Pumpkin Lasagna Rolls (vegan)

I try to make Sunday night dinners special. It doesn’t always happen as we are sometimes out of town, sometimes we have soccer, or just have things going on. When we are around though I try to make a dinner that may take more time or prep that I don’t have time to during the week, although many like this one can be prepped ahead of time. In the summer it might mean grilling out in the fall and winter months it is usually soups, comfort foods, things that take time to cook or prepare. The family loves pasta but I don’t make it as often as we use to. Which is crazy because 10-12 years ago I remember it being a staple we would make a couple times a week. Now it is less frequent, unless of course my husband is training for a marathon or carb loading.

In the past few months we haven’t had many Sundays free so when they do come along I try to make them extra special, like whipping up a caramel apple pie like I did the last time we had Sunday dinner. I happened to get a free Sunday afternoon, well not really free but it had been such a crazy weekend with S’s soccer tournament and we got up early for a game in the cold that we just wanted to come home and relax. There was a lot on my to do list but after realizing we had a crazy week ahead and I was still recovering from reinjuring my back/hip again the previous week I took it as a sign. So I relaxed a little but when my husband turned on football I went up to make dinner and decided to whip up Pumpkin Lasagna Rolls. A delicious savory pumpkin dish that wasn’t pumpkin soup because the girls didn’t want that. While I could have made this into a traditional layered lasagna I thought the girls would like the rolls better, plus they are a little fancy and work great for smaller servings at a party or family get together.

Pumpkin Lasagna Rolls
Makes a 9×13 pan, 8-10 servings
1 1lb package lasagna noodles
1 1/2c packed cooked spinach (just over 1lb fresh baby spinach steamed)
Cashew cheese, recipe below

Pumpkin Filling & Sauce
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 sprig rosemary
2 1/2c pumpkin puree (about a can and a half of canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie mix)
1 clove of garlic
fresh nutmeg
1/2 tsp sea salt

Pumpkin Sauce
1 c pumpkin filling, from above
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2c full fat coconut milk (used So Delicious Original Culinary Coconut Milk)
1/2tsp salt
fresh ground pepper
fresh nutmeg
1/2tsp chopped fresh rosemary

Cashew Cheese
1c raw cashews, soaked 30 minutes or overnight
2 cloves of garlic
1/4c lemon juice
1/4c water
1/2c nutritional yeast
1 tsp sea salt
pinch fresh nutmeg

Shredded mozzarella, optional (used Daiya Shredded Mozzarella)

Preheat oven to 375F. Rinse and drain cashews. In a Vitamix, high-speed blender or food processor, blend together cashews, lemon juice water, and sea salt. Grate in garlic and add nutritional yeast and pinch of nutmeg, blend until smooth. Pour and scrap cheese into a bowl and set aside. Bring large pot of water, generously salted, to a boil. While water is boiling fry extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet/pan for 1-2 minutes until it starts to turn brow. Remove rosemary. Remove oil from heat and stir in pumpkin, grate in garlic clove and fresh nutmeg (about 20 seconds of grating nutmeg or to taste). Add 1 cup of the pumpkin mixture to your Vitamix, high-speed blender or food processor, you used (you don’t need to rinse between if you scrapped it out well), and blend smooth with diced tomatoes, coconut milk, salt, and fresh rosemary. Grate in fresh nutmeg, again about 20 seconds or to taste, and fresh ground pepper. Cook noodles as directed per package instructions to al dente. Drain noodles and run under cold water. Alternatively you can coat your noodles with oil but I keep the noodles I use from sticking by keeping them in cold water and blotting them before filling. Prepare spinach by squeezing the moisture out with a kitchen towel. Spray 9×13 pan with non cook spray and pour half of the pumpkin tomato sauce mixture in the bottom of the pan. Lay 4 of the noodles out on a cutting board and starting about a 1/2″ from one end place about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the cashew cheese and spread down the length of the noodle. I do a gradient spread so that there is barely any at the end, so more where you start and less down the noodle. Add a spoon, about a tablespoon of the pumpkin filling where you started with the cashew cheese and again spread down. I use an offset spatula as it just skims the top and spreads it with the ripples on the side of the noodles. Add a tablespoon of the spinach a the end of the noodle in the 1/2″ space above where you started spreading the cheese and pumpkin. Roll noodles starting with the end with the spinach. Place rolls in the pan prepared with sauce seam side down. Repeat with remaining noodles. You will probably have a some cheese left, spread over top of the noodles. Top with remaining pumpkin sauce. Cover and bake 35-40 minutes. If you want to add cheese pull out at 35 minutes, remove foil, and top with shredded cheese. Return to oven and bake uncovered 5-10 minutes until the cheese has melted. Enjoy!