Okay, what this actually is, is a red wine tomato sauce with garlic, shallots, asparagus and Crimini mushrooms, over pasta. Here's the scoop:

-garlic
-2 shallots
-1 28oz can of stewed, whole, San Marzano tomatoes
-1 6oz can of tomato paste
-a small bunch of asparagus
-Crimini mushrooms
-roughly 1 cup red wine (I used a Merlot)
-basil
-parsley
-salt
-black pepper
-nutmeg
-olive oil
-butter
-noodles of choice

So in one big ol' sauce pan, I got the sauce going. I started with 8 cloves of minced garlic sauteing in olive oil, then I added in the asparagus cut into roughly 2 inch pieces (from the top not the stem). When they got going a little bit, and became fragrant, I added in the can of tomatoes, the tomato paste, and the red wine. This went for a little longer, and then I added some salt, pepper, nutmeg (be sparing, but make sure you can taste it), basil, and parsley. Then I set this to simmering for half an hour.

Pretty shortly after the sauce had been simmering, I diced two shallots and threw them into a separate skillet of olive oil and butter with two good-sized handfuls of mushrooms. When the shallots just began to sweat, and the mushrooms just began to get darker, I added them to the sauce, and let it all simmer for another half an hour.

Then I got my noodles boiling, waited for them to become al dente, mixed everything together, and bada bing, bada boom, you have yourself another fine plate of pasta.

This one was pretty good, and I'd recommend you give it a go should you have the ingredients available.

Alright, so the picture is a little blurry because it was taken with a camera phone, but this was some pretty damn fine pasta.

Here's the gist:
-your favorite noodles
-2 handfuls of Chanterelle mushrooms
-1 and a half handfuls of Shiitake mushrooms
-Unsweetened soy milk
-lots and lots of vegan butter
-olive oil
-white wine
-shallots
-garlic
-parsley
-salt and pepper

So I started by sauteing 1 big shallot (about the size of 2 normal shallots) and 2 cloves of garlic in both olive oil and butter. When the shallots get a little translucent, add close to a cup of soy milk, more butter, and probably 3/4 cup of white wine.

In a separate pan, saute both the shiitake's and chanterelle's in butter and olive oil, but not too much. When they look like they're starting to sweat out and change to a darker color, throw them into the sauce.

Now you should start boiling your noodles.

At this point its a waiting/balancing act. You need to watch your sauce (adding more butter or milk as you go along to maintain a really creamy consistency). When you are pretty sure the noodles are about done, throw a handful of fresh parsley into the sauce, along with some salt and black pepper (to taste, of course.)

Drain the pasta, toss it all together, top with a little more fresh parsley and nutritional yeast (or parmesan cheese) and bing, cherry vanilla, you've made yourself some damn fine pasta too. The sauce should be creamy, but also packed full of mushrooms. You want a super earthy, creamy, and buttery flavor.

After first arriving with Jeremy and Grizz here in Portland, we went to a food cart called the Homegrown Smoker. They do smoked southern and barbecue food but all vegan. From there I had a macnocheeto burrito. Smoked soy curls, baked beans, mac and cheese, with barbecue sauce. It inspired me to try making this.

1 cup rice
1 large can baked beans
2 chicken breast
1 red onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 ear corn
1/2 cup barbeque sauce
1/4 cup water
oil
salt
pepper
cayenne
chilli powder
paprika
brown sugar
tortillas

I started the rice cooking in a pot, with nothing fancy, as well as the baked beans warming in another pot. In a cast iron skillet with a little oil, I put the chicken breasts, seasoned with salt, pepper, cayenne, chilli powder, paprika, and brown sugar. I put this on medium high heat, with a cover to catch the oil splatter. I let this get real dark and crispy on the outside, knowing I would chop it up and the blackened bits would add to the overall flavor while not over powering. In another skillet with oil, I started sauteing the onion, bell pepper, and corn shaved from the cob. Once this was pretty soft, I added the barbeque sauce with a little water. I added some cayenne pepper to this to increase the heat, knowing the rice and beans would cool it down. I let the veggies cook down in the sauce for about 5 minutes. Once the chicken was blackened on each side, I chopped it and added it to the veggies. I then mixed the cooked rice and beans. On a warm tortilla and spooned a bit of each, topped with more BBQ sauce, and wrapped. For as much as I love making burritos, I should really learn a better way to wrap them.

