Cleanin' out the kitchen

We have now moved into November, the month that starts the seasonal over indulgence. The pantry was starting to overflow, so turkey chili with lots of beans was a must:

There were 2 carrots leftover from when Mike made lobster bisque and some onions from who knows how long ago.

Besides soup, all I could think of was a roast, so chuck roast it was. Considering I really haven't used chuck roast before, I did a pretty good job.

Mike had a work party and asked me to make something for it. After searching through my cookbooks I settled on this:

In the Better Homes and Gardens magazine these are called Spinach and Feta Phyllo Triangles but after research I found out these are called Spanakopita. They took some time to make, but they were really good! Everyone was surprised I made it. I was surprised too.

Cleaning out the freezer, I found lots of fish. We still had some that Mike had caught as well as some that my neighbor gave me.

If I recall correctly, the fish on the left is jack and the fish on the right is whiting. And the side is spinach and mushroom risotto (not homemade, from a box). Everything was very good.

We finally got some lemons from the tree Mike got last year, yay!

I haven't really made anything exciting from them yet. I know, sad.

Still in the theme of cleaning out the kitchen, we had 4 frozen turkey burgers left and no buns. So what did I make, poppy seed buns (because I had no sesame seeds!):

 My finished burger with fresh tomato:

Turkey burgers are always pretty bland, but these buns really helped liven things up!

Bone-in, chicken leg quarters have been the cheapest chicken (besides a whole chicken)  you can buy at Aldi. Unfortunately I haven't found too many recipes using chicken leg quarters that I like or have time to make. My old stand by : roast chicken legs (with garlic, lemon, olive oil, salt, and pepper):

Simple and easy.

Half a bag of frozen corn as been staring at me from the freezer door for quite some time.

I am still not good at pairing dishes, so just breaded, pan fried, thin cut pork chops to go with it.

And finally, for today, my pretty dish. My friend had a holiday party and I had to work all day so the easiest, fanciest thing I could think of (and since I had stocked up on puff pastry dough from Adi....3 boxes in the freezer to be exact) was brie wrapped in puff pastry dough with a little poinsettia on top:

It was soooo good! Next time I do want to try topping the brie with something before I wrap and bake it.

Your overload for today is done. I hope everyone has a wonderful new year and until next time, please enjoy this photo of my babies (because I am in Ohio without them and I miss them):