Lasagna Soup

This Lasagna Soup is a veggie filled delight for your stomach and tastebuds, and is vegetarian to boot! Enjoy the classic baked pasta taste without the fuss of layering.

I was always a sucker for my mom's lasagna. To this day, I have yet to find one that matches hers, and I actually despise most restaurant lasagna or storebought frozen stuff now. While I know how to make some pretty darn good stuff myself, I rarely do because of the time the assembly job takes. Coupled with the 30 degree (Celsius) heat outside, the oven is staying off!

That said, the family had a hankering for lasagna this week, so I came up with the next best thing - a (relatively) quick cooking Lasagna Soup! The tomato sauce-laced broth is full of all the veggies and noodles found in my mom's traditional lasagna, with a hint of cheese stirred in at the end for a little bit of creaminess and flavour. For protein, I relied on the broken remnants from a bag of TVP chunks, a staple in my pantry. Using the broken bits made them the perfect size for this application, and since they re-hydrate in the broth they helped thicken the mixture to a soupy stew consistency. From start to finish the pot of soup was ready in an hour, and the consensus was that it was as good at room temperature as it was hot from the pot. Since we're staring down a stretch of sunny, hot days and just cool enough nights where microwaving leftovers is more common than not, I have a feeling this recipe may be on rotation quite a bit!

Lasagna Soup
Adapted from Olivia Biermann
Serves 8
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chili oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 large bell peppers (any colour), chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 lb cremini mushrooms, quartered
5 cloves minced garlic
2 cups tomato sauce (I used homemade spaghetti sauce)
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
5 cups no salt added vegetable broth (I used homemade but I do like this one)
1 tbsp Kosher salt
1 cup TVP chunks, TVP granules or diced extra firm tofu
2 cups whole wheat mini lasagna noodles (Mafalda Corta) or other short-cut pasta
1 lb frozen chopped spinach
1/2 cup cheddar cheese shreds

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. 
2. Add the onion, peppers, carrot and mushrooms and cook, stirring, until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
4. Stir in tomato sauce, tomato paste, broth, salt, TVP, noodles and spinach. Bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.