Old-fashioned Meat Pie

There's something about the brisk days of Fall that make certain cozy things irresistibly attractive. Scarves, riding boots, flannel. And, for me, carbs. A savory pie is a great way to capture all of that desired coziness in a single dinner in a no-fuss way (especially if you use store-bought pastry ... just this once ... it will be our secret, I promise).

This is one of those recipes to which you could really make endless variations. Use different meats, ratchet up the spices, add lots of veggies. But for this particular take I went the classic french route: meat and potatoes in a pie crust. What could possibly be wrong with that?


Another bonus is that a meat pie is one of those coveted meals that actually gets better the longer it sits in your fridge (to a point of course). Though I am willing to bet that leftovers of this won't stick around for too long. Happy Autumn!

Old-fashioned Meat Pie adapted from All Recipes

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 cup mashed potatoes
salt and pepper

pie crust pastry for top and bottom
1 egg, beaten

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.

2. Heat oil in pan over medium heat; add onions and cook until they turn translucent. Add beef and pork. Liberally salt and pepper and cook until brown (about 7-10 minutes). Stir as necessary.

3. Combine onion/meat mixture and mashed potatoes in a large bowl. Salt and pepper again.

4. Line the bottom of your pie plate with one of your pie crusts. Trim around the edge with a knife. Fill with the meat mixture.

5. Cover with the other pie crust. Trim the edges again and crimp with a fork or your fingers. Brush the top crust with your egg and make 4 slits for steam to escape.

6. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

If you're feeling up to it, use a fun cookie-cutter to make shapes out of the extra dough and place on top of your pie. You can also use ramekins to make smaller meat pies (cook for about 25-30 minutes).

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pumpkins

If I had to pick my single favorite candy, it would be impossible. But, if I could pick a top 3 without distinguishing among them it would be (in no particular order) peanut m&ms; crunchie bars; and Reese's peanut butter cups. I can't image making the first two at home (though I suppose it would be possible ...), so when I saw this post, I knew I had to give homemade Reese's cups a try. Yum!


I decided to make pumpkins and owls (could they be any cuter?), but you could do any fun shape you have. They are no-bake, so the hardest part is melting the chocolate and dipping the shapes inside. Next time I won't roll the dough out as thin because, even though I froze them, the pumpkins went a little limp when dunked in the melted chocolate and it was admittedly a little frustrating.


Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pumpkins (adapted, barely, from miss make)

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp milk or half & half

1. Mix together peanut butter, butter, and confectioner's sugar until fully combined.

2. Roll the dough to between 1/4 - 1/2 inch thickness. Cut shapes and re-roll dough as needed.

3. Place shapes in the freezer. In a double-boiler, melt the chocolate and stir in butter and milk. Using a fork, dip the peanut butter shapes until coated and place on parchment paper to harden.

Chicken Casserole

There are times when life is really tough. But usually, at some point, it begins to return to normal - to the life you think of yourself as having. And even though you are scared and part of you feels it's only a matter of time until the other shoe drops, you know it isn't great to walk around afraid all the time. So you let your guard down and allow yourself to start feeling normal again. But sometimes, life becomes tough all over again and being taken off guard can make it seem even harder than the first go-round.

Most of you know that my husband has been dealing with some pretty serious health issues over the last year and while he is doing much better, this last week was difficult. Even though we knew with our heads that it was a minor step back, it felt in our hearts like we were back at square one. Which is a really scary place to be.

During these times, we tend to crave things that are familiar. Things that have never let us down. We hug each other, rely on our families, and eat comfort food.


And this recipe is one of those foods for us. It is not terribly healthy or fussy, and is one of Tom's grandmother's recipes. It is best enjoyed surrounded by the ones you love most.

Chicken Casserole
1 full chicken (about 2 cups)
1 lb frozen broccoli
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup cornflake crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Cook the chicken (or you can purchase a rotisserie chicken and make this step a *snap*). Pull apart into bite-sized chunks.

2. Put broccoli into the bottom of casserole dish. Cover broccoli with chicken pieces.

3. In a small bowl mix soup, mayo, lemon juice, curry powder and cheese, until fully combined. Spoon over the chicken. Sprinkle with cornflake crumbs.

4. Cover and bake for 1 hr. 20 minutes. The casserole should be bubbly.

Homemade Granola

Every weekday morning I eat yogurt with almonds sprinkled on top. But after almost 2 years (yes, years), I decided to switch it up a little bit. Instead of going to the store and getting granola, I embarked on an online recipe search to see what making my own granola would entail.

Turns out almost all granola recipes are pretty much the same. Take some rolled oats, and your favorite seeds, nuts, things like that and then some honey and brown sugar. It's so easy to make (2 steps!) and you avoid the struggle of trying to find one at the store that has all of your favorite things (i.e. sunflower seeds) and none of the things you don't particularly care for (i.e. dried cherries). The recipe below is based off of this recipe from The Kitchen Sink, it's super simple and makes your house smell heavenly!

