Buffalo Lasagna with Rice Noodles, sans dairy

On Monday, I made buffalo lasagna with a twist: I cobbled together a couple recipes to make it gluten and dairy-free. I combined a recipe for buffalo lasagna with a recipe for dairy-free lasagna and used rice flour no-boil lasagna noodles (which are usually from wheat flour).  This was my first attempt at making lasagna and it was really easy and tasty. Enjoy if you make it!

Buffalo Lasagna

• Ground buffalo, 1 lb
• No-boil lasagna noodles, 1 – 9oz package (I used noodles made with rice rather than wheat)
• Pasta sauce, 1 jar
• Ricotta or cottage cheese, 1-2 cups (see Ricotta recipe below if making without dairy)
• Cheddar or mozzarella cheese, 1 -2 cups (see cheese sauce recipe below if making without dairy)

Preparation:

1.       Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2.       Make dairy-free ricotta and cheese sauce (see below)

3.       Brown buffalo meat in a skillet. Turn off heat when fully cooked

4.       Add jar of warm pasta sauce to browned buffalo (off heat)

5.       Assemble the lasagna. Pour about ½ cup of the pasta sauce in the bottom of a 9” x 13” casserole dish, followed by a layer of noodles, followed by some of the ricotta, followed by some of the cheese sauce, followed by another layer of noodles. Repeat, alternating the pasta sauce with the cheese sauce, reserving the last ½ cup of cheese sauce to top the lasagna.

6.       Bake for 40 minutes, or until lasagna is golden brown. Serve warm.

Ricotta (dairy-free)

• 2 12-oz. blocks Extra Firm Silken Tofu,
• 1 t. honey or agave nectar
• 2 t. apple cider vinegar
• 2 t. salt, plus more to taste

In a small bowl, mash the tofu with a fork or crumble with your hands. Mix in the remaining ingredients until well combined. Ricotta will keep for 3 days in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Cheese sauce (dairy-free)

• ¼ cup flour (I used gluten-free flour, but wheat flour may be better for thickening)
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 t. salt
• 2 cups almond milk or other non-dairy milk alternative
• 1 ½ t. cider vinegar
• 1 ½ t. olive oil (optional, but I prefer it!)

Combine the flour, nutritional yeast and salt in a small saucepan off-heat. Add ¼ cup of the almond milk, stirring with a wooden spoon until mixture is well combined. Add the remaining almond milk, vinegar and oil, stirring until smooth. Place the saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens, about 4-5 minutes. Remove the pan from heat and set aside.