Oh, some yummy inspiration on here! This is one of my favorite comfort food pasta dishes. It's even better reheated. Baked Pasta Shells with Eggplant from Simple Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin (highly recommended!) 4 Tbsp olive oil 1 medium (1 1/4 lbs) eggplant, peeled and diced (3/4 inch dice) 1/2 lb small pasta shells (I actually prefer to use Barilla Plus penne) 6 garlic cloves, minced 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes 1 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes or tomato puree 2 Tbsp dry red wine 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, or 1 tsp dried basil 1/2 cup diced roasted red peppers, store-bought or freshly roasted 4 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese 1 1/2 cups grated part-skim mozzarella cheese Bring a large stockpot of water to a boil. Heat 1 Tbsp of the oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Fry half the eggplant, tossing often, until it begins to brown and appears somewhat translucent or shiny. Initially, the eggplant will absorb the oil and look dry; don't add any more oil, just keep frying and tossing until its juices are released. When done, the eggplant should be still somewhat firm because it will bake further in the oven. Don't overcook it. Remove the eggplant and place it in a shallow, 2 1/2 quart baking dish. Using 1 Tbsp of the oil, fry the 2nd batch of eggplant the same way. When the pasta water is boiling, drop in the shells (or penne). Cook until al dente, not mushy. Drain and return to pot. Place the remaining 2 Tbsp of oil in the skillet. Add the garlic and hot pepper flakes and cook 1-2 minutes, just until fragrant but not colored. Stir in the tomatoes, wine, salt, parsley, basil and red peppers. Cook 2 minutes, and remove from heat. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stir the eggplant, sauce, and 2 Tbsp of the Parmesan cheese into the pasta shells. Place half the mixture in the casserole dish that held the eggplant (to avoid dirtying an extra dish). Top with the mozzarella cheese. Spread the remaining pasta mixture on top, then sprinkle with the remaining 2 Tbsp of Parmesan. Cover the dish with foil. If needed, refrigerate at this stage up to 24 hours in advance. Bake 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Remove foil and bake 5 more minutes. And this one I haven't tried yet but would like to: http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-chard-mushroom-lasagna-137482 Vegetable Lasagna with Butternut B�chamel serves 6 to 8 1 pound (about 16) lasagna noodles 2 to 2 1/2 pound butternut squash (or 2 pounds chopped squash) Olive oil Salt and pepper to taste 1 large bunch (about 5 large leaves) chard, well-washed 1 pound cremini mushrooms, washed and sliced 3 cloves garlic, finely minced 1/4 cup water or white wine 1 cup milk, plus additional if needed 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 1 lemon, zested 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves, plus extra for the top of the lasagna 1 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan and mozzarella cheese mix Heat the oven to 375�F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with olive oil. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Add the lasagna noodles and cook as directed on the package. When cooked, drain and lay out on clean kitchen towels to dry. While the pasta is cooking, peel and seed the squash. Cut into 1-inch cubes and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 40 minutes or until extremely soft. Remove the stems and ribs from the chard leaves by folding each leaf in half lengthwise and using the tip of a chef's knife to slit away the main rib. Chop each rib and stem into 1/2-inch pieces. Roll each leaf up into a cigar shape, cut it in half lengthwise, and then crossways into thin ribbons. Heat a thin drizzle of oil oil in a 10-inch saut� pan. Turn the heat to medium-high and add the mushrooms. Cook without stirring until quite brown � about 5 to 7 minutes. Flip them over and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium, and add the garlic and chard stems to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic is fragrant � about 3 minutes. Add the chopped chard leaves and 1/4 cup water or white wine and cook until the leaves are tender and wilted. Turn off the heat and season the vegetables lightly with salt and pepper. At this point the butternut squash should be quite soft. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Scrape all the squash into a bowl and add 1/2 cup milk, the nutmeg, lemon zest and thyme. Use an immersion blender to puree the mixture, adding the remaining milk as you go (this can also be done in a traditional blender). Add extra milk if necessary to make the sauce smooth and creamy, but not too thin. (Think thin fruit smoothie.) Add salt and pepper to taste. To assemble the lasagna, spoon about 1/4 of the butternut sauce into the bottom of the prepared baking pan and spread to thinly coat the bottom. Place 1/4 of the noodles on top (four noodles) and then spread 1/3 of remaining sauce on noodles. Top with 1/2 of the cooked vegetables, and 1/2 cup of cheese. Add another layer of noodles, then sauce, then the rest of the vegetables, and 1/2 cup of cheese. Place the final layer of noodles over the vegetables and spread the last 1/3 of the sauce over top. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese and a pinch of thyme leaves. Cover the lasagna with foil and bake at 375�F for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the top is golden and the cheese is gooey. Remove from the oven and let stand uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with a good green salad and some bread.

Far from an expert and not a ton of experience with bread baking in the Nesco, but I've done some. I don't recall baking breads over 350ð. A dark pan will generally yield a browner product. As a test, you could try the aluminum foil pans to see if that makes a difference. I'm wondering if something in the recipe could impact it. I don't think it's recommended and I've never tried it, but I seem to recall a few people who remove the cookwell when baking in a pan, theory being you're baking in a pan, in another pan when you have the pan inside the cookwell. I do have a concern about it being such a tight fit with your glass pan in there. It doesn't really give any air space around the pan for baking so it'd be more like being in a frypan. I'd have to give this one some more thought. When I've done the "whack-a-tube" type biscuits in there, I don't use a pan, I put some foil on the rack and set them on there.

cynic, as an aside to the roaster discussion, I use a big green unbreakable Stanley Thermos. It's not pretty, but I got mine because all th farmers and construction workers I know used them. Mine will keep a pot of hot chocolate steaming hot for several hours while the kids go tobogganing, so we're talking outside in a Michigan winter and usually stuck right into the snow. I used them a lot for camping, I could make coffee at breakfast, put it into the Stanley and it would still be drinkable at supper. Oh, and I've put ice water in it or iced tea when spending a few hours out in the hay field and it keeps ice in the liquid for a couple of hours too. I can definitely recommend them, although my oldest one is over 20 years old, so I'm hoping they haven't "improved" them. Annie

I have an old Nesco Roaster I bought at a garage sale. It has the enamel porcelain and the inside is 11x15 inches. I think I could get a turkey in it. Do I have a 12 qt or an 18 qt? It doesn't say. Stamped on the bottom it says it was made in Granite City, Ill, and on the side is stamped the number 41E04044. The cord is rubber not braided. Any idea when it might have been made? It's white with a stainless top, bakelite handles, black porcelain, has a rack with sides you can lift and a little extra square tall pan with a lid for side vegetables, so I was told. Has the logo Nesco in script over a dial with numbers up to 400. I measured and I think I can even get my cast iron pan in there to bake cornbread. That's what I wanted it for, to bake. My regular oven is so big, why waste all that heat on that big space for a couple loaf pans. Can I use a silicone muffin pan in the Nesco or will it melt on the rack? Oh and I have seen people put water in the heatwell, under the cookwell, I was told it made for more even heating and to prevent damage to the enamel. But you don't want to do that, do you? If the water got through the heatwell seams it would get into the electrics.