Baked Ziti

If it weren't for the fact that this baked ziti was homemade, I would have seriously thought that it contained dairy!  This tasty dish tastes just like the baked ziti that you'd get at an authentic Italian restaurant, but better because it's homemade and 100% cruelty-free! 

Recipe

Ingredients

16 oz. uncooked ziti pasta (or your favorite pasta)
5 cups your favorite pasta sauce
14 ounces firm tofu, drained
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
10 fresh basil leaves (or 1 tbsp. dry basil)
3 cloves garlic peeled
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons rice milk (unsweetened) 
2 8oz bags Violife mozzarella shreds
​1/4 cup to 1/2 cup Violife parmesan cheese, shredded + extra for topping

Directions

1. In a food processor, blend together the tofu, nutritional yeast, basil, garlic, lemon juice, and rice milk until creamy and thoroughly combined.  Voila, vegan ricotta cheese!
2. Preheat the oven to 400°F and bring a large pot of water with a generous helping of salt to a boil.  Add in the dry ziti noodles and cook for 2 minutes less than the package directions.  Drain and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, stir together the ricotta cheese, half of the mozzarella cheese, the parmesan cheese, and 3 cups of the pasta sauce.  Then add the cooked ziti and mix.
4. In the bottom of a 13"x9" baking dish, spread 1 cup of your pasta sauce and then add the ziti.  Top with the rest of the pasta sauce and sprinkle with the rest of the mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
5. Bake covered for 45 minutes. 
6. Allow to cool and serve!