This is a cake from Jim's mom-often requested-never any leftovers:

oven 350-50 minutes

1 stick of butter
brown sugar
1 can of pineapple rings (save juice)
maraschino cherries

3 eggs
1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c pineapple juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt


I've only ever made this using a cast iron skillet (just noticed it says no. 5. 10 5/8 in on the bottom)

Melt the butter in the skillet- add brown sugar -I probably use about a cup maybe a little more- caramelize the brown sugar. Place the pineapple rings all around with one in the middle. Put a maraschino cherry in the center of each ring. You will probably have a few pineapple rings left over. I cut them up and fill in any extra space :) Let it bubble away for a while.

The cake- mix remaining ingredients and carefully pour into the skillet. Put the skillet in a 350 oven for 50 minutes. When done- remove from oven let cool for no more than 5 minutes.

The trickey part (for me at least). Place the platter you are going to serve the cake on over the skillet and (while holding the platter on the top with one hand and the skillet with the other hand-careful-the handle will be hot) in one graceful, fluid motion, flip the skillet over thus transferring the cake with pineapple now on top onto the platter.

I almost don't consider this a recipe, but it was a killer pancake and therefore I want to record it.

3/4 cups pancake mix
1/2 cup water
1 4in diameter chocolate cookie with Chocolate chips
1 Tbsp butter
Syrup

I mixed the pancake mix and water together until it just came together (maybe 10 turns of the fork). On a cast iron skillet, I dropped and melted a pad of butter over medium heat. When that was melted and had good coverage (don't skimp on the butter), I crumbled in my hands the cookie and briefly stirred it into the mix. I poured it onto the skillet, and let it just form bubbles before flipping and cooking on the other side. I covered it in syrup and ate it up.

Recently making pancakes, I have really like to use an ample amount of butter to sort of pan fry the pancake in. It makes the outside edges perfectly crispy while the insides stay fluffy and moist as they absorb some of the butter.

2 lbs asparagus
2 large zucchini
4 cloves garlic
4 oz block Parmesan
6 oz greek yogurt
1 box penne pasta
2 chicken breast
fresh dill, thyme, and sage
salt and pepper

There were very few ingredients in this. It came out tasting similar to my mom's beef stroganoff. I think it was just the combination of the greek yogurt and dill with the saltier meat and veggies.

I started a large pot to boil the penne with some salt water. I cubed and seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and cooked in some vegetable oil until it was brown. I then added the asparagus which I diced up into 1 inch long strips. (Warning, 2 lbs of asparagus plus the chicken and zucchini are a lot of food; use a very large pan). Then I added the garlic, and the zucchini which I also cut into 1 inch long wedges. Except for the chicken all the other items ended up having the same basic size and shape.

Once the pasta was done, and the veggies steamed, I drained and combined them in the big pot. From the residual heat of it all, I grated and added the Parmesan, yogurt and the finely chopped dill, thyme, and sage. I added salt and pepper to taste.

Three things here. All very easy to make.

Sausage:
Package of Chipotle Chicken Sausage
1 bunch Arugula
1/2 cup chopped parsley
4oz crumbled feta
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
1 package hoagies

I fried up the sausages. Cleaned and chopped the greens, put in a tupperware container, added the rest, and shook to mix. Topped on a whole wheat hoagie

Mashed Potatoes:
2-3 pounds red potatoes
4 cloves sauteed garlic
6 oz, sour cream
1 bunch green onions, chopped
salt and pepper

I chopped and boiled the potatoes while sauteing the garlic. Once cooked and drained, I mixed in the other ingredients and stirred until creamy.

Broccoli:
1 pound broccoli, chopped
1 onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
4Tbsn soy sauce
1 Tbsp sweet and hot chilli paste (or siracha)
oil

I sauteed the onions in a little oil, until soft, added the garlic, then the broccoli. I then added the soy sauce and chili. Once the liquid cooked off, they were about done.