Hello, Adventure-Raisers! I was stretching for a topic this week, and then I remembered that I put a few feelers out there for uploading recipes that my Little Dragon has fallen in love with, and which would also be great at the game table because adults also love them AND they are low-mess. With all that said, I have 2 for you today, a sweet peach pie and a savory pastie (it’s a Michigan thing, lol). So snuggle up for Session 31: Pies! I will not tell you my life story before each recipe (you can check out anywhere else on this blog, haha).
Recipe Number 1: Peach Pie
Rule 1 – there is no set recipe. You don’t even have to use peaches like I did last weekend. I highly encourage you to just do this for fun, with as little plan as possible. I boiled some peach halves (you can probably use canned peach slices, too) in sugar water and I measured absolutely nothing. After the peaches have boiled for 20 minutes, I rolled out some thawed pie crust on a baking sheet (lined with parchment paper). Then I brushed a LOT of brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter on the pie sheet. Drop the peaches on the pie shell, and wrap the crust around the fruit to make a hobbit house of pie and sugar, top it with honey, and bake at 350F until you like the color. Lol, that’s it.
Don’t worry about how pretty it is – there weren’t pastry chefs in every village in the Medieval Ages. Most villagers (AKA toddlers and gamer guests) are going to pick up free food and shove it to the back of their throats without a second glance. And you know, I figure even a recipe that I’ve barely thought about, but which has less than 10 ingredients that all came from my fridge, is probably better than over-processed chips and chicken nuggets.
Recipe 2: Pasties
In accordance with Rule 1, I made this recipe last weekend simply because I had extra ground beef and extra frozen pie crust… and absolutely no plan. So, thaw your beef, and pan fry in butter with the spices of your choice. I favor garlic, black pepper, salt, and smoked paprika. Maybe chives. Once that’s cooked, toss a bag of frozen veggies on top – the kind that has peas, potatoes, and carrots all diced up – and warm those up. I also dice an onion to toss in. Rolle out your pie crust, brush with more golden butter, and spoon your filling in. Roll up the crust to make another hobbit house of beef and pie and back at 350F until you like the color. Hint: broiling makes it really crunchy on top.
Little Dragon’s reaction
So, in short, my son LOVES all things fruit so I knew the peach pies would be a hit. The hobbit house design made them a little too big for his tiny maw, but that’s very easy to fix in future revisions. The guest at the table LOVED them, full marks. They made the house smell amazing as my husband DM’d, and once they finally made it to the table the pies are easy to eat with a fork or by hand.
The pasties were a much bigger hit the next day, though admittedly that was just Sunday dinner, haha. So I had a wider audience to impress. That said, I will proudly tell you that my pasties were the first dinner in an age that Little Dragon AND my husband Orin BOTH ASKED FOR SECONDS OF!!!!!! I know you know, BUT DO YOU HAVE ANY DIEA HOW HARD IT IS TO MAKE A DINNER WITH VEGGIES THAT A TODDLER ASKS FOR SECONDS OF!!! Bask in it with me.
If you’re not from Michigan, I wouldn’t blame you for not knowing what a pastie is. In short, it’s just a meat and veggie pie, but the most common meats to use are wild game or beef. Checkout this link for the full perspective on this cultural icon if you’re interested, haha (
