Healthy Kitchen R and D

Thanksgiving has been one of my favorite holidays for as long as I can remember. It's ALWAYS been at my parents house, in Cleveland. Over the years the number of chairs at the dinner table have changed, and the menu has evolved (we PERFECTED it this year mom! NO MORE CHANGES!), but the focus has been the same: FAMILY. FOOD. LOVE. When we go to Cleveland for Thanksgiving, we make sure to add a few extra days in to enjoy my hometown. There's always time for catching up with friends & family, art with Nana, and a visit to a museum:  Children's  (new and fun!), Great Lakes Science  (so many hands-on exhibits), Natural History  (dinosaurs!), or  Botanical Gardens  (our new favorite - and after Thanksgiving they have over 30 decorated Christmas trees & gingerbread houses inside to make up for the brown foliage outside). We also get to enjoy the thriving dining scene. My mother cooks for days to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner, so we end up eating a lo...

I was talking to a friend about some recipes I was trying out the other day, and she stopped me mid-sentence and asked, "But what's a lasagna without noodles & cheese? I mean, that's the basic definition of a lasagna, right?" While Merriam-Webster defines lasagna as " a baked dish containing layers of boiled lasagna(wide noodles), and usually cheese, a seasoned sauce of tomatoes, and meat or vegetables", I wanted to try to make this dish WITHOUT 2 of the main ingredients. Truth and honesty here: it does not taste EXACTLY like a traditional lasagna, but I think it came pretty close (without the noodles and cheese, of course😉).  One of the most important parts of any REAL lasagna is the ricotta - it elevates it away from a simple pasta bake and into something more luxurious. The first step in making this recipe is making a vegan "ricotta". I looked at several different recipes, and put together something that I thought made the most...