10/1/14

Nasty Pasties

If you want to see some beautiful food, you'll need to go to one of those serious food blogs, where people only show you their best successes. That's not how we roll here at the Three Cats Ranch. We show you the good, the bad, and the ugly...because that's the spice of life, folks. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn't.

The day started out pretty well. I finished up my latest quilting snowlady. I was thinking this was block #7, but it's actually block #8. Four more to go before I'm ready to sew these into a quilt. Isn't she looking smashing in her stylish blue hat?


I'll be linking this post to:



When I had that finished, I did a little stitching on my latest embroidery project, and then made the dough for the pasties. Recall that we had these while we were traveling in Michigan, and I'm seeking a good recipe for them. I chose a recipe entitled "Michigan Pasties" mainly because it had the word "Michigan" in the name. Also, the filling looked pretty good. 


Anyway...I made up the dough, and then put it in the refrigerator until closer to dinner time. That went well enough, although the recipe called for a full cup of water. After I'd added about 1/3 of a cup, I had a big wet mess. It all worked in eventually, but I'm afraid a cup would have been too much.

After that I did a few housekeeping chores, and then went to work in my sewing room. I managed to add the prairie points and finish up the Cornflowers table runner on my list of goals for the month. I've never done prairie points before, and they were super simple. I think this turned out cute.


Here's how it looks from the back. This is one of those quilts that has the back sewn directly to the front, and then it's turned inside out, so there is no binding.


I started the quilting, but it isn't finished. I'm just doing as the pattern suggested, which is to stitch around all of the appliques. It looks good from the back, and I wasn't sure what else to do with it. The flowers are close enough together, that no other quilting is really required.

So once I had a start on the quilting, it was time to go back to my pasties. I made the filling. Looks good enough. It has onions, carrots, rutabagas, potatoes, parsley, ground beef, and a little pepper. I added a little salt to mine too.


Then I went to roll out the dough. The recipe said to divide the dough ball into 6 pieces approximately 5 oz. each and then roll each piece into an 8-inch round. I weighed my dough ball and found it to be 22 oz. Now I'm not math whiz, but I'm saying that 22 oz. isn't going to divide six ways to equal 5 oz. each. 


If I was really frugal, I could maaaaaybe get five rounds, but I think four rounds would have been more realistic. And I didn't want to overstuff them, which meant I ended up with about 30% more filling than I needed. Still, I forged on.


Aside from the count being off, things were going pretty well up until now. When I tried folding the dough over and sealing them, the dough turned out to be very dry and it wanted to crack. (Maybe they really did need a full cup of water.) When they were all finished, I wasn't feeling good about this at all. About that time, Mike called to say he was on his way home. I warned him in the morning that we were either having pasties or take-out pizza for dinner. He offered to pick up some pizza, but I wasn't ready to give up yet.


They were looking pretty ugly...all patched and cracked as they were. Still, when I baked them off, they only looked about half bad.


I served them up with a pear salad (consisting of a blop of cottage cheese, two pear halves, a blop of mayonnaise and a sprinkling of cheese...sometimes when I'm feeling really fancy, I sprinkle them with paprika) and some packaged brown gravy on the side. Yeah, packaged brown gravy...salt with a melted brown crayon in it. It actually didn't taste bad.


So, the best I can say for this pasty attempt is that it was edible. I was ready to throw out the leftovers, but Mike wanted me to save them. The crust was quite dry, and we ended up dousing ours in the salt/brown crayon mixture. Needless to say, I'm not linking to the recipe.

Still, my quest to make pasties is not over. I will forge on, searching out other recipes, and I'll keep you posted. Don't try this at home...not yet, anyway.

Today I'm getting my hair permed. My hair. Oy. I hate my hair, but I keep trying to find a way to like it. Today's attempt will be to ask my hairdresser to perm it a little tighter. Maybe more curl will help. Do you have permanently bad hair like I do? And aside from that, I'm just continuing on with quilting my table runner. I'm hoping to get it finished today.

What's on your Wednesday list?

24 comments:

Ann said...

LOL! I loved your post. Sorry your recipe didn't work out. Sometimes you have to be careful with instructions you find on the internet. I learned the hard way with a couple of recipes. I always compare several recipes before I pick one. Good luck with your hair. My hair is super straight so I keep it one length and part it down the middle. Boring.

Teresa in Music City said...

Oh that Cornflower quilt is too cute! Sorry about the pasties - they actually looked like they would be good. I know you'll find the right recipe :) Yes, I have permanently bad hair - very, very thin (I often wear a wig) and straight as a stick! It infuriates me but there's not much I can do about it, so most of the time I just say What the Heck! and go on with my life :)

Quilter Kathy said...

Salt and brown crayon gravy.... LOL You are hilarious!
You get an A+ for effort!
Love the stitchery... I didn't know snowladies used sewing machines!

beaquilter said...

the pictures LOOK yummy. have you tried allrecipes.com
also good luck on the perm, I want to see before and after pics...

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I am not a gravy person nor really enticed by pastry dinner or desert items. The Corn Flower turned out just lovely.

Christine M said...

