SIMCHA FISHER

1. Put all ingredients into slow cooker. Cook on low for at least four hours before serving.

To make the filling:

1. In a big pan, melt the 1 Tbsp butter and sauté the spinach until it's soft. It will be a giant heap of greens at first, but it cooks way down and will fit in the pan when you're done!

2. Let the spinach cool and then squeeze out as much water as you can.

3. In a bowl, mix together the cooked spinach with the salt, pepper and nutmeg, and stir in the feta until it's combined. Set aside.

4. Preheat the oven to 375

5. Melt the stick of butter and set it aside. You'll need it handy for assembling the triangles.

6. Unroll the phyllo dough and cover it with a slightly damp cloth to keep it from getting brittle. Take what you need and keep the rest of the stack covered.

To assemble the triangles:

1. Carefully lay a phyllo dough square on your workspace, long side horizontal. Brush it with melted butter. Lay another sheet on top of it and brush that with butter.

2. With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into three strips.

3. Put a scoop of spinach mixture at the bottom of each strip. Then fold that section of dough up diagonally, enclosing the spinach, so it forms a triangle. Continue folding up to make triangles, like you'd fold a flag, until you reach the top of the dough. If you're having trouble figuring out how to fold it, here is a helpful video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVwA3i_tmKc&t=2s

4. If there's a bit of leftover dough on the triangle, fold it under. Lay the finished triangle on a baking sheet, seam side down. Brush with butter again.

5. Continue until the phyllo dough is gone. I made 18 pockets, two sheets thick, with one roll of phyllo dough, but you can change the proportions and make lots of smaller triangles if you like.

6. Bake about 25 minutes until golden brown. Let them sit in the pan for a moment before removing. Serve hot or cold.

1. Preheat the oven to 425

2. In a little pot, combine the honey, the butter, and the extract. Heat through and set aside.

3. In a bowl, mix the cranberries with melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a dash of salt. Set aside.

4. Cut brie into 24 equal pieces and set aside.

5. Prepare a 24-hole mini cupcake pan with butter or spray. You can also use a full-size cupcake pan, but the tarts will be a little unwieldy and won't hold together as well.

6. Unroll the phyllo dough and cut it into twelve equal stacks. Cover the dough with a damp cloth while you're working so the dough doesn't get brittle.

7. Pull out one stack of phyllo dough squares and use half the squares to line a cupcake tin, fanning them out to make a little cup. Make sure the bottom of the tin has several layers of dough, so it won't fall apart when you take it out of the pan.

8. When you have arranged all the pastry cups, drizzle them with half the honey-butter mixture.

9. Lay a piece of brie in the bottom of each cup, then put a scoop of sugared cranberries on top of that. Drizzle with the rest of the honey-butter mixture.

10. Bake for 15 minutes or so until the pastry is just golden brown.

11. Top each cup with a bit of chopped herbs.

12. Let the tarts sit in the pan for five minutes before serving. Serve hot.

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Poke each sweet potato with a fork several times.

2. Bake the potatoes until soft, about 45 minutes.

3. Mix together your cheese, nuts, and dates if you're using them.

4. Let the potatoes cool for several minutes, then slice each one open, not quite to the ends. Add a scoop of nut and cheese mixture to each one and lightly mash in into the potato.

5. Top with a sprinkle of cheese and garnish with parsley.

1. Peel the potatoes and put them in a pot. Cover the with water. Add a bit of salt and the smashed garlic cloves.

2. Cover and bring to a boil, then simmer with lid loosely on until the potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes.

3. Drain the water out of the pot. Add the butter and milk and mash well.

4. Add the parmesan and salt and pepper to taste and stir until combined.

1. Preheat oven to 450.

2. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and cream of tartar.

3. Grate the chilled butter with a box grater into the dry ingredients.

4. Stir in the milk and egg and mix until just combined. Don't overwork it. It's fine to see little bits of butter.

5. On a floured surface, knead the dough 10-15 times. If it's very sticky, add a little flour.

6. With your hands, press the dough out until it's about an inch thick. Cut biscuits. Depending on the size, you can probably get 20 medium-sized biscuits with this recipe.

7. Grease a pan and bake for 10-15 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

1. Sprinkle the yeast over the water in a small bowl. Stir to dissolve and let stand five minutes or longer, until it's slightly foamy.

2. In a small saucepan, heat milk until just warm.

3. In a large bowl, combine the shortening, sugar, and salt. Add warm milk to the mix and whisk to blend until shortening is in small pieces.

4. Whisk in the yeast mixture and the egg.

5. Add flour and stir until dough forms.

6. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead 4-5 minutes until smooth.

7. Oil a bowl and put the dough in it. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and let stand in a warm spot for about 1-1/2 hours or until doubled in bulk.

8. Preheat oven to 350.

9. Punch down the dough and cut it into 36 pieces. Roll them into balls. Butter a muffin tin and drop three balls into each hole. Brush dough with melted butter.

10. Loosely cover with plastic wrap again and chill for 30 minutes. You may chill them up to six hours.

11. Bake 25 minutes or so, until they are puffed and golden brown.

12. Brush with butter again and sprinkle with sea salt if you like.

1. Preheat oven to 400. Grease two large oven sheets. 

2. Combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

3. Mix vegetables and bacon together, spread evenly in pans, and pour sauce all over. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with hot pepper flakes or chili powder if you like.

4. Cook, stirring up once or twice, until bacon is cooked through and vegetables are slightly charred, about 20 minutes. Finish with broiler if necessary.

