Vegan Butternut Squash & Garlicky Kale Lasagna

On Tuesday night, my friend Gena treated me to a delicious dinner at her place!

Gena and I are so busy (her working on a post-bacc and studying for the MCAT; me with grad school and dietetic internships, plus our blogs) that we usually plan our hang out sessions months ahead of time – but hanging out with her is always well worth the wait. I’m so lucky to have made such good friends through blogging and Gena is certainly one of them.

As always, Gena and I had a wonderful night full of chatter, both serious and fun. Over the past few months, every time we hang out we’ve been having “ingredient potlucks” where, in an effort to save money but still have a fun dinner, we pool all the fresh produce and fun pantry items we both have on hand, meet up at one of our apartments, and make a quick and healthy creation based on our combined food. Here are the past two ingredient potlucks:

• Roasted Eggplant & Red Pepper Quinoa + Apple Kale Salad (September)

• Healthy Dinner Collaboration: Sweet Potato & Lentil Salad with Hemp Vinaigrette (August)

This time, I had a completely empty fridge and was trying to finish up my masters paper, and Gena had just gone to the store, so she offered to fully host. Thanks, Gena. Next time dinner is all me. :)

So I simply arrived and kept her company while she whipped us up a feast. On the menu: Vegan Butternut Squash and Garlicky Kale Lasagna topped with Brazil Nut “Cheese”, plus one of our standard side salads. Sounds pretty exotic, huh?

This butternut squash she whipped up mixed with cooked onions and sage was so delicious:

Starting the layers! Lasagna is always so fun to make.

First up – the butternut squash mixture…

The the garlicky sautéed kale…

Then the brown rice noodles again…

And repeat! After one more layer, on top went the brazil nut cheese. Then cover with foil and pop it into the oven!

On the side, we enjoyed a salad of mixed greens, lentils, roasted beets, and some toasted hazelnuts.

Dressed with our signature combination of hemp oil, lemon juice, dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.

By the time the salad was ready to go, so was the lasagna!

My photos of my plate were blurry because it was dark out at the time and indoor lighting is not a camera’s best friend – but Gena sent me this photo she took the next day at lunch to share instead. Mmm… delicious.

Normally, both Gena and I share the full recipes on both of our blogs on nights when we cook together, but since this recipe was 100% Gena’s creation, I’ll instead direct you over to her blog. Click here to see the full recipe on her site – it’s a good one! Gena – thank you again for the great company and delicious food. Can’t wait for next time. :)

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I’m flying off to Boston in a couple hours – I’ll be spending tomorrow at Reebok headquarters with some fellow fitness bloggers (you can follow our adventures on Twitter with the hash tag #rbkfitblog) and then heading to Connecticut for a girl’s weekend with some of my best blogger buddies! We’ve had it planned for months and I’m really excited for a weekend away – it ended up working out perfectly that the Reebok event came up close by to where I was planning to be this weekend, anyway! I’ll be bringing my laptop but depending how busy we are, I may just take a breather from the internet and enjoy the weekend. If I don’t see you again until Monday, have a fabulous weekend, everyone!

p.s. Thank you again to those of you who supported my Hurricane Sandy Auction Relief Fundraiser! I sent off all the prizes yesterday and then donated the rest of the proceeds to the American Red Cross. Every little bit helps – thank you so much for your bids and help spreading the news about the fundraiser to help those in need. For those who won something, it should show up on your doorstep within the next week!