Dill Pasties

I both love and hate to travel, but I have to do a fair amount of it irregardless of how I feel because of how spread out my family and friends are. (That's what happens when you're born of generations of immigrants to missionary parents in Africa - there was just no chance of a settled life from the get go.)

In any case, one of my frustrations with traveling is keeping any sort of a healthy diet while doing it. Have you checked out the food options in the average airport or train station recently for the budget and veggie-oriented? Meat, fried whatever, meat, an assortment of corn syrup-laden sweets, and possibly an old pre-packaged salad with ranch if you're lucky. If you're fasting or vegan, then you'll likely have to settle on BBQ potato chips or a corn syrupy granola bar.

Sometimes it's not possible to cart your meals with you while you're traveling, but I'm fast approaching a trip on which I can, so I grabbed what I had in the pantry/fridge, compared a couple of piroshki and pasty recipes, and went for these fasting dill pasties, easy to cart, tasty, and far healthier than the BBQ chips I would have bought otherwise. As usual, if something's lacking (celery!) or unsuited to your tastes, just add it or pitch it!


Dill Pasties

Ingredients
3 medium/large potatoes (cubed)
2 carrots (sliced)
3/4 cup of frozen peas
1 teaspoon of dried parsley
1 teaspoon of dried dill
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion (chopped)
4 to 6 cloves of garlic (minced or mashed)
1 tablespoon of dried dill (or to taste)
1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast
Pepper (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
28 ounces of vegan pie crust dough

Directions
1) Lord, bless!
2) Cover the potatoes, carrots, and peas with water in a medium large pot until they're about half an inch under, add the bay leaf, teaspoons of parsley and dill, and a little salt, bring the pot to a boil, and then simmer until the potatoes and carrots are soft.
3) While the vegetables are boiling heat the oil and sautee the onions, adding the garlic once they've soften. (Cook them to your tastes and time needs - caramelized onions are great, but soft ones will do too.)
4) Drain the water from the vegetables into a bowl and mix them with the sauteed onions and remaining ingredients (minus the dough! ;-) ) till you have a chunky version of mashed potatoes. (The drained stock should taste quite good and make a nice bowl of vegetable soup for one :-).)
5) Roll out dough bowls till you've got 4 or 5-inch circles, place approximately a 1/3 cup of filling one side of the dough, place a small dollop of margarine on top, and fold over the other side, crimping the edges to keep them from opening up while baking. You should get 16 pasties out of the dough, although you can make them larger or smaller as desired.
6) Bake in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 50 minutes or until the dough has turned a golden brown.
7) Cool the finished pasties on a wire rack, pack 'em up, and enjoy them as you travel!