• *Please keep in mind the cheese needs to be made ahead!

Cheese

• To make the cheese, combine the coconut milk, olive oil, nutritional yeast, salt, and lemon juice together in a saucepan and whisk to combine over medium heat.
• Whisk together the water and tapioca starch in a measuring cup. Pour this into the saucepan with the other ingredients, whisking often, until the cheese thickens.
• It will take about 5 minutes to start noticing it thickening and another 5-10 to reach the desired consistency. You'll know the cheese is done because it starts to pull away from the side of the pan. It should drip off a spatula like a pot of melted cheese would.
• Remove the cheese from the heat and transfer to a heat safe, glass container. Let cool at room temperature for 15-30 minutes, before adding the lid and transferring to the fridge to set for at least 2-3 hours or overnight.

Lasagna

• Preheat oven to 375F.
• Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Sauté the fennel for 5 minutes then add the zucchini and sauté for about another 5 minutes until soft and veggies are slightly browned.
• You can cook the beef at the same time in a separate large frying pan if you have one, or set the veggies aside and brown the beef in the same pan. Brown your ground beef then add in the carrots, 1 1/2 jars of tomato sauce, zucchini, fennel, salt, basil, and oregano. Mix to combine and set aside.
• To assemble the lasagna, keep in mind that we will be making 4 layers. In a large 9x14 dish, spread a quarter of the meat and veggie mixture over the bottom. Arrange 4 lasagna noodles in a single layer on top of the mixture. Then use your hands to spread a quarter of the homemade vegan cheese over the noodles. This is messy and the cheese may seem a little runny, but it's okay! It may not cover ever inch of noodles perfectly and that is alright. Just use your hands the stretch the cheese over as much as you can.
• Now, take the next quarter of meat mixture and spread it evenly over the cheese. Add your noodles. Add your cheese.
• Repeat 2 more times.
• Take some of the leftover sauce and spread around with the cheese on the top layer, being sure to get the edges of the lasagna noodles (they need liquid to cook!). Cover the dish with tinfoil and place in in the oven for 50 minutes.
• Uncover the noodles and pat them down gently to make sure they are flat and covered in some sauce and cook for another 10 minutes until golden and bubbly.
• Let cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving!
• This lasagna will stay fresh in the fridge for up to 4 days and can be portioned and frozen if needed!