So, as I was saying, I try to spend less on food.   To do this, I like to cook in bulk.  I like to make casseroles, and other food items that freeze well. It is nice to be able to just throw something into the oven as soon as I get home from work and ~ an hour later there is dinner for all.  I also like my casseroles to be one dish meals.  I do not want to even toss a side salad, on some nights, if I can help it. So in my casseroles I try to include a protein, a vegetable, and a starch.

You see, in our family we fall in to a silly trap if we think that dinner will take too long to prepare.  The trap takes the form of Idaho burritos from Alberto’s, a Cowboy Pizza from Papa Murphy’s, or sloppy sandwiches from Subway (positively dripping with condiments)!  We are tired when we get home from work, and making a huge kitchen mess that, still, will not result in dinner before 9 pm, makes me tired just to think about.  In fact, it makes heartburn and pizza dreams seem almost palatable.

When I make my casseroles I even freeze them in foil containers so there is hardly any cleanup.  I know that I am not very environmentally conscious, but I will be I promise, just as soon as all my debt is paid off and I have saved enough money

Another food item I like to make to freeze and have on hand on post work nights are Pasties.  Before I met my husband, I had never even heard of Pasties.  I do not know the entire history behind them, but I am pretty sure they are a Montana thing.  My husband’s family comes from Anaconda, MT and almost everything I know about pasties comes from them.

I think that the primary reason my husband’s family makes them is that they are a wonderful vehicle for deer and elk meat.  When you butcher a large animal like an elk there is just really a lot of meat!  Folks in these parts, they find all sorts of clever ways in which to serve the tougher cuts of meat

Now I do not know if I am uttering a faux pas by exclaiming that Pasties are basically meat pies.  A meat pie you can hold in your hand.  I think that Pasties are right up there in my top ten most comforting comfort foods of all time!

It is kind of funny though, because the first time I ate Pasties, I thought to myself “hmm, these are good, but something is missing.” The crust was wonderful!  But the inside needed a little jazzing up for my taste.  So mine are a little bit different than my husband’s grandmother’s recipe.  Not to say hers were not good!  I use her same crust recipe, but use butter instead of Crisco.  Oh, the decadence of it all! I add carrots and celery (and sometimes hot Italian sausage) to my filling.  Maybe I use a couple more spices.  Oh, and I also do an egg wash for shine and aesthetics.  Then as soon as they are hot, fresh, and beautiful from the oven, we like to smother them with ketchup!

Today when I was thinking about this post I was reminded of the frozen meat pies we used to eat growing up.  Now don’t go feeling sorry for me.  I love those things, from the nearly bunt ring of crust around the edge to the spongy mystery meat cubes swimming, with the equally sized carrot and potato cubes, in the salty brown gravy. There were peas too!  In fact, I probably forgot to put frozen meat pies on my mother’s day list last year.  I still buy, and eat, them from time to ti

Pasties:

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

6 c. flour

1 & 1/2 tsp. salt

3 c. butter (cut into small chunks)

2 Tbsp. vinegar (I use cider)

2 c. water

For the Filling:

three large carrots (pencil eraser size dice)

three large stalks of celery (pencil eraser size dice)

5-6 medium potatoes (peeled and diced to ~ twice the size of the carrots and celery)

1 large sweet onion (diced)

2 lbs. beef thin sliced (like the beef you would find in “Broccoli Beef” the Chinese dish) or ground

S & P (1-2 tsp. each)

garlic powder (1/2 to 1 whole Tbsp.)

Italian seasoning (1 Tbsp.)

In large bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder, and butter.  With a pastry blender cut butter into flour until butter is pea sized.  Beat two of the eggs. Combine water and vinegar.  Add eggs to water and vinegar mixture.  Pour water mixture over flour and butter.  Hand mix until dough comes together.  Dough will be extremely sticky.  Divide dough into three separate balls.  Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 to 24 hours.

Sauté all vegetables in a very large pan just until slightly translucent, but still have a definite bite.  Be sure to lightly season with S & P while cooking vegetables. Place vegetables into a large bowl. Sauté meat until cooked through. Be sure to lightly season with S & P while cooking meat. Add meat to vegetables.  Mix in all seasonings. Set aside to cool.

To assemble pasties cut each of the three refrigerated balls of dough into four equal parts.  Roll out one of the smaller balls of dough like you would roll out a pie crust (not quite as large, but about the same thickness). Pile dough with ~ ¾ cup of the filling.  Fold dough over the filling forming a half circle. Fold the open edge over itself, to seal, like a pie crust.  Repeat with remaining dough and filling.

Preheat oven to 350°. Place pasties on a cookie sheet lightly oiled or sprayed with PAM.  I can fit ~ six pasties on each sheet. Baste with egg wash (from the remaining egg). Bake for 60 minutes, until golden brown.  Serve right away, or let cool and freeze.

To freeze. After they cool wrap each individually in foil and freeze.  To reheat: Preheat oven to 350°.  Take Pasties directly from the freezer, open the foil to expose the top but leave surrounded in the foil for baking, place on cookie sheet and place in oven. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes. Eat with ketchup or some people prefer gravy, I guess. This recipe should yield ~12 Pasties.
A side note from my father-in-law Leon Walters:

History of Pasties in the US