Serves 4-6
Cook time: 45 minutes

Preheat oven to 400, bake sweet potatoes until soft, but not cooked through.  Once sweet potatoes have cooled enough to handle, sliced into them 2/3 of the way, but not all the way through.  Insert a slice of butter into each slice, then top each sweet potato with pecans and cranberries, drizzle with maple syrup and sprinkle with salt.  Return to oven to cook through.

Saute shallot  and carrot in olive oil until softened; add remaining ingredients and cook until everything is soft enough to be blended with an immersion blender.  Once blended, allow to simmer for about 30 minutes so flavors come together.
This is a great sauce that can really fancy up a meal; I often use it with an inexpensive cut of meat to dress it up.  You can even turn it into soup by adding more liquid.

Pumpkin Soup
Serves 4-6
Cook Time: 1 1/2 hours

In a medium Dutch oven, heat olive oil until it shimmers.   Saute onion until softened, then add pumpkin, apples, stock, salt & pepper.  Once vegetables are softened, puree using an emersion blender.  

Serves 6-8
Cook time: 45 minutes

Preheat oven to 350.  Using a mandolin, slice sweet potatoes into thin slices.  Meanwhile, melt butter is a medium sauce pan; once melted add flour and whisk in; cook until the roux is blond in color.  Slowly add the milk to roux to create a bechamel; be patient and keep whisking while cooking; allow mixture to thicken.
Shingle in sweet potato slices in the bottom of a greased casserole dish.  Pour some of the bechamel over the first layer of sweet potato slices.  Keep layering sweet potatoes slices and bechamel until you run out (try to finish with the bechamel).  Sprinkle with grated cheese and cook until browned and bubbly.

​Serves 4-6
Cook Time: 45 minutes

In a medium Dutch oven, heat olive oil until it shimmers, add salted and peppered chicken leg quarters skin-side down.  Allow skin to brown, then flip chicken and saute on other side.  Once chicken is browned (not cooked through) remove to a plate and set aside.  Saute onion in chicken fat until softened; add garlic and saute one more minute.
Add butter and saute mushrooms until browned and cooked down by at least half.    Sprinkle with Wondra and cook for about a minute until Wondra is not longer raw white flour.  Deglaze with wine then add stock and milk.  Add chicken back to pan and allow to cook through as soup simmers on low.
Check your chicken temperature after 45 minutes, you need it to be at least 165 in the thickest portion (dark meat can handle being higher without any ill effect after only 45 minutes).  Meanwhile, cook 1/12 cups dried rice with 3 cups water until cooked through.
When chicken reaches an internal temperature of at least 165, remove from pot and allow to cool; once cooled remove skin and shred chicken (I like to save the skin and bones in the freezer to make stock later).  
Add chicken back to pan and add cream, if using.  If you are serving all the soup at once and do not anticipate leftovers you can add the cooked rice to the soup pot; however, if you are planning on having leftovers, add a few spoonfuls of soup to the individual serving bowls and ladle hot soup over the rice.

Serves 4-6
Cook Time: 1 1/2 hours

In a medium Dutch oven, heat olive oil until it shimmers.  Salt and pepper chicken and add chicken leg quarters, skin side down, and brown, turn and brown on other side.  When chicken is browned, but not cooked through, remove and saute onion in drippings.  
Once once is softened add passata, stock, and chipotles; add salt and pepper.  Bring to a simmer and add chicken leg quarters back to pot allowing to cook through as soup simmers.  Once chicken is cooked, remove and allow to cook, then shred and put meat into soup (save bones and skin for stock if you'd like).   
Depending on the amount of fat in the chicken you will may have a lot of fat floating on top of the soup, skim off a little or as much as you'd like.  Add cream and any more salt or pepper.

Serves 2-3
Cooke Time: 20 minutes

Bring a large pot of water to a boil; once it is at a rolling boil, add a handful of salt.  Cook pasta about 1 minute short of package directions; this should leave your pasta al dente, but check about 2 minutes before the package directions say it will be done just to check.
In a large pan, melt 1 Tbsp. of butter with the olive oil over medium heat. Once melted, add the shallots and garlic and cook for a few minutes or so, just until softened. Add the mushrooms, toss them around to get them coated in the butter and olive oil.   Let them cook and release their water so they can brown, 8-10 minutes.
Deglaze with the balsamic vinegar; stir everything together making sure to scrape up all of the browned bits on the bottom of the pan.  When most of the sherry is cooked into the mushrooms, pour in the cream and continue to cook for about 10 minutes (this is a good time to drop your pasta into the boiling salted water).
Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and toss to combine. Add the fresh parsley and season with salt and pepper.  Serve with additional parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top.

Serves 4
Cook Time: 1 hour

Preheat oven to 375.
Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil, once boiling add potatoes and cook until fork tender.  Once potatoes are boiled, mash with potato masher or ricer, then add 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. milk and the butter.  Stir to combine and set aside.
While water is coming to a boil, sauté onions in olive oil until translucent, add garlic and cook for one more minute.  Add chopped mushrooms along with salt and pepper.  Allow mushrooms to brown and release water, then add herbs and cook for another minute or two; then add tomato paste and allow to cook for another minute.
Add stock and bring to a boil, add lentils, cover and cook until lentils are cooked through, about 30 minutes.  When lentils are cooked add kale and bring back to a boil, meanwhile make a slurry with remaining milk (2 Tbsp.) and cornstarch.  Once boiling add slurry and boil for one minute.  Reduce heat to low and add balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce.  Continue cooking for about 5 minutes for all flavors to combine.
Add mushroom mixture to casserole dish and dollop with mashed potatoes.  Gently spread potatoes out over mixture so mushrooms are completely covered and back, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Click he Serves 6-8
Cook time: 35 minutes

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, then add melted butter, sour cream, corn kernels, creamed corn, and salt, stir to combine.  Add dry ingredients and combine.  
Pour into a greased 2-quart casserole dish and bake for 35-40 minutes until set. 
For the optional candied pepper topping: using a chopstick or skewer, poke holes in all over the top of the spoonbread, top with pats of butter and a jar of candied peppers.re to edit.

Serves 4 - 6
Cook time: approx. 1 hour, depending on type and age of field pea

Sautee fatback over medium-high heat to render some of the fat.  Sautee onion in the fatback until translucent.  Add dry peas and enough water to cover.  Cook until done - depending on the variety and age of pea this could take 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours.  Keep an eye on the water level and add more if needed, you'll want the beans to be submerged during the entire cook time.