This was quite delicious. I love all the colors and it stacks so nicely. Somewhere in one of my raw food books is a butternut lasagna recipe. I remember seeing it, and it was the reason I bought the butternut squash, but I couldn't find it. So when all else fails, improvise, right?
First I sliced the squash on a mandolin, and let it softened in a dish with some olive oil and salt, for probably a couple of hours. Then I rinsed the noodles, and layered them on paper towels.
Using Cashew Butter I made a Ricotta Cheese for the lasagna. I needed my soaked cashews for the ice cream that I had planned for dessert, so the cashew butter came in handy, and worked out quite well. Here are the ingredients I put together to make the cheese.
Our temperatures outside were somewhere between 107 and 110 degrees today. It was a good day to do inside projects and play in the kitchen. The birds love to come to our fountain and birdbath. I try to keep water in all our bird baths, and I suppose even though the water must get horribly warm, it still helps the birds cool down. I love to watch them. I got very side tracked many times while working in the kitchen just watching the birds!
Ok, back to the lasagna! Next I played with the spinach. I wanted to soften it rather than have it so crisp. I added some olive oil, lemon juice and Italian seasons and tossed it with my hands until it got wilted. As I played with it, it released the freshest spinach smell!
Next up, tomotoes and marinara sauce. Well, that was really easy because I had those in the refrigerator! A nice heirloom tomato and marinara that I made recently. Slice the tomato and bring the marinara to room temperature, and it will be time to assemble the lasagna!
I put the marinara sauce in a bowl and then put it into a larger bowl with hot water in it. It works really well to take the chill off the sauce without cooking it! OK, so let's put this baby together!
First layer, butternut squash noodles.
Spread them with the ricotta cheese,
and add some spinach.
Only one more layer left. Add another layer of noodles, spread it with more ricotta cheese, spinach, and stand up a beautiful slice of a heirloom tomato on the top, and it begs to be eaten!
So pretty. And so good. And so gone! We ate it all! But we weren't done eating yet! On a hot day like today, you have to have ice cream! I got the recipe for this ice cream, "Creme de Brrr - Vanille," at Kat Conrad's Raw Food 101 class at Whole Foods this past Friday. It is a quick fix with very little preparation, and makes a fantastic soft serve. I cut the recipe in half, and we ate it all!
Here are the ingredients:
So now when you don't know what to do with that butternut squash, or zucchini, that is just hanging around, try lasagna or ice cream!!!
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