I come up with some of my recipes when I get sort of gifted with a lot of something. I had a bunch of green beans so one of the best ways of using LOTS of green beans is to put them in a casserole. I’m not a fan of the traditional American Green Bean casserole. I haven’t tasted one that I liked so far. I thought maybe if the green beans taste like a pizza or cheese lasagna they might be delicious. Anyway a baked lasagna is very heavy.  I lightened up this casserole a bunch by using the minimal amounts of cheese as filler and by using extra soft tofu instead of some ricotta cheese. It might still seem that there is tins of cheese in this casserole but when you divide it into 16 portions it really isn’t so much. There are a lot of steps to make this casserole but it’s not as hard as it seems. It’s just like making a lasagna……but maybe easier because I only used one pot to cook up one thing after another and then I used the dirty pot as a mixing bowl. Almost everything get mixed together so why should you scrub the food out? This looks like a heavy brick but actually it isn’t so heavy. It’s  maybe 1/2 green beans, some pasta and a lot less cheese than I put in a cheese lasagna that was thinned down slightly with tofu.

Ingredients for about 16 servings

1 lb 10 oz. green beans – cleaned and string removed – cut on diagonal in small like bite size pieces

2 Tablespoons vegetable base (to boil with green beans)

8 oz dry curly pasta (I used tri-vegetable spumoni shaped)

I Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (to coat pasta)

4 oz sharp provolone -shredded with 1/4 cup in a reserved bowl on the side – for topping

4.5 oz parmesan – shredded with 1/4 cup in the same cheese reserved bowl on the side – for topping

1 lb fresh mozzarella – shredded with 1/4 cup in the reserved cheese bowl on the side for topping

1/2 large sweet onion – chopped

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 hot/sweet jarred cherry peppers – chopped fine- you can find hot/sweet cherry peppers at Trader Joes and Sprouts. This particular pepper taste AMAZING with many Italian foods and other foods.

2 teaspoons course sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 garlic cloves shredded

13.5 oz extra soft tofu

3 large eggs

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/8 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1 cup panko bread crumbs

pinch granulated garlic

pinch ground black pepper

pinch oregano

pinch basil

1 cup water (about if looks dry it will come out dryer)

non stick spray

3 cups a very good marinara sauce plus extra for serving

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F and spray a half buffet pan or very large casserole dish with non stick spray. Also spray a sheet of aluminum foil. (The wet sprayed part covers the food) Put to the side.

Put a pot on to boil and add the vegetable base. Add green beans and let them boil about 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon or spider. Put green beans in an ice bath and set to the side. A few minutes later when cool put the green beans in a colander to drain.

To the boiling water add the pasta and cook two minutes less than suggested. Squirt the pasta with about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and mix pasta so they don’t stick together. Set pasta to the side.

Put a pot on to medium high heat with two tablespoons of olive oil. When the oil seems hot add the onions and cherry peppers.Add two teaspoons of sea salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper. Wait till it looks almost cooked to add the grated garlic. Mix well. Take off the heat when cooked and the onions are clear. You can add this mixture to the green beans when they are well drained. Keep that mixture to the side.

Either in a blender or your pot with a blending wand…Blend the tofu with the eggs. All your cheeses (NOT THE RESERVED 1/4 cups of each) get hand mixed into the tofu egg mixture with 1/8th teaspoon of white pepper, nutmeg, black pepper and 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano.

In a small bowl add the panko, reserved cheeses, a pinch of granulated garlic, fresh ground black pepper, oregano, and basil and mix. set on side. (but not for long)

Get out your marinara sauce. One cup gets added to the pasta. and mixed in. One cup gets added to the green beans and mixed in. (you need a remaining cup to top with and extra for serving later).

At this pot your counter should look like this.

Add the pasta bowl to the green beans and mix. Add the tofu/cheese egg mixture to the big bowl with pasta. I thought the mixture looked too dry so I added one liquid cup of water. Once mixed pour mixture in sprayed large pan.

Cover with cup of marinara.

Cover with reserved cheese/panko mixture.

Pan gets covered tightly with aluminum foil that has been sprayed well with non stick spray. (the sprayed side goes against the food so it doesn’t stick to the foil).

This pan goes in a 350 degree F oven for one and one half hours. (90 minutes).

Serve with extra sauce and some grated cheese.

It you enjoy lasagnas or pizza kind of flavored foods you will enjoy!