Caveman Lasagna (almost) is a hit.

Posted by Ethne~

I am here to report that this Denham clan is still on the gluten-free "meal plan"(that's what the girls call it).  As in, we're a clan of cavemen.

You'd think so with some of the stuff I've been making.  Hamburger buns made from cashews (tasty, but crumble city).  Almond milk (that's really good and awesome for you).  Banana bread made with coconut and almond flour (good, but the girls have attitude, leaving me to eat it all - Shaun says I shouldn't complain).  Chicken strips breaded with coconut (a no-go, my friends).  Oh, and let's not forget the banana porridge made out of nuts (I thought this was pretty good - the girls DID NOT).  We're going to give ourselves nut allergies for all the suckers I've been cooking with.  I've made breading with Corn Flakes (great) and my own taco and Italian seasonings, too (double-yum).

Last night's paleo lasagna takes the cake, though.  I got the inspiration from my cookbook, Against All Grain.  It's a pretty good book, I'll give her that.  Mostly, her stuff has lots of good flavor.  

In the cookbook, you could see the layers better, but mine didn't fall apart to slop, so I know the layers held up.

We've been able to eat plenty of brown rice pasta - and you can't tell the difference AT ALL if you ask me - but I haven't found brown rice lasagna noodles yet.  So I needed an alternative.  My cookbook said to use her crepes in strips.  Ok.  So I made some of her crepes.  [And instead of oil or butter I used coconut oil, btw.] Anyway, they looked NOTHING like hers (mine are butt ugly) but they don't taste burnt or anything.

They were totally ratty looking.  And I ended up cooking mine on medium-low rather than medium-high.  And all of them stuck...and tore.  And all of them got way browner than her tortilla-looking ones.  And I melted my spatula.

I didn't want to go to the store to buy ricotta cheese (which isn't paleo-approved anyway).  Interestingly, I just happened to have almond pulp sitting right in front of me from making almond milk.  I also had just paged past another recipe for making nut cheese.  You read that right.  WTF.  So I made some.  I did not tell the family it was cheese made out of nuts.  By the time you add the salt, olive oil, lemon juice and herbs, you really can't taste any nuts (they've been soaked, so they're not crunchy).  

I deviated from the recipe - I added an egg to the "ricotta" cheese to make it bind and be fluffy, which is what I do when I make lasagna; I also added mozzarella cheese - this is not paleo.  Oh well, we're rubbish cavemen.

This is me applying the ricotta nut cheese.  I can't quite tell what the camera was focusing on.  Shaun's fault.  And no, I'm not pregnant.  I have horrible posture.

Layer it up.  If you're wondering, I used 10 crepes, 1.5 jars sauce (Classico Spinach & Parm - excellent), 1 lb. ground turkey, 1 bag finely ground mozzarella, about 1.5 cups of nut cheese and a handful of grated parmesan, and about 1.5 T of my homemade Italian seasoning in the gr. turkey.

Honestly, you can tell, a bit, that these are crepes and not pasta noodles.  Duh.  But Shaun and I both agreed that the crepes totally served their purpose in holding all of the layers together.  And they don't have much flavor, so just absorbed the flavor of your sauce.  The girls ate well.  You could not tell the nut cheese apart from ricotta, no joke.  (However, Shaun - not knowing - commented that he's never been a fan of ricotta since it's always tasted a little too "grainy".  I SAID NOTHING.)  And then he put the half-pan leftover in the fridge and said, "let's have the rest for dinner tomorrow night".  TOTALLY.

Here it is again, for the win.

I'd say I may be a crappy cave[wo]man, but I am totally evolved in my food-related con-artistry.  Rock On, [GF] Crouton!