Lasagna Roll-Ups in a Bed of Bechamel Sauce

So, here they are. Eight adorable little Lasagna Roll-Ups in a bed of vegan bechamel sauce. The ones covered in cheese are B's, mine are naked.

This dish was inspired by Food Network's Everyday Italian. Although I watch this show, almost religiously, it's only for inspiration. The dishes, however fattening De Laurentiis makes them, look tasty and I love the challenge of preparing a veganized version of something traditionally very not vegan.

The filling for B's is just as on the link above, I just halved the recipe and added some fresh basil.

The flavor of my roll-ups was fantastic! (B loved his too, but I can't acurately describe their flavor.) The woodsy-nuttieness of the nutmeg paired with the marinara was complex and comforting. I plan on using the Bechamel Sauce again. It was thick, creamy, and had a soothing affect on me (which I needed, funny story to follow).

Vegan Bechamel Sauce
2 T. Earth Balance
4 t. flour
1 1/4 c. soymilk (vanilla flavored)
1/4 c. raw cashews
salt
pepper
nutmeg

1. blend soymilk, cashews, salt, and pepper in a food processor/blender until smooth.
2. melt EB over med-low heat. whisk in flour. whisk while bubbling for about three minutes to aviod a "floury" flavor.
3. whisk in the cashew milk and allow to simmer for another 3 minutes until thick and creamy, whisking occasionally.
4. pour into the bottom of baking dish

Vegan Roll-Up Filling-the "cheese" part
1/2 lb. extra-firm tofu
1 1/2 T. evoo
1 T. lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1 heaping t. yellow miso
pepper
fresh basil

1. simmer tofu in a bath of simmering salted water for about 5 min.
2. in a food processor, combine everything else
3. remove tofu from the salty bath and pat dry. place in a shallow baking dish and cover with the miso mixture. using a fork or potato masher and mash tofu until liquid is absorbed and tofu looks like curds.
4. bake at 350 for about twenty minutes, or until the tofu begins to brown.

Lastly: combine half a package of frozen spinach, about 6 thinly sliced baby bellas, and the "cheese". Roll it up and bake!

The final verdict: I loved it. B loved it. Next time, the naked roll-ups will get a little more marinara or I will reserve some Bechamel and mix it in with the "cheese" for a creamier and thicker consistency.

And now for why I needed something soothing....

It all began in high school (imagine you are seeing wavy lines and going back in time to a dream). I was driving with my boyfriend to Norton Pines late one Friday night to drop off my tennis racquet to be restrung-big tennis tournament the next day if I remember correctly. The weather was unpleasant: drizzling, cold, and windy. As we were chatting away and I was driving very responsibly, I noticed an object in the road. It looked to be a trash can, which could be completely plausible, with the wind whipping as it was. I came to a complete stop. Boyfriend asks: what are you doing? I say, now noticing that NOTHING is THERE, I thought there was something in the road. Needless to say, that's the year I found out I needed glasses.

Now to Tuesday night in Binghamton, New York.

We've been in our place for about 9 months now. It's old and the floors talk a lot. At first, I was uber-sensitive to the strange sounds and I always thought someone was in our house. In the fall when it was really windy and the creaking and groaning was at its peak, I would often get up to check if the doors were locked. But, Tuesday night was completely different.

I awoke at 3:32 am. There was a sound. It sounded like Ocho using his claws to go to town on either my sewing stuff (lazy me didn't pick it all up) or on my yoga mat. I looked beside me, there was Ocho. I turned over to face B and could see out the slightly ajar bedroom door. There it was...what looked like a person's head. They kept peeking around the corner. The head would move to the left and get a little larger, then disappear, back to the right. I kept blinking and squinting, trying to decipher what I was seeing. Then, it moved again, and this time there was more than a head, a body.

It was at this point my imagination was completely unleashed and I hit B and began screaming that there was someone in our house. My next screams were to tell this crazy person to get out of our house. B vaulted himself from a dead sleep out of bed and into the scariness of the darkened house. I stayed in bed, drenched in the sweat of fear.

B grabbed the first thing he could find to use as weapon on the intruder, the iron (good thing I was lazy and left my sewing stuff out). I hear B enter each room, the wooden floors not allowing him to tip toe silently. This should have been my first clue that there was no one in our house. A person can't walk around without the moans of the floorboards.

He came back to bed, set the iron down, and gently comforted me in my frantic state of distress. Over and over he told me that there was no one here. Then, another noise. This time we both heard it. Iron back in hand, B turned on all the lights in the house. Nothing. I still couldn't even get up to go to the bathroom. Somehow, I fell back to sleep.

Now we can laugh about it, but I haven't been that frightened in a long time. My eye doctor has told me that I'll always have more difficulty seeing at night. Does that include seeing things that aren't really there?