vegan Baked ziti

An easy alternative to lasagna. I used gluten-free chickpea ziti pasta and whipped up a quick homemade basil ricotta. This was my first time putting this together and am now obsessed! Wonderful make-ahead meal to bring to a pot luck or put it in the freezer to have ready to go into the oven after a long day. 

Ingredients

Basil Ricotta:

1 block extra firm tofu, pressed and drained

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

Handful of fresh basil leaves

1/2 tsp salt (more to taste)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoons avocado or olive oil

Ziti:

1 box of Banza ziti chickpea pasta (you can also use regular pasta or four packages of Miracle Noodle ziti)

1 jar organic tomato basil pasta sauce (I used Wholefoods brand)

1 block Miyoko's kitchen mozzarella, shredded

1 container Follow Your Heart parmesan shreds

2 Field Roast italian sausages, crumbled

Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Combine all ricotta ingredients in a food processor and blend, put into a mixing bowl.

Preheat oven to 350.

Boil box of pasta for seven minutes; rinse and drain immediately; add to ricotta.

Fold in crumbled sausage and half of the shredded mozzarella.

Into a casserole dish, put half of the pasta sauce on the bottom of the pan. 

Top sauce with pasta mixture, salt and pepper then pour remaining sauce on top.

Add remaining mozzarella and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes or until it starts bubbling and cheese has melted.

Serve hot; leftovers can be store for up to five days or freeze remaining.