Pre-Soak Cashews

• Place raw cashews in a medium-small bowl. Cover cashews with boiling water and soak for at least 20 minutes. Strain and set aside. You can soak cashews while you prepare the other parts of this recipe

Make Crunchy Walnut Topping

• Place walnuts, 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast, sesame seeds, garlic powder, coarse salt and a pinch of pepper in the bowl of a medium or large food processor. Pulse until you achieve a desired consistency. Be careful not to over pulse or you end up with a kind of nut butter. You only need a few short pulses to achieve a texture similar to coarse sand.
• Place in a medium small bowl and set aside. No need to wash the food processor bowl.

Make Artichoke 'Ricotta'

• Strain artichoke hearts, pat them dry, and cut them lengthwise into quarters. Set aside.
• Tear super firm tofu into large chunks and place them into the food processor. Add the strained soaked cashews, 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp nutritional yeast, lemon juice, chopped garlic, Italian herb blend, onion powder (or granules) and fine salt. Process until all ingredients blend together and a fairly smooth ricotta-like mixture forms.
• Add the quartered artichoke hearts to the food processor and pulse 3 or 4 more times until the artichoke piece get smaller and are evenly distributed in the ricotta-like mixture. Don't over-process. You should still see small artichoke chunks.

Prepare Sauce

• Place tomato sauce in a medium-large bowl. Add ¾ cup of water and mix together. Pour 1 cup of the sauce into a separate container and set aside in order to ensure that you will have enough sauce left for the top layer of the lasagna.

Preheat Oven to 350 ℉ (175 ℃)

Build Lasagna (see main recipe text for step by step photos)

• Pour about 1 cup of sauce from the medium-large bowl (not the cup that you set aside) and spread it evenly over the bottom of the lasagna pan. Then lay down a layer of overlapping noodles over the sauce. Cover the noodles with half the artichoke ricotta. Cover the ricotta with half the baby spinach. Cover the baby spinach with half of the tomato sauce remaining in the medium large bowl.
• Build a second layer over the first in the same way that you built the first layer. First cover the first layer with overlapping noodles. Then cover the noodles with all the remaining artichoke ricotta. Then cover the ricotta with all the remaining baby spinach. Then cover the baby spinach with all the remaining tomato sauce in the medium-large bowl. You should still have 1 cup of sauce set aside.
• Top the second layer with another layer of noodles. Spread the reserved cup of tomato sauce over the noodles. Then cover the tomato sauce with the crunchy walnut topping.

Double Cover Your Lasagna Casserole

• Cut or fold parchment paper to fit over the lasagna without going over the sides and gently place it on top of the lasagna. Then cover everything with a sheet of aluminum foil that wraps tightly around the sides.

Bake

• Place double covered lasagna casserole in the middle rack of preheated 350 ℉ oven and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove both the aluminum foil and the parchment paper covers and bake for an additional 25 minutes.

Rest and Serve

• Remove lasagna casserole from oven and let rest for 10 to 20 minutes before serving.

Serving Suggestions

• For a fancy extra creamy touch you can top each serving with a spoonful of Lemon Cashew Cream, or your favorite store bought vegan sour cream, and/ or a sprinkling of a chopped fresh herb such as parsley, thyme, oregano or basil.

Storing Suggestions

• Fridge: You can store lasagna casserole in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Cool it down first then cover with parchment paper then tightly wrap it in foil or place in an airtight container.
• Freezer: You can store lasagna in the freezer for up to 3 months. Cool it down first then place it in an airtight container. I prefer to freeze lasagna in smaller sections using ziplock bags or smaller containers.