
squash is done so my pile days
and then periodically I'm just gonna
press and move that water out I think I
said before that the vegetarian meals
they they do sometimes take a long time
and our zucchini I think about sometimes
the the people that say oh I don't like
vegetables I don't eat vegetables and I
often think it's because of how they've
been cooked and I just think people
don't like the texture
maybe if something is steamed it might
be overly mushy and and then and then
their idea in their head the story they
tell themselves is that they just don't
like vegetables and I think I would ask
you to give that another shot to watch
my channel and watch how I cook
vegetables and see if you can't come to
like them because they're really good
for you but the next piece of the puzzle
of our vegetarian lasagna is going to be
these beautiful portobello mushrooms now
I am going to slice them up and I don't
have to make Precious about it because
again like the other vegetables these
portobello mushrooms are going to go in
the oven for probably about 15 minutes -
you can all say it with me now let some
of the water out ohayo Jeff I heard you
I heard you out there you do what I was
gonna say you know this is going to be
calm mushroom pate and it is gonna be
our meat replacement we're gonna spread
it between layers of the tomato sauce
and our boodles and it's really really
yummy and you're gonna love it
I'm just roughly chopping up three
garlic cloves
it's not so good so this is going in the
oven 350 375 depending on your oven for
about 15 minutes the mushrooms are in
the oven they're cooking down there
probably about seven minutes in you can
see the moisture starting to come off of
them and I am gonna go ahead and get
this kale ready to go in our mushroom
pate so I have five just five small
pieces of kale and if you haven't seen
me work with kale before I always cut
out the stalks from the center of the
kale because they're kind of tough I'm
just doing this because a kale is really
good for you that dark leafy greens are
some of the best things that you can be
eating and honestly this is actually a
good way to hide kale from so many new
things that they don't eat it but you
might want them to actually have the
benefits of the nutrients that are in it
but I'm not doing it to hide it I'm
doing it because I want just that little
bit of earthy sort of strong flavor it's
gonna taste good and it's gonna be good
for you what I'm doing this kale is I am
just blanching it in some boiling salt
water for about three minutes maybe just
until my mushrooms are done and then all
of that is going in a food processor the
kale the mushrooms with the garlic
this lovely fresh parsley I've got a
little bit of time here
and salt and pepper that made me laugh
just to say I've got a little bit of
time here I'm not sure I ever told you
this before but one Christmas when my
daughter was really little it was
the middle of when I was shooting
Desperate Housewives and boy as a mom
single mom of a toddler and you're
working 14 hours a day and just trying
to be everything to everybody at all
times
christmas came around and she said mommy
what do you want for christmas and i
said i just want more sleep and time
that's all I want and so she got with
her friends
and like went up into a room I didn't
know what she was doing and she gotten a
bunch of post-it notes and all different
colors and all heard her friends they
all wrote sleep in time on all these
post-it notes and then they got a big
picture frame and put it all in the
picture frame and on Christmas morning I
woke up and that was my present a frame
full of sleep in time I think I don't
have to go get that from my bedroom and
show it to you this was it this was and
pollie is one of my favorite Christmas
presents of all time you can see it see
this one right here it says time TI m
and then the e it's like a lowercase e
with a clock in it isn't that cute Oh
anyway I know moms feel that way all the
time all we want is more sleep and more
time but I got some time for you right
here in this jar so that's what our
mushrooms are looking like you can see
that steam is coming off of them and
they're gonna probably be in there
another couple minutes my kale is nicely
blanched I'm just gonna dab the water
off of that careful because that's gonna
be
I'm just gonna put that right into the
food processor along with our parsley
and our thyme and a pinch of pepper a
generous pinch and a generous pinch of
salt but I'm choosing to include a
couple tablespoons of walnuts maybe a
couple tablespoons - one little walnut
Oh YUM well these are ready to go just
gonna press a little more of that water
out and then these are going to go right
into a food processor I mean honestly
this is a meal in itself without those
on you like you could just do a
beautiful mushroom pate like this serve
it with crackers okay so I'm gonna put
the lid on here I'm going to power on
and I'm actually gonna pour a little bit
of olive oil in there just to just to
break it up a little bit
okay I think I want to show you what
that looks like it should be a creamy
texture that holds together when you
pinch it I think I'm gonna add a little
more salt
you should always taste your food
sometimes I think I don't do that enough
I just assume it's gonna taste good and
you really should be tasting your food
as you go along I think it looks like it
