Garfield's Favorite Food

I didn't grow up in a kosher home, but I remember that even before I went vegetarian at age 15, my mom usually made lasagna without any meat. When I went vegan later on, it seemed that all vegans loved to load up lasagna with mock meat and nondairy cheese.

Lately, I've been trying to cut back on processed soy foods. Many of them are convenient, delicious, and vegan, but a diet with mock meat at the center of every meal isn't very varied, to say the least. And unprocessed whole foods are far healthier, of course.

On Tuesday, I was trying to figure out what to make with the spinach, eggplant, and green pepper in my fridge. I was inspired to do something I'd never done before: make vegan lasagna with whole-wheat lasagna noodles, no mock meat, and no mock cheese. I just used the noodles, the veggies, sauce, and seasoning. Think of it as a healthy, tasty use of the ingredients I had on hand rather than a bona fide lasagna.

If you want the real thing (well, the real vegan thing), try the namesake recipe from a blog called Kosher Vegan Lasagna.

Some of my vegan friends just didn't understand. Below is a sampling of the Q&A that ensued.

Are you turning into a hippy?
I'm more of a quasi-punk than a hippy.

Don't whole-wheat lasagna noodles taste terrible?
I often burned the no-boil regular noodles, so at least these are healthier.

Couldn't you at least use the tofu recipe for nondairy cheese in lasagna if you didn't want to use ready-made vegan cheese?
If I'm trying to vary my diet and I eat too much soy, I don't gain anything from using the tofu recipe.

Where do you get your protein?
You sound like a meat-eater! The day I was asked, I'd had hummus as part of my breakfast and miso soup and mock ham from a Japanese restaurant as part of my lunch. Does that sound like a protein-deficient day that was hollerin' for soy cheese or a second helping of fake meat?