Midwestern Meat Pies -- The Week Summer Handed Us Everything It Had Left

Labor Day weekend. I worked through Friday — an Iowa run, corn country, golden and endless — and came home Friday night to a house full of kids and a yard full of Josie's friends and a husband who had started the grill without me because he wanted a fire going when I pulled in. Brats, burgers, corn on the cob from Clark's produce stand, a potato salad I had made Thursday morning before I left. Dave at the grill in his Husker apron. The dog underfoot, hopeful and pitiful. The mosquitoes arriving at dusk with their usual loud opinions. Labor Day in Nebraska is the last honest day of summer — by next weekend the nights will have a September edge, by October the trees will start surrendering — and so you eat the corn, you have the beer, you let the kids stay up, you call it a holiday and you mean it.

Amber submitted her UNK application Tuesday. Online, at the kitchen table, with me looking over her shoulder pretending to read a magazine. When she hit submit she sat very still for about ten seconds and then she said, "It's done." I said, "How do you feel?" She said, "I don't know." I said, "That's allowed." She said, "Okay." She hugged me from the side, not facing me, her head against my shoulder, and I kept my eyes on the magazine because if I looked at her I was going to cry and that would have been the wrong kind of moment. She is applying to four schools: UNK first, then UNL, then Wayne State, then Nebraska Wesleyan. She will get in everywhere. She will go to UNK. We both know it. We have not said it. We will not say it until she is ready.

The cookbook crossed fifty thousand Sunday. Halfway. Actually two-thirds, if you count editing, but halfway feels like the more honest number. I had a glass of champagne. One glass. It was cheap champagne from the Hy-Vee. It tasted wonderful.

Dave had a bad back day Thursday. He tried to pick up a transmission alone and paid for it. He lay on the couch with ice and refused to talk about it. I did not say anything. I made him a bowl of chicken soup and put it next to him and went to bed. In the morning he was fine. He is not fine. His back has been talking to him for two years now and it is getting louder. We will deal with it. Not today. Soon.

Josie loves sixth grade so far. She has made, by her count, "about thirty friends." Tyler is already unofficial crew at shop class and the teacher has asked him if he wants to help in the afternoons. Justin came home Friday with a C on a history quiz and a broad grin, which in Justin language means everything is fine. I am grateful for everything about this week. Even the back. Even the C. The book is half done. The kids are in motion. The corn was good. The summer gave us its last, and we took it.

The weekend called for brats and burgers and corn, and we answered every bit of it — but when Dave’s back gave out Thursday and I set a bowl of soup beside him without a word, I was reminded that this time of year is really about feeding people through things, not just alongside them. Midwestern Meat Pies are what I reach for when the nights start hinting at September and the family needs something that eats like a whole meal in your hands — hearty and no-fuss, the kind of thing that works for Amber’s last summer at home just as well as it works for a bad back day. I’ve made them on sheet pans while kids run in and out, and they never last long enough to cool completely.

Midwestern Meat Pies

Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef (80/20)
• 1/2 lb ground pork sausage
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots, thawed
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 packages (14 oz each) refrigerated pie crust dough (4 crusts total)
• 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
• 1 tablespoon butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Heat oven to 400°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Brown the meat. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground beef and pork sausage, breaking up with a spoon, and cook until no pink remains, about 7–8 minutes. Drain excess fat.
3. Build the filling. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion to the skillet and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add peas and carrots, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and paprika. Simmer until most of the liquid has absorbed, about 5 minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
4. Cut the dough. Unroll the pie crusts on a lightly floured surface. Using a 5-inch round cutter (or a bowl as a guide), cut 4 circles from each crust for 16 rounds total. You will use two rounds per pie to make 8 pies.
5. Fill and seal. Place 8 dough rounds on the prepared baking sheets. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the meat filling onto the center of each round, leaving a 3/4-inch border. Top with remaining rounds. Press edges together firmly with a fork to seal completely. Cut two small slits in the top of each pie to vent steam.
6. Apply egg wash. Brush the tops and edges of each pie generously with the beaten egg. This gives them a deep golden-brown finish.
7. Bake. Bake for 22–25 minutes, rotating pans halfway through, until crusts are golden brown and crisp. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 520 | Protein: 22g | Fat: 31g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 610mg