needed a little bit more olive oil so
I'm gonna add that now probably another
tablespoon perfect now I'm going to
spoon that out so that we can be ready
to plate our lasagna oh it's hard to
wait to build the lasagna I just want to
eat it all now
the next thing we're gonna do is we're
gonna make our tofu or cottage cheese so
I have a whole block of ricotta cheese
and some fresh basil leafes
a little bit of olive oil probably a
tablespoon some salt and some pepper
and get that going I was thinking that
if you had nutritional yeast that might
be a good thing to add maybe tablespoon
of here - I don't have any but I find
that nutritional yeast is a very good
kind of cheesy flavor and I'm thinking
it might work well here so if that's
something you have at home you might
want to experiment let me know how that
works out here we go
so that doesn't take much yep that looks
great looks like ricotta cheese totally
who wouldn't know now we're gonna build
our lasagna so I'm gonna start with
eggplant going across the bottom so
people can see a little bit better looks
like it's gonna take three pieces I
don't know if you noticed I picked an
pretty big eggplant that was long and
kind of fat so that I'm getting some
good good coverage here so I've got a
1/3 going one way and I'm gonna go ahead
and put two going the other way just to
give the base a little bit of strength
then I'm going to load in a scoop of our
mushroom pate and I'm just gonna spread
that out with the back of the spoon
this is gonna be so good so that's what
that's looking like so far and then next
I'm gonna head for the zucchini though
if my eggplant was going this way on the
bottom no my zucchini is gonna go this
way
I'm just gonna lie them up next to each
other just like that to cover the whole
thing so that is the zucchini now I'm
gonna take a little tuna sauce
and like I said before this tomato sauce
was leftover and frozen from the tomato
sauce that I made with Gigi gorgeous
when I taught her how to make turkey
meatballs over kale noodles which she
seemed to really like but I want to keep
showing you each layer so that's about
how much tomato sauce I put in there and
on top of the tomato sauce I'm going to
put the tofu
that's what that looks like and then I'm
gonna top it with our yellow squash my
eggplant went this way my zucchini went
this way so now my squash was gonna go
this way and I'm trying to get it right
over to the edge I really want when we
slice this when we slice this I'm hoping
that these layers that you can see them
that they that they stay like that that
it doesn't just turn into a big mush now
going back for the mushroom pate when my
girlfriend's just came over well I had
the camera off she's like what are you
doing I said oh I'm shooting a vegan
lasagna video I want to taste the
mushroom pate she thought it was amazing
so I'm gonna do another row of eggplant
and this time my eggplants gonna go this
way basically I'm just trying to cross
keep going crisscross with every layer
of my food else if I hadn't said that
word in a while it's a little bit like a
craft project all right I think we'll do
some tomato sauce
so this tomato sauce has finalized
onions in it and roasted tomatoes it's
really good okay and now I'm gonna do my
tofu cheese replacement I've got quite a
lot here so I can be pretty generous
with it and now you can just keep
layering however you want
between your vegetable noodles and your
fillings and your sauce I'm going back
to mushroom pate then I'm going to put
another layer of eggplant then I'm going
to do another tomato sauce and I think
this is going to be our our top layer
you do the tomato sauce
the rest of the cheese cheese in quotes
at rest of this in quotes cheese maybe a
little more tomato sauce just to make it
sort of decorative and I think I'm gonna
use my yellow squash as my topping which
I think I'm gonna do in a triangular
diagonal pattern just to make it a
little bit decorative these so I'm just
gonna season the top with a little bit
more salt and a little bit of pepper but
there's a lot of flavor in there and
that it
are we ready to put it in the oven I
think it may be there you go that's what
it looks like so this is gonna go in the
oven at 350 for about 45 minutes to an
hour you just want it to all get
bubbling hot our vegetarian lasagna is
done isn't that beautiful
oh it looks beautiful I think I better
show you a close-up I love the way that
tomato sauce around the edge has sort of
caramelized it's got a little bit of a
browning happening you probably want to
let it cool for about five minutes
before you cut into it it looks like the
perfect size like I said for four people
I'm gonna cut across I'm gonna make it
into just four beautiful pieces I'm
using a sharp knife because I do want to
be able to cut through those slices of
eggplant I don't want them to pull when
I go to take the piece
with my spatula
look at that Wow can you see all the
layers there I can see the cheese I can
see the mushroom pate I'm gonna try oh
wow I realize I say oh well a lot after
I eat in these videos I know feels a
little arrogant like I make such great
food it really is good you that or I'm
really hungry I hope that you've enjoyed
this video thank you for the suggestion
of lasagna I hope you'll keep commenting
and liking my videos I want to know what
you think I want to make food that you
want to eat as long as it's not out of a
box