This recipe is pretty much straight out of Vegan with a Vengeance.  It can be used anywhere you would use ricotta cheese.  I use it in stuffed shells, lasagna, pizza, even eating on its own with tortilla chips.  It was delicious in ravioli.  You can tailor the texture a bit by adjusting the tofu- extra firm tofu will make a crumbly texture, medium more like ricotta itself.  Its such an easy recipe- perfect for summer.

Ingredients:

• 1 block extra firm tofu, crushed (potato masher works great)
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 2 tsp olive oil
• juice from 1/2 lemon (or 2Tbs)
• 10-15 fresh basil leaves, cut into tiny slivers with shears
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• large pinch of salt
• fresh ground black pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Crumble the tofu well in a medium sized bowl.  If you don’t have a hand held potato masher a large fork will do.
2. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic- mix by mashing up the tofu a bit more.
3. Add the basil and thyme, stirring well to disperse them evenly.
4. Add the nutritional yeast, salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

-JD