Cheeburger, Cheeburger

Last week I wanted something simple and hearty and full of meatstuff, and this casserole fit the bill perfectly. I would have put a picture up of the actual dish, but it ended up looking kind of like an operating room scene from Grey's Anatomy - not very enticing. Despite looking like innards, it was quite delicious. The original recipe calls for ground beef, but I used ground turkey since it's a bit lighter and doesn't taste much different.

Cheeseburger Pie
Serves 6. Adapted from here.

1 lb. of lean ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
4 oz. mushrooms, chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp. dried parsley flakes
generous pinch of salt
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
pinch of black pepper
2 packages of crescent rolls (I used Pillsbury Reduced Fat)
3 large eggs
4 slices of cheddar cheese

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large, heavy skillet over medium heat, cook ground turkey and onion until turkey is browned. Drain off excess fat.
3. Stir in tomato sauce, mushrooms, parsley, salt, oregano, and pepper into the skillet with the turkey and onions. Keep warm over low heat.
4. Unroll one package of crescent rolls into the bottom of a lightly greased 8x8 casserole dish. Press dough into bottom of the pan and up the sides to seal perforations and form a pie shell.
5. Separate egg yolk and egg white of one of the eggs. Set aside the yolk, and beat together the egg white with the two other eggs. Pour half of this over the pie shell in the dish.
6. Spoon turkey mixture into the pie shell, then arrange cheese slices over the top of this. Pour remaining egg mixture over the cheese.
7. Unroll the second package of cresent rolls over the top of the dish. Smush together the dough from the bottom and sides of the pan with the dough on top to seal it. It will look a lot nicer when it bakes, I promise.
8. Mix reserved egg yolk with 1 Tbsp. of water to make an egg wash. Brush this likely over the top of the pie crust, and make a few small slits in the top of the crust to vent.
9. Bake pie 25-30 minutes until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted. If the crust begins to burn, cover it with foil for the last 10 minutes of baking.

On being shamelessly materialistic and superficial

I was really productive this weekend. I managed to write three papers and line up the professors I want to write me recommendations. Boo ya.

I was also in a very autumn-y mood. I was all pumpkins, hayrides, sharpened pencils, leaves (which seem to have gone straight to brown this year - where are the reds and yellows?), apples and cinnamon smells. I even baked a very comfort foodish cheeseburger pie (gross in theory, yummy in practice) that perhaps I will share later this week.

To celebrate above mentioned productivity and the onset of autumn, I went shopping. Naturally. After emerging triumphantly from Bath and Body Works clutching my new Harry Slatkin Pumpkin candle, I stopped by the Chanel counter on a whim. Okay, not on a whim. I'd been reading about this new fall shade of nail polish, Tulipe Noire, and wanted to see what the fuss was about. I asked the lady behind the counter (Name: Char, very odd eyebrows 15 shades darker than her bleach blonde pixie cut) if she had any, and she informed me that she only had one bottle left - the one in the display. Which, of course, made it immediately ten times more attractive to me. That and the fact that the color itself is gorgeous - burgundy with gold swirls, very chi-chi looking nail polish. So I sucked it up and spent 20 big ones on a tiny bottle of polish.

Herein lies the gross part: as my dear friend Char was ringing me up, she actually got a phone call from someone inquiring whether she had any Tulipe Noire left. And as Char said, "Sorry, I just pulled the last one and I am selling it to a customer right now," my stomach leapt a little with joy and triumph. I am a sick person.

But I have some pretty hot nail polish, in a deep shade of exclusivity. Shazam.