We've secretly replaced their regular cheese...

I had some shredded carrots in the fridge that needed to be eaten, so I asked the SO if he'd like some lasagna. He's possibly the most agreeable person on the planet when it comes to food (just don't try to feed him raw tomatoes), so he was all for it.

Since we're still detoxing from our vacation, I was trying to think of a way to make it a little lighter. I remembered that Yvonne, the Traveling Vegetarian suggested that firm silken tofu was a good replacement for ricotta cheese, so I decided (somewhat hesitantly) to try it. I also added in roasted red pepper (roasted in my toaster oven) since I found that was such a great addition to the lasagna I made in Las Vegas.

The first part of this process is, of course, to fully drain the tofu. With the fresh squash and zucchini, there's already plenty of water in the lasagna (which takes about an hour after cooking to fully soak in; I use canned mushrooms to cut back on the water even more sometimes), so the draining was a real task. Also, I didn't plan for it far enough in advance. So I did the bit where you put the block between two plates and it fell apart. So I just mashed it all up to where it actually looked like ricotta and then put a paper towel over it. Then a kitchen towel. Then a second kitchen towel. Geez, that stuff is all water.

When it was finally at a point where I felt comfortable with its moisture level, I sprinkled it onto the first layer of vegetables in the lasagna. By that point, it was much, much easier than ricotta to deal with. That stuff can get messy (which is why I started skipping it altogether). It didn't look too bad, either.

I cut back on the mozzarella cheese to about 12 ounces total--to help keep it together and add the flavor. And then the moment of truth...

I decided not to tell the SO of my plan until after he'd taken a bite. Not because he'd be opposed to tofu (he's not), but just to see if there was a significant difference. I took a bite first and really didn't notice anything different (I only used one package). But my palate has all the sensitivity of a factory farmer; I'm not a good judge. So I ask the SO, "How is it?" "It's really good. Did you do something different? Did you use some different cheese or something?" Busted! He said that he could sense the texture of it but that he thought it was good and that he still got enough of the mozzarella taste to be happy. And he took home half the leftovers. I'll take that as a good sign. So, welcome to my recipe, tofu.