Turkey & Feta Pies

Pate Brisee dough
1 lb ground turkey
8 oz shitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
5 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
8 oz feta cheese
parsley
garlic
fennel seeds
crushed red pepper
extra virgin olive oil
*toast fennel seeds, crushed red pepper, and garlic. add oil and brown turkey with the spices. remove turkey and soften onions in pan. add tomatos and let them break down before adding turkey back to the pan w/mushrooms and parsley. salt and pepper to taste and let cool. stir in feta. filling is ready to place in dough and baked


the filling is really tasty and i could eat it all by itself. with the dough it's even better! the dough is relaly flaky and complements the taste really well. my sweetie doesn't have an iron tummy, so i'll use red bell pepper instead of tomatos.

Fudgy Brownies

.5 c (1 stick) unsalted butter
8 oz bittersweet chocolate
1.5 c sugar
4 eggs
3/4 c flour
.5 tsp salt
*heat oven to 350 degrees. melt chocolate and butter and let cool. stir in sugar then whisk eggs in 1 at a time. fold in flour and salt. bake for 40-45min 'til set. cool on wire rack.
**8 inch square


this brownie is so fudgy! i forgot to add the vanilla extract, but i discovered i'm not really a giant huge fan of vanilla extract flavor. maybe i have bad extract...but in the past when i've used it, the flavor is really pungent. anyways back to the brownie -- the edges got a little burned on the top but i blame my apt oven for that. the thermometer isn't very accurate and i had to chase the heat. great brownies though! i wanna make these for my sweetie and i'm sure these would go great with a scoop of vanilla!

Chocolate Scones

2.5 c flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
.5 c + 2 tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp baking soda
.25 tsp salt
1.25 sticks (10 tbsp) butter
1 c (5 oz) semisweet chocolate
1 egg
.5 c heavy cream
*heat oven to 375 degrees. mix dry ingredients and cut in butter coarsely. fold in chocolate. whisk together wet ingredients and fold into dry mixture. turn out dough and shape into rectangle. divide dough and bake 25-30min.


too many scones!! next time i'll be sure to halve the recipe. and i didn't like how the dough turned out. i was afraid of overmixing so the second the dough kinda held on its own, i quit trying to force it to come together. the dough was really crumbly but i had so much faith! i believed in the recipe until the very end when i opened the oven. i didn't like the chocolate chips in the finished scones either -- they just got in the way. i'm thinking of either making the chips smaller or melting the chocolate next time.

Halloween Lunch

In honor of Halloween, everything on today's Lunch Menu was orange!! It was also 100% vegetarian! Tomato Basil Soup, Sweet Potato Fries, and clementines for dessert!

Sweet Potato Fries

1 small sweet potato
1 tbsp olive oil
salt (2 pinches)
*heat oven to 450 degrees. cut sweet potato into uniform fry pieces. arrange on baking sheet lined w/parchment paper. top with olive oil and salt. bake for 15 min flipping fries halfway, then broil for 5 min.

Tomato Basil Soup

8-10 tomatoes on the vine
15-18 basil leaves
1.5 tbsp butter (unsalted)
3 c ck broth
3 c tomato juice (Campbell's)
.5+ cup heavy cream
salt & pepper to taste
italian cheese blend for topping
*peel and core tomatos. heat oil along with butter. place tomatos and basil in blender and puree to desired consistency. add tomatos to pan and cook 10min. add broth and tomato juice and simmer 20 min. add salt, pepper, and cream. turn off heat. serve with shredded cheese and add'l pepper on top.

Squash Soup (Tsai Gua Tang)

4-5 c squash (peeled & cut into large chunks)
3 cloves garlic (sliced)
1 tbsp satay powder
.5 tsp white pepper
salt to taste
2 c water
*heat oil on medium and saute garlic. add squash, satay powder, white pepper & salt. stir to coat squash and slowly add water. cover and simmer on medium for 7 min.

I got to make this soup with my mom! I didn't think to take a picture of this at the time so that's kinda upsetting but this is a brothy soup and it's really tasty! The squash gives the soup a really distinct taste and the satay powder added a lot of flavor.