Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Hand Pies

I had a hankerin' for some sweet potato pie, and a hankerin' for an english hand pie. So, naturally, I combined my desires into one delicious dinner / breakfast / whatever, portable meal. A slice or two of crumbled bacon wouldn't hurt this recipe one bit, fyi.

2 Medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 packages frozen puff pastry sheets
4-5.5 oz goat cheese
2 green onions
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
salt and black pepper to taste

In a medium pot, cover cubed sweet potatoes with salted water, and bring to a boil. Boil potatoes until fork tender, remove from heat, drain and return sweet potatoes to pot. Gently mash the potatoes with a potato masher. Crumble one small package (4-5.5 oz) goat cheese with a fork into the sweet potatoes. Mash and stir the cheese and sweet potato mixture until almost smooth, and then add 1/4tsp cayenne, 1/4tsp smoked paprika, and two green onions, including greens, sliced thin to the pot stirring to incorporate. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

Preheat your oven to 400˚ F. Remove thawed puff pastry and cut each sheet into 9 equal squares for a total of 32 squares. Place 18 of the squares onto an ungreased baking sheet. Fill the interior of the square with a tablespoon to a tablespoon and a half of the sweet potato and cheese mixture leaving about a 1/4 inch gap all around. Lightly wet the edge with water, place another square on top, and seal the edge with a fork. Repeat for remaining pies. With a very sharp knife, or razor blade, cut two vent slits in the top of each pie. Bake according to the puff pastry package instruction, about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Game 52: Twins 6, Yankees 1

Having lost 6 of 7, the Twins needed a big game from the team's biggest free-agent signing in franchise history and they got it. Ricky Nolasco wasn't exactly dominant, but he was good enough. In fact, Nolasco looked like he was fighting himself all game, so to get 6 effective innings out of him was a positive sign.

An even better sign was the Twins erupting for 6 runs. Playing in the Yankees' bandbox may helped some, especially on Josh Willingham's homer, but it was nice to get three home runs in a game for the first time this season. The Twins' offense has been pretty bad since the start of May, but the return to health of Willingham and Oswaldo Arcia should help, especially if Arcia can lay off some bad pitches long enough to give himself a chance to hit something hard.

After Friday's game, Willingham now leads the Twins in OPS at .917 and Oswaldo is third at .864. Danny Santana is just behind Willingham at .907. With Escobar hitting too well at SS to allow Santana much playing time there, the Twins will have to decide which on-the-job training they can endure more: Santana in CF or Hicks batting RH only.

2014 Game 53: Twins @ the Fancy Bedpan

Kevin Correia takes the hill for the Twins, Masahiro Tanaka does the same for the Yankees. Tanaka's been pretty fearsome so far (2.61 FIP, 10.1 K/9 against only 1.3 BB/8, league leading ERA, if you're into that sort of thing). Correia....has definitely pitched baseball games for the Twins.

Gotta say, this pitching matchup doesn't look particularly promising.

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.