Turns out, its really not that difficult to fix that problem.

There are some pretty good versions of vegan ricotta that you can buy at the grocery store, but if you are trying to reduce the amount of packaged foods you are eating, or just don’t feel like going to the store, this will take you about 5 minutes to whip up!

Tofu Ricotta

Ingredients:

14 oz box firm tofu

4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (approx 1/2 lemon)

2 Tablespoons soymilk (or other nondairy milk)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup basil leaves (tightly packed) *optional

Procedure:

In a food processor, roughly crumble the tofu. Add the lemon juice, soy milk, *basil leaves, and salt.

Blend until the consistency of ricotta cheese. Adjust seasonings.

Pretty easy right?! The reason the basil is optional is because there may be a dish that you don’t want the basil in. But I usually use this in recipes that feature italian flavors, so the basil works well.

Ok, so now that you’ve got your tofu ricotta here is a super simple dinner that takes only about 15 more minutes of effort to put together!

Now I can’t take all the credit for this one. Its based on a recipe by my former boss Rachael Ray!

This is basically a shortcut vegan version of her Baked Shells Casserole. Instead of making the sauce, I just use my favorite jarred sauce and then add the sautéed spinach to my tofu ricotta. Here are the basics.

Ingredients:

12 oz medium or large shell pasta

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic

16 ounces frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 recipe of Tofu Ricotta

2 cups marinara sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large pot, boil the pasta in salted water for 5 minutes. Drain and return noodles to the pot.

In a medium pan, sauté onion and garlic over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Pulling the squeezed spinach apart, add to the pan and stir to break it up. Add the nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Mix well, take off heat and set aside.

Add the spinach mixture to the ricotta and mix well. Adjust seasoning, then addthe spinach and ricotta mix to the shells and stir until they are coated well.

In  a 2.5 qt casserole dish, pour 1/2 cup of the marinara, spreading to coat the bottom evenly. Pour in the shells mixture and top with remaining 1 1/2 cup of sauce.

Cover with foil and bake for about 35 minutes.

 Let sit for 5 minutes. Serve.

*If you want you can add some vegan mozzarella cheese (I used Miyoko’s Creamery)– or cow cheese if you have family members that like that. We have both in our house, so I do an even half and half split.