Meat Pie - it's all about what's on the inside

An Agnes creation - pre-baked | Aunty Grace recipe

Saturday we made meat pies from scratch!

We = some women from the African Christian Fellowship Young Adults Chicago chapter (Agnes, Vida, Precious and I) and Aunty Grace. Aunty Grace used to cater in Jos, Nigeria before she and her family relocated to Chicago, Illinois. She will be instructing the women as we make various Nigerian delicacies, as well as other homemaking skills, in the upcoming weeks. We don't have a clever name yet but I'll call it 'Tea Time with Aunty Grace' in the meantime.

Honestly, I've never made meat pie before. It's not as easy as the final product looks.

the good stuff: potatoes, carrots, onions, there's more but you'll have to get the recipe for that. :-)

Aunty Grace blessed us with her recipe, consisting of a special formula, bonus ingredients and tricks of the trade which came from several trials over the years. We broke into a discussion regarding meat pie generally and our disapproval of some meat pies as of recent. They don't make them like they used to; with the good filling. Now most meat pies just have meat, but what happened to the potatoes?! Furthermore, I'm turned off from eating some meat pies when the crust is so dry, too thick, or meat pies where the filling resembles something from white castle *cough* Mr. Biggs.

So we started with a lovely prayer, which included praying over the process and the hands used to make the meat pie, the time we would spend together, as well as the final product, and the mouths that will eat it! ;-)

Come to the ACFYA meeting this Sunday at 4pm if you would like to sample what we spent hours making on Saturday morning (into the afternoon). Let us know what you think; tasted good to us! If you missed this tea time, there will be more in the near future.

As we commenced the first step, mixing and kneading the dough, Aunty Grace told us some stories about her mother and how she would pray about everything, throughout the day, and trained Aunty Grace to pray all the time as well. For example, while you're bathing, pray that as your cleansing your exterior, God will enable you to clean your interior, and that it be purified, pleasing and acceptable to Him. This opened my perspective to praying while performing certain routine and seemingly trivial tasks. Regarding, the shower prayer, I never thought about doing that, but it's a very wise prayer for anyone, and most feasible too.

Are you starting to see the symbolism - it all clicked after I left.

Lately, Hillsong's "From the Inside Out" song reccurently plays in my head. As I consider what it means to truly love Him from the inside out, I just imagine how I would look if my (spiritual) body was flipped inside out, or opened up for display. How dirty would it be and what needs cleaning? To get a better understanding of what I mean please read this post. ---> Give me a new heart - Tolu Akande

I bring this post full circle with a metaphor by Dr. Tony Evans, which consisted of  women and turkeys. In short, on Thanksgiving, most of the turkeys look alike, but Dr. Evans prefers the stuffing. In his metaphor, the stuffing is the important part and it will distinguish the well-done turkeys; the Godly women, from the turkeys that merely look good outwardly.

Similarly, each meat pie has a general look to it. Some people are attracted to the meat pie by the dough, whether it's golden and tender enough (or firmly toasted enough - whichever your preference). However, whether you will continue to enjoy the meatpie, once it's passed your first test of approval, will be determined by what's on the inside of the meat pie, which I might add took a longer time to prepare and perfect to our desired taste. Moreover, His approval will only be based on what's on the inside.

“Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

Here are some pictures from the day courtesy of Agnes.

Precious cuts to shape, Aunty Grace is filling, Christina is sealing, Vida is flattening

Agnes flatens the dough - to create the shape that Vida has, before the filling

the second to last step: brush with egg yoke

After all that, 50+ meat pies later, good fellowship and learning,

I leave you with this very important principle:

"Never let someone come to your home, and leave hungry." - Aunty Grace