How disappointing when a recipe doesn't turn out. I haven't had pasties in a long time. Maybe I'll try making some for dinner tonight but I usually use bought pastry (slack, I know). What is rutabagas? It's not something I've ever heard of. Your snow lady is lovely, Barbara. As is your table runner.

gpc said...

I'm a Michigan girl, born and raised, but I have never been able to make pasties and I think the good makers keep their recipes secret. So I'll be excited when you figure it out and share it. :) Good luck with the hair thing. I love my hair and don't have to fuss with it, but I hate my face. Can't have everything.

Andee said...

My stepdad is from Michigan and his family always made pasties, so our family gathers and makes them every year or two...we mass produce and they freeze well! My favorite one has turkey, sweet potates and carrots in it..Thanksgiving all year long, lol...now that I am on WW not sure we will be making them!

Ruth said...

My MIL was from Upper MI and she used to make pasties. DH loves them. I have made them - many years ago and we didn't use a recipe - just made regular pie crust, put potatoes, carrots and ground beef in it and baked them. I might have put onions in too, but can't remember. I have thought about making them again some time, but haven't gotten around to it. I think we ate them with catsup too. Cute table runner and snow-lady stitchery.

Brown Family said...

Your pasties do not look all that ugly! I think they are fabulous for a first try. Who knows how many times those cooks on TV re-do theirs!

quiltzyx said...

Yay! Another Snowlady finish - and yes, she looks very stylish with her blue hat.

The Cornflowers look wonderful - good enough to eat! ha! They will look great on your table too.

How did your pastie filling taste? Maybe you could try using the dough recipe you use for your hand pies? Love your description of the brown gravy mix!!! And the finished product just looked, uh, RUSTIC to me.

I have very, very fine/thin hair, and to keep from looking pinheadish, I get a perm a couple times a year. I'm inept with the hair dryer & curling iron, so however it decides to go each day is how it is.

Dasha said...

Barbara. These look remarkably like Cornish Pasties to me. Perhaps you could try looking for a recipe for those? Alternatively, just use a pastry recipe that you are familiar with and which you know will work well.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

I have made them in the past and they turned out OK, sometimes the dough is affected by humidity and other factors. Don't give up!

Wilma Lee said...

When I think of a pastie, well, ummm, it's not something to eat, lol. Those did look good though. Hope you find the perfect recipe. I, too, have horrible hair. It is thin and frizzy. I have just recently figured out a way to make it look nicer. First, I went from brown to blonde. When my hair was brown, you could see my scalp through it. Bleached hair is more porous and looks and feels a little thicker. Then, I started using WEN, not the amounts that they say to, just a little for my hair. Then while wet I use this stuff from Fantastic Sam's to make your hair appear fuller and thicker. Then blow dry, then curling iron to smooth out the frizz. It has made such a difference. TMI? lol.

Carol Swift said...

This was too funny...I'm laughing with you, not at you, as I'm not the best cook and mine would probably turn out looking worse than yours. My hair is straight as a board, but my hairdressers keeps it under control, thank goodness!

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

The prairie points are cute. I haven't tried them (yet).

Snoodles said...

After cleaning up my keyboard from snorting java while reading the salt and brown crayon remark, I thought I would leave you a comment and tell you that you are indeed brave....posting the good, bad, and indifferent. LOL I bet they tasted better than you say!

Dar said...

I too have not heard of pasties "that you eat". Yours did not look that bad, and they must have tasted good if DH wanted to save the leftovers. I love your cornflower runner and the snow lady with her cute blue hat. The hair situation -- mine is not thin, but very frizzy and curly. It has a mind of its own. Most days I'm not happy with it, but we are our own worse critics. When it is hot and dry - mine behaves ok. When it's humid, raining or thinking about rain - mine explodes into a big mess!

Kate said...

The Cornflowers table runner turned out beautifully, even if the pasties didn't.

sophie said...

I kept reading and hoping that when I got to the end you'd say that they pasties tasted good. I suppose "edible" is better than not ... after all your work. I realized the other day that I hadn't blogged about food in a long time because i hadn't found a great new recipe in a long time and I've tried more than a few that couldn't have been made from the quantities/ingredients listed (and sometimes the lovely, perfect photo also revealed that fact). Sigh ... good luck coming up with a better hand-pie crust and filling that says, "Michigan pasty" to you. (when you blogged about them during your trip, you made me a little homesick for Michigan).

I love those candy corn flowers, too. So clever@

Suzanne said...

Sometimes "edible" is a success...especially in my house. I like your snow lady block!

CathieJ said...

This is a great post. I absolutely adore your table runner and snow lady embroidery. Funny that you should try a new recipe. So sorry that it wasn't to your liking. It happens. I tried a new recipe last night that was actually quite tasty. I was all cooked on one baking sheet in the oven so it was quite tasty. Maybe the next pasty you try will be better.

Ellen said...

Funny post...sorry your pasties didn't work out though! Your table runner is just so cute and your snowlady block looks like a fun project.

The Cozy Quilter said...

Your snow lady's quilt is lovely! Nice stitching! The table runner is cute too! I love trying new recipes too...sometimes the results are great and other times my husband asks me to not use that recipe again...LOL!