Step 1. Preheat oven to 400°. Wash eggplant & oregano. Peel the garlic clove.
Remove eggplant stems. Slice eggplant in half the long way. Toss eggplant in olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Step 2. Place eggplant on a sheet pan cut side down. Add oregano sprigs and whole garlic clove to the pan with the eggplant. Note: if you want stronger garlic flavor, slice or dice the garlic before adding it to the pan. Leaving it whole gives just a hint of garlic, so it doesn’t overpower the eggplant’s flavor. Roast for 15-20 min at 400°. They are ready when the cut side is golden brown.

Step 3.Put eggplant in a serving bowl. As you remove the eggplant from the pan and put them in the bowl, the oregano leaves will come off their stem. Put the oregano leaves in the serving bowl but leave out the stems. Top with crumbled feta cheese and serve. Save the roasted garlic clove for another use.

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Step 1. Put water on to boil for pasta. Clean and slice mushrooms. If using frozen tomato sauce, thaw it.

Step 2. Brown beef and sausage over medium heat (6-8 min). Break chunks of meat up as it cooks. When meat finishes cooking, remove from pan and drain off grease.

Step 3. Return pan to heat. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil or you can use a tablespoon of the grease left from cooking the meat. Sauté mushrooms until soft and cooked through (8-10 min).

Step 4. When mushrooms are done, add the meat and add tomato sauce to the pan with the mushrooms. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat. Simmer for 15-20 min.

Step 5. While sauce simmers, cook pasta according to package directions. When pasta is done, drain. To serve, divide pasta between 4 bowls. Top with sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

This recipe taught me that your cake pan matters. I always heard that if you use a dark colored pan your cake cooks faster. When I baked this cake using my old dark cake pan, the edge was always done faster than the center, so by the time the center was done the edge pieces were a bit dry. So, I got a silver aluminum cake pan (see picture & Amazon link) and it made a huge difference. The cake took a few minutes longer to cook, but it also cooked more evenly so the edge pieces didn’t dry out!

Step 1. Preheat oven to 375°. Wash blueberries. Grease an 8″ square cake pan or line with parchment paper.

Step 2. Combine pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon, melted butter, & flour in a bowl. Set aside.

Step 3. Whisk or sift together dry ingredients. Set aside.

Step 4. Lightly beat egg and stir together with canola oil and milk. Next, stir in dry ingredients. Stir just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. The batter will be thick.

Step 5. Spread the batter evenly in the cake pan. sprinkle blueberries evenly across the top of the cake. I like to push a few of the berries into the batter so that I get a mix of berries in the cake and on top of the cake.

Step 6. Sprinkle pecan topping evenly over the top of the cake.

Step 7. Bake at 375° for 25-30 min. Remove when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. (See equipment note – if you use a light colored pan, it will take a little longer to cook, but cooks more evenly.)

Step 1. Bring water to a boil for pasta & add salt to it. (See this advice from Bon Appetit on how much salt to use in pasta water – I tend toward the light end when adding salt since I often cook for people who are watching their sodium intake.) Wash tomatoes and basil.

Step 2. Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/4 c. pasta water before draining.

Step 3. While the pasta cooks, slice tomatoes in half. Chop the basil. Put tomatoes, crumbled goat cheese and basil in a large serving bowl.

Step 4. Drain pasta and add pasta to bowl with tomatoes, etc. The heat from the pasta will melt the goat cheese. Toss pasta & other ingredients. Add pasta water a little at a time until goat cheese sauce is the desired consistency. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Step 5. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Serve warm.

Step 1. Preheat oven to 400°. Clean green beans. Note: I think the french green beans (haricot verts) are best for roasting since they are thinner and more tender. You can still roast the larger American style green beans, but they will take longer to roast since they tend to be fatter.

Step 2. Toss green beans with olive oil and Greek seasoning.  Spread evenly on a rimmed sheet pan. They should be in a single layer. If you are roasting green beans for a crowd, you may need to use 2 sheet pans to give them enough room to roast properly.

Step 3. Roast at 400º for 6-8 min until bright green but starting to brown in spots. If you are roasting green beans for a crowd, it may take a few minutes longer for them to roast. Shake pan once halfway through cooking time to ensure they brown evenly. Serve warm.