This time we learned from our mistakes  and planned a casual overnight backpacking trip on Mount Pinos near our Dirty Gourmet outpost in Pine Mountain Club.

I took the lead for lunch on the trail with a very loose idea of a “packet meal” – an all-in-one savory hand-held wrapped item filled with deliciousness. With no real plan or recipe in hand, the experiment yielded a pie crust wrapped pocket filled with a mixture of sweet potatoes, leeks, jalapenos, sausage and goat cheese.

Being the baker that I am not, I struggled with the pie dough rolling and folding. The Sweet Potato and Sausage Savory Pie Bombs started out blobby but eventually found their shape, which is a little reminiscent of Asian dumplings or baos.

The great thing about this kind of snack is that you can use pretty much anything you like for the filling; just make sure the consistency is not too liquid. For the shell, I used store-bought frozen piecrust that you can roll out flat (no pie tin). You can also use puff pastry for the shell as Emily did with her Cheesy Sausage Grits Cakes.

Even though birthday month will be over, the fun will continue! The next big challenge for me is the 8000 meter challenge – Mount Baldy, San Gorgonio and San Jacinto all in one day. Most likely, I will have one of these pie bombs stashed in my pocket.