I almost know what I'm doing

What goes with eggnog?

Mincemeat pies. Um, sorta mincemeat. And kinda not really a pie.

Proper 'mincemeat' really does have meat in it. In fact, the picadillo I stuffed into poblano peppers is more like traditional mincemeat than this filling is, but I've never been one for tradition. I am firmly of the opinion that "it's always been done this way" is the best reason to do it another way.

And so I stuffed biscuit dough with fruit.

(first eggnog, now mincemeat... almost seems like we're actually on top of a holiday for once)

Minced Fruit Pasties (or Turnovers, if you prefer)

What you need:

• 1 recipe's worth of biscuit dough or biscuit dough
• 2.5 small wrinkly apples, or about that much apple
• a few dried pears (or apricots, or some other fruit)
• 1/2 c dates
• zest from one orange
• 1/2 inch ginger
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp cinnamon sugar (or cinnamon and sugar to make that amount)
• 1 tsp vanilla (you can use some kind of booze here if you'd like)
• 1 egg

What you gotta do:

I had a few apples in the fruit basket that have been there for way too long. I once read "wisened" as a description for apples, and I think that's what these ones were. Fresh crisp ones would work fine too, but if you've got a couple old ones sitting around... (anyone seeing my inspiration for this recipe?)

Put your grater into a medium sized bowl, and start grating apples. Peel them? What? Why? I rarely see any reason to peel apples. The peel is completely edible, doesn't taste bad, and will add colour to things if it's red. Plus, that's extra work.

Zest the orange on a microplane grater, and then use it for the ginger. Microplanes are great for ginger.

Chop whatever dried fruit you're using into small chunks. If you've got some candied orange peel, that would work too.

My butter and cinnamon sugar are already combined, leftover from the cinnamon buns, but yours should go in now, separately if that's how they are.

Vanilla too. Or booze, your call.

Now, the dates. You can pre-chop these if you want, but dates are pretty easy to mash, so I just dumped mine in whole and went at them with a wooden spoon.

If you don't happen to have a batch of biscuit dough in the fridge because you made a double when you did yesterday's cinnamon biscuit buns for brunch, you'll have to make some.

If you do: handy! Roll it out into a rectangle.

I cut mine into 9 pieces; the pieces were the right size (about 5x5 inches), but this only makes filling for 6. I'm sure you can find something to stuff into those biscuits. A bit of sausage would be nice... Sausage biscuit rolls!

Drop a couple or three tablespoons of the filling mixture on one side of a biscuit square, and spread it out into a triangle-ish shape. No meat, but it kinda looks like there is...

Don't get too close to the edge. Fold the other half of the dough over the filling to make a triangle.

Starting at one of the corner points, lift the bottom dough and stretch-fold-roll it over the top dough. Biscuit dough is sticky enough that you shouldn't need any water or egg to make the edges stick, but if yours aren't sticking, water will help.

Stretch-fold-roll your way toward the point, then stretch-fold-roll along to the other corner.

Apparently I took no pictures of this process.

When you're done, they should look something like these:

Brush them with an egg with a tsp of water beaten into it.

Cut a slit or two in the top so steam can escape. If you to this, you are less likely to have filling explode out of the side. You can dust the tops with sugar too if you'd like.

Bake them at 400 for about 20 minutes.

I'm still working the kinks out of my new oven, but I'm pretty sure I was around 400, and mine only took 18 minutes.

They'll be lovely and shiney and golden when they're done.

And some of them will have strangely face-like features.

Tasty served with morning coffee, afternoon tea, or a glass of evening eggnog.

Stick around. We are actually going to pull off some holiday shit this year. Taneasha's thinking sweets, and I'll be making small things you can eat with one hand.

Maybe one day I'll get back to writing things you want to read with only one hand... ;)

I'm in!

Yes, in fact, I did say that.

The move is complete and I now live in an apartment with interior walls. Bedrooms are wonderful things. Square footage is too. My new kitchen is the size of my previous bachelor pad.

It's not the ideal kitchen, particularly since it was holy fucking filthy when I got it, but it's shittonnes better than my previous one.

However, I haven't managed to go grocery shopping yet. I've been too busy cleaning my bathroom six times; it still needs 2 or 3 more. Breakfast is much easier to make than dinner. And you can eat it for dinner. No, this isn't a post about cereal.

Mushroom Omelet

What you need:

• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp low fat milk or water
• a handfull of mushrooms
• half an onion
• some cheese
• an herb

What you gotta do:

Omelets don't have to be filled with much. Fresh things can be used, like cherry tomatoes, herbs, or avocado. Leftovers can too! Omelets are a great way to use leftover asparagus and other greens.

Me, I had mushrooms, so that's what I made.

Slice the onion and mushrooms. I sauteed mine in bacon fat over medium high heat, but butter would work too. Once the onions are nice and browned, set them aside for a bit.

Motion shot! Tough to flip veggies in a pan and take a picture at the same time.

If there are bits of caramelized stuff left in the pan, wipe them out. You want to start with a smooth, clean pan. You also want the heat just below medium, so if you just sauteed something give the pan a few minutes to cool down.

While the pan is cooling or heating, crack the eggs into a deep bowl.

Orange was not the best choice for this, but they were the bowls I'd already unpacked. Also, egg yolks should be bright orange, not pale yellow. Add the milk or water. Don't use cream or a high fat milk. The fat seems to weigh the eggs down. Weird, I know, but it does. Beat the eggs and liquid until they're nice and foamy.

Drop about half a teaspoon of butter into the pan over heat that is about 3/4 the way to medium and let it get nice and foamy too.

Slowly pour in the eggs. Gently push the eggs toward the centre of the pan and tip the pan to fill in the empty space.

When the eggs are set enough that you can't get them to run freely into the open space, spread them evenly and cover them.

Yes, I know this is not the traditional french omelet way, but I don't like to have runny egg in the middle of my omelet. Covering them cooks them.

Once they're set completely, or still slightly snotty if you prefer them that way, spread the filling on most of one side. Cheese, herbs, whatever you've got. Bacon works. Mozzarella and marinara is interesting. Mushrooms and cheddar are what I used.

Now, the flip. If you spread your filling all the way to the middle, you aren't going to get a complete fold over. But, there is a certain aesthetic appeal to having some of the filling exposed.

If you had the time and patience (and potatoes) to make hashbrowns, they make a great side. If not, refried beans work.

What's your favourite breakfast for dinner?