All it does in Boston lately is rain every single day so this spicy and hearty recipe felt very fall and yet still appropriate when we made it. In his new cookbook, Food 2.0, the brilliant Charlie Ayers, former executive chef at Google, proclaimed that this dish was “slamming.” And oh how it lived up to its reputation…

CK and I have been obsessively watching Supernatural on DVD in the evenings so our nightly routines goes something like this: get home, I whine about not wanting to go on a run, CK makes me, shower, make dinner, watch silly boys battle ghosties, beasties, and ghoulies until I fall asleep on the couch. What’s missing? Oh yeah! That whole clean-up the kitchen thing.

So on Butternut Chilijack night, we were both very lazy and left the kitchen a complete mess. Honestly I didn’t even give it another thought. After all, CK is a fabulous kitchen picker-upper, but than I got a phone call and an odd question was posed to me, “Which towels don’t you like?”

It would seem that while trying to dispose of the butternut squash peelings in the garbage disposal something awful happened. The sink plugged, a leak sprung, and when poor CK bent over to investigate under the cupboard the pipe exploded stringy squash all over CK and the kitchen.

Just because you’ve always successfully stuffed everything from banana peels to limes down the disposal doesn’t mean it wont get back at you in some malicious way when you least expect it. In the end, I came home from work, the lovely maintenance man fixed the disposal, the kitchen was cleaned, and Chef Ayers Chilijack will live on in kitchen infamy.

Butternut Chilijack
Originally published in Food 2.0 by Charlie Ayers
Serves 4

2 butternut squashes, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 red onions, diced (Note: I only used one as I’m not a super fan of red onion).
1/4 cup sliced jalapeno chillies (from a can or jar)
1 tbsp mild chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
2 tomatoes, diced, or 1 cup drained, canned crushed tomatoes
2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed (Note: I left this out. CK wanted it, but I wasn’t feeling very corn friendly that night)
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
A handful of fresh cilantro leaves torn into pieces

Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Combine the squash, onions, and chilies in a roasting pan and season with chili powder, cayenne, salt and pepper. Drizzle the grapeseed oil over and toss well. Roast until just tender but still with some texture, 25-30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and tip into a large bowl. Add the tomatoes, corn, Monterey Jack cheese, and cilantro. Mix gently until the cheese begins to melt. Serve warm

In my world a party just isn’t a party without at least six kinds of cheese, and Baked Brie is the best of the best when it comes to pleasing your wine drinking friends. Don’t worry, as pretty and “impressive” as they tend to look all dolled up on your hostess’s serving platter it couldn’t be easier to make.

Erin’s Starry Night Baked Brie

1 wheel of Brie (the bigger the better)
1 Pillsbury Pie Crust at room temperature
Cute mini star cookie cutters

Unwrap the Brie and cover it with the pie crust. Trim the excess dough carefully from the edges, smooth out the dough and close up any open seams. Roll out the remaining dough and decorate the pastry covered Brie with the cutout shapes.

Bake in an oven proof dish at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Break Out the Big Brie	Wrap It Up
Trim	Cosmic Alterations
Decorate	I Wish I May, I Wish I Might…

Today I made the ridiculous mistake of going to Whole Foods without a list. My intention was to pick up some milk, onions, and something to make for dinner. Well $130 dollars later I came home with some surprising purchases. Yes, I impulse shopped till I dropped. Usually I do this sort of thing with clothes, but today I managed to be “manipulated” into buying Cranberry Cheddar Chesse (what the hell am I going to do with that?!), Butternut Squash & Vermont Maple Syrup Ravioli, and Kashi’s new 7 Grain Party Crackers. The crackers really got me coming and going because once I read the package and noticed that they were serving them with slices of Brie and green apples I had to go and buy those too.

This is an excellent example of why I try to use PeaPod as much as possible. I just can’t be trusted among all of those organic goodies! Please make me fell like less of a duped consumer and tell me I’m not alone — what ridiculous things have you tossed in your cart recently? At the very least the lovely Hänni is coming to visit soon. Maybe I’ll just feed it all to her. Mwah ha ha!