1. Preheat the oven to 350. In a pot on the stove, melt the butter and add the tequila. You will need at least a pound of butter and a cup and a half of tequila, and you can add to it as needed.

2. Remember to take out any giblets or whatnot inside! Rinse the bird and pat it dry. Stuff it.

3. Season it heavily with salt, pepper, and garlic powder all over. Put it on a rack in a pan, breast up.

4. Put the turkey in the oven. Baste it every 30 minutes with the melted butter and tequila. Plan to cook it 20 minutes per pound, and plan to let it rest at least 20 minutes before carving.

1. If you're cooking the stuffing separately, preheat the oven to 325 and butter a casserole dish.

2. In a pan, brown the sausage, breaking it into small pieces, until fully cooked. Drain the sausage and put it in a large bowl.

3. Add the stuffing, drained oysters, celery, beaten eggs, and onion, and mix until thoroughly combined. Mix in the croutons, oysters, celery, eggs, and onion until thoroughly combined.

4. In a bowl, mix together the reserved oyster liquid, chicken broth, and melted butter to make about two cups and pour over the dry ingredients, and carefully stir until combined.

5. If you're stuffing a bird, carefully spoon the stuffing into the cavity and proceed with cooking the bird. If you're cooking the stuffing separately, dump it into a buttered dish and cook for about 25 minutes until brown on top.

1. Preheat the oven to 425.

2. Prepare the squash. To make it easier to cut and peel, pierce all over with a fork and then microwave for three minutes. Let it cool a bit and the cut it in half lengthwise, peel it with a paring knife or vegetable peeler and scoop the seeds out.

3. Rub the squash all over with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast it in a baking dish until it's slightly soft, about 15 minutes.

4. While it is cooking, make the glaze: simmer the maple syrup, butter, vinegar, and chili or jalapeno in a small pot until it's slightly thickened, about ten minutes. Turn the heat down and keep it warm.

5. ove the squash to a cutting board, flip it over (scooped side down) and let it cool a bit. Score it side to side, cutting as deep as you can without breaking through. Carefully put it back into the baking dish and tuck bay leaves into the cuts, and season with salt and pepper.

6. Cook it again, basting with the glaze very ten minutes until it has a dark, shiny coat, about an hour.

7. Top with the peppers from the glaze and serve hot.

1. Fill a large pot with a few quarts of water and set the neck and other giblets (not liver), the halved onion, celery, and carrot to simmering. Let it simmer several hours to make broth. I start this in the morning, before the turkey goes in the oven.

2. Fry up the diced onion and turkey liver in a little oil or butter. Chop it into little bits. It should be crisp. Set aside.

3. When you're ready to make the gravy, in a heavy pot, melt plenty of butter, and add flour a little at a time, stirring to make a medium-thick paste. Add salt and pepper. Add the giblet broth a little at a time, stirring constantly over a low heat, until it's as thin as you like it. Keep this at a very low heat until it's time to carve the turkey.

4. Add in the liver and onion bits, and after the turkey is removed from the pan, scrape the bottom of the pan for the wonderful savory gristle, rich little burned bits, and some of the turkey fat. Stir briskly to combine.

5. Add more broth if it's too thick.

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter loaf pans or muffin tins, or use cupcake papers.

2. Mash the bananas in a bowl. Beat the eggs and blend the into the bananas. 

3. In another bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. Add the dry mixture to the banana mixture and stir just until blended. Stir in nuts if desired. 

4. Pour batter into pans or tins. Bake about 28 minutes for muffins, about 1 hour for loaves. 

1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare muffin tins; butter and flour loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients and lightly incorporate the shredded butter.

3. In another bowl, mix together the egg, orange juice, and orange zest.

4. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir just until dry ingredients are incorporated. Lightly mix in the cranberries and walnuts. Pour batter into tins or loaf pan.

5. Bake muffins for about half an hour, loaf for an hour or more.

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. In a standing mixer, cream together the sugar and butter until well combined.

3. Add eggs one at a time until well combined. Then add the maple syrup, salt, vanilla, and bourbon. Continue mixing until well combined.

4. Add half of the pecans and stir in with a fork. Pour the filling into an unbaked pie shell.

5. Carefully arrange the rest of the pecans over the top of the filling.

6. Bake pie for 45-55 minutes. Center will still be slightly jiggly when it comes out of the oven, but it will firm up.

7. Cool completely. Sprinkle with sea salt before serving.

1. Freeze the butter for at least 20 minutes, then shred it on a box grater. Set aside.

2. Put the water in a cup and throw an ice cube in it. Set aside.

3. In a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Then add the shredded butter and combine with a butter knife or your fingers until there are no piles of loose, dry flour. Try not to work it too hard. It's fine if there are still visible nuggets of butter.

4. Sprinkle the dough ball with a little iced water at a time until the dough starts to become pliable but not sticky. Use the water to incorporate any remaining dry flour.

5. If you're ready to roll out the dough, flour a surface, place the dough in the middle, flour a rolling pin, and roll it out from the center.

6. If you're going to use it later, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. You can keep it in the fridge for several days or in the freezer for several months, if you wrap it with enough layers. Let it return to room temperature before attempting to roll it out!

7. If the crust is too crumbly, you can add extra water, but make sure it's at room temp. Sometimes perfect dough is crumbly just because it's too cold, so give it time to warm up.

8. You can easily patch cracked dough by rolling out a patch and attaching it to the cracked part with a little water. Pinch it together.