Mushroom Lasagna

1. Put cashews in a medium bowl and soak them in boiling water for about 1 hour.

To Make Mushroom Sauce

1. Using a damp paper towel, wipe the caps of mushrooms. Cut a thin slice off the bottom of each stem. Slice mushrooms in half and add them to a food processor. Working in batches, pulse mushrooms for 7-10 times until they resemble ground "meat".
2. Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan and on a medium heat. Add onion, carrot, ½ teaspoon of salt and sauté stirring occasionally for 7-10 minutes. Add garlic and stir for another 30 seconds.
3. Transfer sautéed vegetables to a plate and add mushrooms and ½ teaspoon of salt to a pan. Cook them on a medium-high heat until all liquid evaporates and mushrooms start to brown, about 15-20 minute.
4. Add sautéed vegetables back into the pan, along with crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, Maple syrup, liquid smoke and ¼ teaspoons of pepper. Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes. Taste the sauce to see if it needs more salt/pepper.

To make cashew "Ricotta" and cream sauce

1. While you cook the mushroom sauce, drain the cashews and measure out 2 cups of cashews. Add them to a food processor along with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, garlic powder, nutritional yeast and ½ teaspoon of salt.
2. Add ⅓ cup of water and process until the mixture is thick with smaller crumbs. You might need to stop a few times to scrape the sides of the food processor. Halfway into this process, add spinach and process it together with cashews. (Taste if it needs more salt, lemon juice). Transfer"ricotta" into a bowl, and rinse the bowl of food processor.
3. Add the remaining ¾ cups of cashews into a clean food processor along with 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, the remaining 2 teaspoon of lemon juice and ¼ cup of water. Process until smooth and creamy.

To make Lasagna

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles for 6 to 8 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. 
2. Preheat the oven to 400 F and start assembling the lasagna. Spread 1 cup of mushroom sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer 3 lasagna sheets over the sauce. Spread half of vegan ricotta over the noodles followed by 1 cup of mushroom sauce and ⅓ cup of cashew cream.
3. Repeat with noodles, cashew ricotta, mushroom sauce, and cashew cream. Finish with another layer of noodles. Spread the remaining mushroom sauce over the top layer of noodles. At this point you should still have ⅓ cup of cashew cream left. Save it for later.
4. Cover the baking dish with a parchment paper* and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, let the lasagna cool for 15 minutes and then spread the remaining cashew cream sauce over lasagna.