After spending the morning picking apples at the Nashoba Valley Winery I decided to make my annual attempt at baking a pie. This time I decided to branch out from my horribly lazy habit of using already made pie crust and really went outside my comfort zone with a super special Martha Stewart recipe that included a decadent Cheddar Cheese Crust. It took forever, and I desperately need someone to teach me how to properly crimp those adorable decorative edges, but the crust tasted fabulous and earned high praises from my friend Anna, a self-proclaimed none crust loving individual. The sweet and spicy flavor of the apple filling, combined with the savory pie crust was the epitome of a homemade slam dunk. There’s a reason Martha Stewart is as famous as she is, and I’d love to shake the hand of the intern who wrote this recipe for her (ha ha). So while the pie wasn’t picture perfect, it was certainly tasty and all eight slices were gobbled up in record time.

Grate Cheese & Slice Butter	Combine in Processor & Pulse
Peel Apples	Mix
Roll Out	Top
Decorate	Brush with Egg Wash
Cool & Enjoy The Crispy Cheesy Crust

Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust (Originally Published by Martha Stewart)

For the Cheddar Crust (Makes enough for one 10-inch double crust):

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 ounces white cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup ice water

Process flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add butter; pulse until pea-size lumps appear. Pulse in cheese. With processor running, add ice water; process just until dough comes together.

Turn dough out; gather into a block. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cold, at least 30 minutes or up to 2 days. Dough can be frozen up to 3 weeks.

For the Apple Filling:

1 1/2 pounds (about 3) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick wedges
2 pounds (about 5) Cortland apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch thick wedges
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Divide dough into two pieces. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out each to a 13-inch circle.

Fit one circle into a 10-inch pie plate; transfer plate to a baking sheet. Put other circle on another baking sheet. Refrigerate dough until cold, at least 30 minutes.

Stir together apples, sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cloves. Spoon into bottom pie crust. Dot filling with butter. Cover with top crust. Fold edges over; crimp decoratively to seal. Cut a steam vent. Chill in freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.

Brush with egg. Bake pie 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Tent with foil; bake until juices are bubbling, about 45 minutes more. Let cool at least 1 1/2 hours before serving.

Embarrassing adolescent confession time: I had a crush on Uncle Jesse. Uncle Jesse was Greek and therefore in honor of Uncle Jesse I give you the quintessential Greek dish:

Spanakopita (Originally published in I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris)

5 eggs
3 10-oz packages of frozen, chopped spinach, defrosted (ring out any water using cheesecloth or dishrag)
8 ounces of cream cheese
8 ounces or more of crumbled feta cheese
8 ounces of small curd cottage cheese
Olive Oil
2 bunches of chopped green onions, sauteed
1 tablespoon of parsley
Dill, fennel (optional)
3 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese
1 1-lb box of phyllo pastry
1 stick of butter

In a mixer, beat the eggs until fluffy. Add everything else (except the phyllo dough and butter) gradually, just until mixed.

Melt the stick of butter. Using a pastry brush, butter a 9×13x3 inch pan.

Line the bottom of the pan with half the box of phyllo, buttering between each layer. Add spinach filling and spread evenly.

Top with a little extra crumbled feta, if you have some left.

Place the remaining phyllo on top, again buttering between each sheet.

“Baptize” the top with a little water and bake at 350 degrees until brown and crispy on top, approximately 45-50 minutes.

If the phyllo starts to get too brown, cover with foil.

Melt	Green Onions
Fluff the Eggs	Drain the Spinach
Combine with Cheeses	Brush Each Sheet with Butter
Add Filling	Continue Layering
Bake	Get Your Greek On

The super tasty and figure friendly dish below has officially allowed Ellie Krieger to overthrow Giada as my favorite food network celebrity chef. Should the Patriots make it to the Super Bowl you might just see this awesome meatball sandwich on my coffee table — if you’re lucky enough to receive an invite to the party of course. Unfortunately If the Colts prevail on Sunday all bets are off…

In addition, the turkey meatballs actually serve as a “double duty” meal since I made them the night before via this recipe with a spicy tomato sauce and whole wheat pasta. I also sliced all of my peppers for the sandwiches while the sauce was cooking and placed them in a container until I was ready to make dinner the next day. Rachael Ray would be so proud of me for prepping ahead. I know this was an Ellie dish but it was probably the first time I ever truly succeeded in making an honest to goodness “30 Minute Meal” (that didn’t consist of tortellini and store bought Alfredo).

Fresh Baguette	Hollow Out
Tri-Colored Peppers Before	And After
Top With Mozzarella	Broil