Ahhh leftovers. How I love and hate you at the same time. I hate wasting food, but when you test recipes as often as I do, you’re bound to come across food you don’t exactly love. So here I am, at the end of the week in the mood to cook, with 6 containers of leftovers glaring at me from my fridge.
Last week I made a couple different pasta dishes, so I just boiled a whole box of bowties. I also made a vegan garlic cream sauce with some seasoned tofu for myself and shrimp for my man. Then, I had a little bit of vegan parm and nutritional yeast left over from my last weeks Purple Carrot boxes. And while grocery shopping, I found a BOGO deal for pasta sauces, which I really didn’t need more of, but now I have 6 jars. So, in order to make room for my vegan chocolate covered strawberries in the fridge, I needed to “get rid” of a couple things. A.k.a. where this delicious vegan pasta casserole came from.
This is the ultimate comfort food, and it’s low stress. Everything is already made, and it’s not like you’re making a feast for guests. This recipe is garlicky, cheezy, creamy, a little crunchy, and somehow smells just like my mom’s homemade lasagna. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
Just use however much you have! Each of these were rough estimates, after all it is a leftovers casserole! I used an 8″ by 4″ glass baking dish and everything fit perfectly.
2-3 cups cooked pasta (I used bowties)
2 cups Classico Caramelized Onion and Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce
1-2 cups Vegan Garlic Cream Sauce
1/2 -1 cup seasoned tofu of choice (I usually cut my tofu in 1/4 inch cubes so it was already perfectly sized for my casserole, I suggest using Italian seasonings. You could use any left over protein from your week.)
Vegan Parmesan, nutritional yeast, basil, salt or any other vegan toppings you have on hand
How-to:
Preheat oven to 350*
Spread 1/2 of the marinara sauce on the bottom of the baking dish, add an equal amount of noodles. The top of the noodles should not be covered in sauce yet.
Spread 3/4 of the cream sauce on top of the noodles. Then, add about 3/4 of the tofu on top of the sauce, then add about 3/4 of the remaining noodles.
Top noodles with the remaining marinara. In a separate bowl, mix the last noodles, cream sauce and tofu evenly. Spread mixture thinly over the top layer of casserole, then top with vegan parm, salt and nutritional yeast.
Bake for 25-35 minutes or until the top layer of noodles appears crispy. If you have tin foil on hand, it may be smart to cover for the first 20-25 minutes, then uncover. I, however, did not have any foil and it still came out delicious! When reheating, I suggest broiling on high for a couple minutes to get it crispy again, but microwaving for a minute is just as yummy!
The Peaceful Plate 