Mac and Cheese Shepherd's Pie Recipe

We've been experiencing rainy days in the Bay Area and I thought a little comfort food would warm us up. I couldn't decide between a shepherd's pie or mac and cheese, so I went for a combination of the two.

To keep the dish vegetarian, I prepared the bottom layer with a mixture of vegetarian protein crumble, tomatoes and onions; you could opt for regular ground beef if you prefer. Instead of topping the dish with mashed potatoes as you would in a standard shepherd's pie recipe, I added creamy mac and cheese. Needless to say, the richness of the dish was a huge hit even baby Aria asked for more!

Mushroom Tomato Pasta Sauce Recipe

I feel like this might be the busiest week of my life. I am working on completing my next big project, and the deadline is at the end of the week. I didn't have a lot of time to cook for my husband Lulu, so I made a quick and easy mushroom tomato pasta sauce to go with pan-fried store-bought ravioli. Finished with a dash of cream, it’s just homemade enough to be proud of!

Fresh Tomato Soup Recipe

Our entire family has been following the elections very closely. Knowing that Ohio is a key state in the home stretch, I did some research and found out that tomato juice was its official beverage. It's not warm enough to make tomato juice, so I made a warm tomato soup, using the very last batch of tomatoes in our garden. 

I blended the ripe tomatoes with roasted red bell pepper, fried yellow onions, garlic, cumin, clove, fresh basil and crème fraîche. The result was very soothing and, to my surprise, the soup turned out very sweet and not acidic at all.

Vegetable Tian Recipe: Zucchini and Tomato Casserole

A tian is a Mediterranean dish, more specifically from Provence, which consists of thinly sliced vegetables slowly roasted in the oven. It could be made with any seasonally available ingredients such as artichokes, asparagus, eggplant, potatoes, broccoli, carrots, celery or mushrooms. I've also seen it made with meat or fish as well, but today I made a version that is very popular. It consists of garlic, tomatoes and zucchini, which happen to be fresh from our garden. 

I arranged the three ingredients in a terra cotta dish and drizzled on a little olive oil with freshly chopped herbs. The dish is very easy to prepare, and tastes as good as it looks. If you love cooking with farm fresh ingredients, don't forget to check out Full Circle. We're giving away one box this week. One lucky winner will get a free box of organic farm fresh home-delivered produce. To enter, just type your name and email address into the box below. The winner can choose any size box. The largest Full Circle offers is Harvest, which is $42 in CA, $45 in WA/ID, and $56 in AK (shipping not included outside of Anchorage).