Christmas Dinner is Done!

That time of year to make a batch of pasties. A favorite food from the U.P. of Michigan.  Christmastime brings so many childhood memories spent in Ironwood, Michigan with my extended family.  I had to find some way to bring a little of Ironwood into our Christmas celebration.  A few years back we decided that pasties would be the perfect meal for Christmas Day.  We make them a few days ahead, freeze, and then reheat on Christmas Day.  That makes for little kitchen work and still creates a special meal keeping those special memories alive.  Thankfully, the whole fam loves pasties as much as I do!

Looking for a recipe for these yummy pockets of delight? Well, good luck with that. Years ago, I talked with Gram looking for her recipe. Yeah, you know how Grandmas and recipes go. ;-)  So, over the years I've had to develop my own Pinch of This and Dash of That until I found my own Pasty Perfection. :-D

I can at least give you the "recipe" I used today.  Maybe you can spin off from there. ;-)

1.  Put your eager 7yo to work washing potatoes. (no dear, we don't use soap to wash the potatoes.)
2.  Hunt down a traveling 12yo son to peel washed potatoes. (we used 6 large-ish potatoes today)
3.  Set your dutiful eldest daughter to dicing peeled potatoes into tiny cubes.
4.  Also set that same daughter, the Algebra student, to work quadrupling your pie crust recipe because you really stink at multiplying fractions.
5.  Mix about 2-2.5lbs lean ground beef with diced potatoes and half a finely diced onion.  Start to wonder if you've got this right, so you call Gram to make sure you didn't miss an ingredient for the filling.
6.  Enjoy a half hour phone conversation with Gram, catching up. ;-)
7.  Cut your quad-ed pie crust into 12 sections. Roll out into thin rounds.
8.  Realize that your Kitchen Crew has disappeared.  Decide that working alone can be pretty sweet while you enjoy the Christmas music and thinking of Gram, Mom, Dad, Grandma and all those you miss most this time of year.
9.  Place about 1 cup of filling onto dough. Top with salt and pepper and a thin pat of butter.

10. Fold dough over filling and roll edges. Cut a small slit in the top to let moisture escape when cooking.

11. Slow down the pace a bit when your 7yo returns for her first lesson in Pasty Making.  It may take a bit longer, but it's SO worth the time. :-D

12. Take on the job of rolling and then step aside on the final steps.  This little one is a quick study and determined to get it herself. ;-)

13.  Wet the seems and tops to keep the dough moist and sealed.

14.  Savor this precious time spent with your fourth-born.  "Ruthy's Famous Pasty" is on one of those trays somewhere. ;-)  We had enough for a Baker's Dozen today.

15. Spend the next hour breathing in deep the scrumptious scent of hot baked memories. Wish you had made enough for dinner tonight!

16.  Once they've completely cooled, wrap in foil and stack in the freezer. They'll keep nicely until Christmas Day.  Then we'll break out the ketchup and Yum-Yum-Yum!!!