I have to admit that I had an actual moment of grief this year when I realized my kids would never experience Stouffer’s Lasagna. I know that sounds crazy but food can create such strong memories and for me that was the ultimate comfort food growing up. So cheesy and saucy! So I was sad at the loss.

Then with a help of a talented friend, we came up with a cheesy delicious gluten and dairy free lasagna. The kids didn’t love the zucchini sheet noodles but I wanted them to get some green vegetables so I changed it to spinach and I realized sheet noodles are harder to cut and serve so rotini for the win. Success!!! This makes my heart happy.

Naturally, my son doesn’t love it…sigh. He didn’t my cheese grief memo. So maybe I can help out the rest of you that miss the cheesy goodness of lasagna. Please note…the cheeses are the key and the best taste and texture I have found. Look for Miyokos and Violife!

Baked Ziti

Recipe by info@branchcollectivewellness.comCourse: DinnerCuisine: Italian

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef (sometimes I use 2 lbs to make enough for leftovers)
1 lb Italian Sausage
1 jar Rao’s pasta sauce
2 handfuls fresh spinach, roughly chopped
1/2 bag gluten free rotini noodles
Cheese Mixture
2 packages Miyoko’s Organic Cashew Milk Mozzarella
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 bag Violife Mozzarella Shredded
1 block Violife Parmesan

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Brown the meat in a large skillet or Dutch oven.
When the meat is browned, add pasta sauce and spinach. Simmer until spinach has wilted.
In a separate pot, cook noodles per package instructions.
While the noodles are cooking, combine Miyoko’s mozzarella, eggs, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder and 1 handful of shredded mozzarella in a large bowl. Use a fork, pastry cutter or food processor to create a crumbly ricotta texture.
Drain the noodles and put them back in the pot. Add the cheese mixture to the noodles and stir to combine.
Combine the cheesy noodles and the sauce and pour into a 9×13 Pyrex dish. Top with shredded Mozzarella and shredded Parmesan.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes to toast the cheese. Enjoy!