The Pastie-Empanada Hybrid: Fuel Efficient and the Best of Both Worlds (Camp Cooking)

(Illustrative Only)

Jack thinks these youngsters
don't know where their food
came from and they getting
out of shape because they didn't
have to walk to school 
both ways without shoes,
or chop wood, or
knit and tan their own clothes like
they did in the old days. 

After years research
scientists "discover" that 
fitness and healthy food
go together. Jack 
must have been a genius because
it seemed like common sense to
him. 🙃

He threw a few things in the
bowl and thought about
how the pasties came
to the Upper Peninsula
The History of the Pasty

 Cooking takes time—annoying, I know. But once you learn the basics, things suddenly become way less painful. The problem is we’ve all become dependent on over-processed grocery-store mysteries wrapped in plastic. We’re “busy” doing a million things… none of which actually improve our lives. Meanwhile, cooking forces you to slow down and make something real, from actual ingredients that once grew somewhere, not in a factory.

And the closer you get to raw materials—flour, veggies, meat—the more impressive you become. This is why grandparents could cook everything from memory. They felt their food and when they got something good they wrote it down. My mother and grandma had those little recipe cards that lived in a box older than electricity. They were basically sacred texts. And yes, grandma's potato sausage was legendary. Still trying to figure it out.

At some point, all the basic knowledge blends together. Pie crusts? Same crust, different pie. Pizza dough? Same dough, multiple situations. Soups? A big pot where you invent something, and no one can tell you you’re wrong.                                 

So that brings me to this latest creation—a chaotic but successful “pastie-empanada hybrid.” Around here, we have pasties (thank you, Cornish miners). I lived in California, so I also know empanadas (thank you, Mexicans). I basically took both concepts, ignored the rules, and made something in between. Bigger than an empanada, smaller than a pasty—so basically a confused pastry going through an identity crisis.

I grabbed frozen veggies from the freezer (shocking, I know), tossed in fresh cheese, chopped chicken breast, garlic butter, onions, crushed tomato sauce, and whatever seasonings fell into my hand. Then I wrapped it all in pie-pasty dough and baked it until it looked edible. Very scientific.

Tip: poke a couple of holes in the crust so it doesn’t explode. I didn’t. Mine came out flatter than my first attempt at sourdough.

Cooking in camp, cabins, or on a boat isn’t impossible—you just lose access to all the nice tools that make you feel like a real adult. But this recipe… if you can even call it that… works anywhere.

When I posted it on Facebook, three or four ladies immediately asked for the recipe. The problem is…I don’t actually have a recipe. So I sent them a link to a generic pie crust and said, “Put whatever the heck you want inside and throw it in the oven.”

Boom. Chef status unlocked. 400 cals, 25 protein, 30 carbs ish

BTW: I 'm a licensed fitness trainer looking to pick up some more side hustle work. If your interested in some virtual stuff/coaching let me know and we can figure something out. Send a message to the right.

Just in case you needed the crust Flaky Pie Crust