Homemade Granola adapted from The Kitchen Sink
3 1/2 cups rolled oats
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
1 tablespoon flax seeds
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup coconut flakes, unsweetened
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon real maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Spread the mixture onto a cookie sheet.

2. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to keep the granola from burning. Cool completely and then remove from the pan. Store in an airtight container.

Brown Butter Shortbread

You may have noticed that I haven't posted a baked good in a while, which is pretty unlike me. I could blame the last vestiges of summer, the long summer associate interview process, that hurricane, or the start of the semester, but really the reason is the kitchen in our new apartment. But I took the words of a facebook friend ("gas is gas, temp is temp") to heart and bit the bullet.


The result? Deliciously yummy shortbread that will pair perfectly with my tea this evening and my yogurt tomorrow morning. So while my current stove is nothing like the stainless steel beauty PC Richards is waiting to deliver, it apparently works well enough to make cookies with. Which is pretty fabulous news!


Brown Butter Shortbread (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
I never miss an opportunity to brown butter in baked goods, but reading in the comments where the recipe was originally posted it was noted that browning the butter here leads to a "sandy" texture. I think that's true, but if you are diligent about cooling your dough and then the cookies once baked, it is not a cookie-killer and taste is certainly more complex and delicious. It's your call.

1 1/2 sticks of butter, melted and browned (see note above)
6 tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour

Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

1. Melt and brown your butter. In a medium bowl, mix butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla until combined. Add flour and stir until just combined.

2. Cover a small baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the mixture until even (your fingers are the perfect tool for this).

3. Let sit for 1 hour on the counter and then transfer for a 2nd hour in the fridge. Before you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 300 F. Bake for 45 minutes.

4. Remove from oven, leaving your oven on. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Let cool for 10 minutes.

5. Carefully cut the shortbread into long "fingers" and then bake for another 15 minutes.

6. Remove from the oven and cool completely before eating. Let them spend some time in the fridge for extra firmness.

Hurricane Cookies (aka best intentions)

Sometimes it seems like the whole world is against you. I braved 4 different groceries stores in NYC this morning, in spite of the fact that this city is in the throes of bracing for Hurricane Irene. And what that apparently means for most New Yorkers is going to the store and buying lots and lots of bottled water and also canned sardines. Weird, right?


My shopping list was completely different, because my goal was not purely to "survive," but rather to thwart the hurricane entirely by baking Hurricane Cookies, which are notorious for keeping Hurricanes at bay. But alas, even though the grocery lines didn't deter me, our annoying (soon to be removed) little refrigerator ruined everything.


In preparing for probable power outages, I decided to chisel off the LARGE chunks of ice that have accumulated in this fridge since 1970 or so, and in the process the whole thing broke and began spewing freon. Yes.

Please see the note above about the whole world being against you. Apparently freon won't kill you, unless it comes near an open flame. So, long story not so short, no Hurricane Cookies for us. Which likely means, we should work on finding a safe spot away from the windows, because cookies or not, Irene seems imminent. If your situation is not quite so precarious and you're up for making them, I included the recipe for Hurricane Cookies below. Good luck and be safe!

Hurricane Cookies from Good Morning Lowcountry column

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
6 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
18 caramels, coarsely chopped
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. Cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time.

4. Beat in flour. Stir in chocolate, caramels and pecans. Drop onto parchment covered cookie sheets 2 inches apart. Bake 10-15 minutes, until edges are browned. Cool for a few minutes prior to removing from cookie sheets.

Pullman Kitchen: a euphemism

So we moved 2 weeks ago. And along with packing boxes, donating things we haven't worn or used in over a year, and the general craziness that comes with moving, there were a lot of goodbyes. To Magnolia Bakery, to my favorite spot in Central Park, to short walks to Lincoln Center. And maybe most importantly, to my perfect Delonghi stove. It was just last August that the kitchen renovation in our west side apartment was essentially completed.

And now it's a little like being back at square one. Maybe even square negative one, since the west side apartment actually had, you know, a real kitchen. And not just a "Pullman Kitchen" (aka hole in the wall with some appliances thrown in).

But I'm not really complaining, because even though this is the stove I have to work with right now ...

... we have an awesome Fisher-Paykel ordered and waiting to be delivered as soon as we demo the current area.
We also have a pretty great contractor who designed a unit to go around the fridge in the corner opposite the kitchen area. Stay tuned as demolition starts, cabinetry goes in, and the fridge gets super cool panels to match!


ps: I haven't gotten up the nerve to try to bake anything in that silly little white oven, but I hear it is possible. I will be sure to let you know if I'm feeling adventurous.