Raise the Roof Sweet Potato-Vegetable Lasagna

By Rip Esselstyn

I prepared this lasagna for my first cooking demonstration at the new Whole Foods Culinary Center in Austin, Texas. Tim Lafuente, an award-winning chef who is also an Austin firefighter, asked me to join him at this event, where he prepared an angel-hair pasta with chicken, bacon, butter, and oil. 

Firefighters are naturally competitive, so the demonstration quickly turned into a competition. No one was declared the winner, but I walked away with my head held high because the lasagna was a smashing success–another triumph for plant-happy cuisine!

 

This lasagna is so good, my wife Jill and I chose it to be the main dish at our wedding reception.

 

Serves 10 to 12

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

 

Ingredients:

 

 1 onion, chopped

 1 small head garlic, all cloves chopped or pressed

 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced

 1 head broccoli, chopped

 2 carrots, chopped

 2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped

 1 can corn, drained

 1 package Silken Lite tofu

 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

 1 teaspoon oregano

 1 teaspoon basil

 1 teaspoon rosemary

 2 jars pasta sauce

 2 boxes whole grain lasagna noodles

 16 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and drained

 2 sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed

 6 Roma tomatoes, sliced thin

 1 cup raw cashews, ground

 

Instructions:

 

1. Sauté onions and garlic on high heat for 3 minutes in a wok or nonstick pan.

2. Add mushrooms, and cook until onions are limp and mushrooms give up their liquid. Remove them to a large bowl with a slotted spoon. Reserve mushroom liquid in pan. 

3. Sauté broccoli and carrots for 5 minutes, and add to mushroom bowl.

4. Sauté peppers and corn until just beginning to soften. Add to the vegetable bowl.

5. Drain the tofu by wrapping in paper towels. Break it up directly in the towel and mix into the vegetable bowl.

6. Add spices to vegetable bowl and combine. 

 

To assemble:

 

1. Cover the bottom of a 9- by 13-inch casserole dish with a layer of sauce. Add a layer of noodles. Cover the noodles with sauce. This way the noodles cook in the oven, saving time and energy. 

2. Spread the vegetable mixture over the sauced noodles. Cover with a layer of noodles and another dressing of sauce.

3. Add the spinach to the second layer of sauced noodles. Cover the spinach with the mashed sweet potatoes.

4. Add another layer of sauce, the final layer of noodles, and a last topping of sauce. 

5. Cover the lasagna with thinly sliced Roma tomatoes.

6. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

7. Remove foil, sprinkle with cashews, and return to the oven for 15 minutes.

8. Let sit for 15 minutes before serving. 

 

 

Rip Esselstyn is a mission-driven man. As a swimmer at the University of Texas at Austin, he was a three time All-American. As a professional athlete, he was one of the premier triathletes in the world for more than a decade. As a firefighter for the Austin (TX) Fire Department, he helped people and saved lives. As a friend to other firefighters, he transformed the way Austin’s Engine 2 ate to save firefighters’ health. Now, as the author of The Engine 2 Diet, he is teaching people the irrefutable connection between what they put in their mouths and their ability to reach their ideal weight and their ideal health. Recently, he has teamed up with Whole Foods Market as a Healthy Eating Partner to raise awareness for Whole Foods Market team members, customers, and all of America about the benefits of eating a PlantStrongÔ diet composed of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds.

 

Rip comes from a family steeped in medicine. His great-grandfather, George Crile, co-founded the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, where his father, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., was chief of the breast cancer task force and completed one of the most extensive studies ever conducted on the relationship between the heart and diet–proving that a plant-based diet can stop, prevent, and even reverse heart disease.