Easy Empanadas Are Awesome

Hello! I have been wanting to make empanadas since Christmas when I got this cute empanada maker from a friend. (I suspect this friend just wanted me to cook for him.) But I was excited to try something new in the kitchen and have been thinking up delicious filling ideas. I successfully made two kinds of empanadas a few nights ago and wanted to share with you how easy it is!

I made two different kinds – a meat version and a vegetarian version.

The meat version was onions and lean ground beef cooked with taco seasonings. When it was cooked through I added tomato paste and more seasonings to be a good consistency for empanada filling. I didn’t want it to be too dry and it needed to have a lot of flavor so the crust/filling ratio was tasty.

The vegetarian version was amazing. I was not sure when I wanted to put inside and just happened to spot Eggplant with Tomatoes and Onions at Trader Joes. I had never tried it before, but love eggplant so I grabbed a can.

The veggie version had the eggplant filling (that was already very well seasoned) and Cabot cheese.

For the crust I used Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza crust. I didn’t have flour to help roll it out (flour keeps it from sticking to the rolling pin and everything else).  I blended up oats in the blender to make oat flour. #lifehack

I grabbed small handfuls of dough and rolled them out. Then, I filled them with the good stuff and folded it over. The next step of building the empanadas is to seal off the ends. You can do this with an empanada maker or the end of a fork. I pierced each one with a knife to let the steam out so they wouldn’t explode.

I baked them according to the pizza dough package directions. They were done in about 15 minutes. Some of the filling of the eggplant and cheese ones came out a bit, but they still tasted amazing. I need more practice on folding and sealing them, but the crust and filling were delicious.

In other news, Vegas spent the morning digging in my luggage. I don’t know what he was looking for, but this should teach me to unpack after trips instead of just letting my suitcase hang out until the night before my next trip.

This morning I ran 6 miles and did the cardio 21 day fix workout. I didn’t make time to stick with it last week but I really want to get back on board with it. I also need to start tracking my runs. I’m training for a full marathon in August and have a good plan now. But even with a plan it’s good to record how the run went and how I’m feeling and progress and all that.

Question: Do you like eggplant?

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