Four ingredients

If you like Italian food (particularly lasagna) and you’re looking for a shortcut.  This is it.

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Vegan and gluten free deliciousness is minutes away.  [Ok, that’s a slight exaggeration, there’s definitely 30 minutes of oven time to factor in]

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What you need:

  • marinara sauce
  • vegan cream cheese (I used Follow Your Heart brand)
  • rice paper (Asian markets will have them for half the cost of conventional grocers)
  • tempeh (I used LightLife flax)

What you do:

Layer. 

For the rice paper, hold it under running water for a few seconds so it starts to soften.  Once it’s semi-pliable, you can mold it into the pan creating a pasta layer.  I used 4-5 per layer so there were some folds that overlapped, but you can make as thin or thick as you want.  

Start with marinara, followed by rice paper, then tempeh crumbles, then rice paper, then cream cheese, then marinara again.  Continue until you hit the top of the dish or run out of an ingredient. 

I put a layer of rice paper between every other ingredient. 

It was a mindless kitchen activity and took no time at all. 

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Baked in the oven at 350 for 35 minutes. 

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Easy peasy.

The fact that you don’t have to worry about the noodles or meat cooking is pretty awesome.  And yet, you still get a nice meaty, cheesy, saucy home-made(ish) meal. 

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Four ingredient lasagna!

Random side note: remember when I saw this kid at the SF Ferry Building Farmer’s Market??

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Now he’s made it big time – featured on the news and ellen.  Talk about the power of social media…

How many ingredients do your average meals have?  More or less than four?

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Comments (14)

  1. Natalie

    i’ve seen that kid quite a few time before too!! i know there was this really nice video on vimeo of him put up about a year ago!

  2. Clare

    Oh wow this looks good, so easy! I try to cook with as few ingredients as possible.. but always end up with more. Can’t wait to try this out 🙂

  3. Leah @ Chocolate and Wild Air

    LOVE lasagna…and meals with few ingredients – can’t wait to make this!!

  4. Izabela (yoginiselfportrayal.wordpress.com)

    OMG, I can’t wait to try it. I love lasagne but I have stomach problem after pasta. I haven’t thought about using rice paper-Thank you so much!!!!

  5. Sarah

    hah I saw that kid on ellen the other day! He is so fantastic. I’m pretty sure Brooks Brothers is sponsoring him now. Classy 🙂

  6. Casey @ Insatiably Healthy

    Four sounds like the magic number (not including spices of course)
    I’ve never seen lasagna with rice paper. But the word “easy” has me sold

  7. Katie @ Peace Love & Oats

    That’s such a neat idea to use rice paper! And I love meals with 5 or less ingredients. If I see a recipe with a lot I get intimidated, especially since I have a limited kitchen!

  8. The Blissful Baker

    What a great idea for rice paper! I’m going to need to get some!

  9. Lisa

    I love lasagna, but hate the noodles for some odd reason! So this idea rocks, I gotta try this out. Now on the look out for rice paper!

  10. Kristen

    really great idea! can’t wait to try it out!!!

  11. Becky

    WOW! That looks good. I’m going to have to try this out!

  12. Adrianna

    great idea…can’t wait to try this. it’s only me cooking for me, so the easier the better.
    shout out to those steelers fans in the background of that pic!

  13. The Delicate Place

    my meals are super simple…3-4 ingredients tops! eggs + veggies, or juice pulp mixed with smoked trout or something like that. i’m not really condiment or sauce crazy..a simple dressing of oil + acv or some guac is usually good enough for me!

  14. Emily C

    Yum!!! As GF and vegetarian this is something that I will definitely try 🙂

    I’ve stayed away from pasta till now because GF pasta can be pretty dull, but smothered in yumminess I think I could handle!!

Comments are closed.