They say waiting and working hard for something is truly rewarding.That tends to be fucking bullshit, and we know it.Sure, it is exciting and it makes you oh so happy but that is just because you have been driving yourself nuts waiting and working.

Oh, yay! How thrilling and rewarding!

I sound bitter, and I shouldn’t, as I am not.I just hate waiting, and I avoid working whenever I can.Is that so wrong? Yeah, it probably is.Whatever.

You are probably wondering what this has to do with anything, well it has everything to do with everything, including these vegetable pasties.They took work, and waiting. Two things I do not like! But, yes, they were quite tasty, so that whole fucking hard work bullshit probably does come to fruition.

Crap, does that mean my whole spiel about working and waiting is now void? It is possible, anything is possible, you will just have to wait and see.

Crust Ingredients.

- 2 cups of flour.
- Pinch of sugar, or two.
- Pinch of salt.
- 8 tablespoons of vegetable shortening.
- 1/2 a cup of water, if that.

Okay, so I did some research, as I so often do.You know, I like to know the facts, and then share them here. That is apparently how I roll, or whatever.Anyways, to make a truly flaky pie crust, you want to use as little water as possible.You use too much, you are fucked, too little? Well, you will not be able to make a crust and you will just have a pile of crumbly flour, silly person.

So, remember that, when you follow my directions, okay? Okay.

Mix the flour, salt and sugar.You can use a sifter, if you want.You may as well use that sifter you never use.Now, mix in the shortening, tablespoon at a time, mix in well with a fork.Now, add your water.Remember what I just said!

You will need to roll it out, and knead it.It is going to be super crumbly, and seem like you need more water, but the more you work it, the more it will become a dough.Does that make sense, does anything make sense?

Once you have made it into a dough, and it should be still be slightly crumbly, place it in your fridge, and let it cool for a couple hours.

Vegetable Filling Ingredients.

- 1 small onion, diced.
- 2 tablespoons of minced garlic.
- 1 medium sized potato, peeled, and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes.
- 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1/2 cubes.
- 1 cup of zucchini, cubed, again.
- 1 cup of eggplant, cubed, again.
- 1 cup of vegetable stock.
- 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.
- 1 tablespoon of oregano.
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Okay, so heat up the oil in a skillet, or frying pan.Saute the onions for 5 minutes, over medium heat, then toss in them inced garlic and cook a further couple of minutes.

Now, add in the vegetable stock,oregano,balsamic vinegar, carrots, potatoes, and let it simmer for 15 minutes, till the stock is nearly gone.You should now add in the eggplant and zucchini and cook for a further 5 minutes, or so.

Now it is time to build the pasties, how exciting.First, pre-heat your oven to 410 degrees.

Roll out your dough, it will be tough, but can be done.What I did was I broke up the dough into several pieces and rolled out each piece.I used a bowl to cut out the dough.The bowl was about 5 inches, so work with that.

Cut the shapes out with a knife, and repeat the process till all your dough is rolled, and cut into circles.

Brush the edges of each circle with a little water, and place a large tablespoon of filling, maybe a touch more, in the the middle of each piece.

Fold the circle in half, slightly pinch and twist the two corners, and using a fork, a wet fork, poke and fold in the edges.Now, I should have told you this before, but I will now.Melt a few tablespoons of Earth Balance, and brush it allover each pastie, and brush a baking pan with melted Earth Balance, as well.

I should have maybe said that before, but it slipped my mind, deal with it.I am sorry, that sounded pushy and maybe rude.

Anyways, so filling, fold, fork, brush with butter, and place each piece on a baking pan that has also been brushed with Earth Balance.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, they are a nice golden brown.

While they are baking, you can make this tomato dipping sauce.Huzzah, or not.You could already have a jar of tomato sauce, as you may be lazy, or just think you are a decent cook yet use store bought tomato sauce.Hey, it is your life, buddy.

Tomato Dipping Sauce Ingredients.

- 1 small onion, diced.
- 2 tablespoons of minced garlic.
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- 2 or so cups of diced tomatoes, or one can of diced tomatoes.
- 1 tablespoon of basil.
- 1 tablespoon of oregano.
- 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.

heat the oil up in a pan, saute the onion for 5 minutes, add the minced garlic, cook that another 5 minutes.Stir once in a while, as it will make you feel like you know what you are doing, and it will impress any dates that may be watching you.

Toss in the tomatoes, basil, oregano, balsamic vinegar, and let that simmer for 15 minutes.Has it been 15 minutes? Alright, place this in your processor, and puree it.I left mine slightly chunky, as was my wish, but you can choose chunkiness levels for yourself.

You made your pasties, you made your dipping sauce, you may now eat.I hope.I mean you could just make food for fun, but that sounds totally odd to me, and that is saying something.I know odd, and would be indeed odd.

So, there.A lot of work, and some waiting, and some time, and you have yourself some delicious vegetable pasties.Pasties as a word confuses me, aren’t those also those thing people put on boobs?I think so, and by ” people” I mean those dancer types, not just people, that would also be odd.Maybe.

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