Empanada Recipe (by popular request)

Here is the recipe, this is one of my favorite meals and it is sooooo easy to make!!


You will need:

1 pound extra-lean ground beef
6 reduced-fat refigerated biscuits, Pillsbury Grands! are my fave!
1 envelope (1 1/4 ounces)taco seasoning mix
1/4 cup of water
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 cup store-bought salsa-cheese sauce, I use Old El Paso brand (if you dont like store bought sauce, I include a way to make your own below :-)

1. Your oven should already be heated to 450 degrees

2. Cook the beef in a non-stick skillet over high heat. Cook until crumbled and brown.

3. While the beef is cooking flatten out each biscuit with a rolling pin until it is about 4 1/2 inches across and a 1/4 inch thick. If the biscuits try to stick, flour your rolling pin. Place flattened the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet. Set aside.

4. When the meat is browned, stir in the taco seasoning mix and water. Remove skillet from heat. Place several spoonfulls of meat in the center of each flattened biscuit. Leave the meat that is left over in the skillet. Fold the dough over the meat to form a turnover. Press down on the edges using a fork to seal it closed. Bake the turnovers until golden brown, about 8 minutes.

5. Meanwhile add the tomatoes with their juice and the salsa cheese sauce to the skillet with the leftover meat and place over low heat. Cook until heated through, continuing to simmer until the turnovers are done. Stir occasionally.

6. To serve, place the individual turnovers on their plates and top with 1/3 cup of the sauce. Is excellent served with a dollop of low-fat sour cream.


How to make your own Salsa Cheese sauce:

Buy some velveeta and a jar of your favorite salsa. When called to add the sauce to the recipe instead add 1 1/2 cups of the salsa and a few cubes of the velveeta. Mix until the cheese and salsa are blended well before serving. This is an especially handy trick if you are doubling or cutting the recipe because you can measure how much salsa and velveeta you will need according to the size of the group you are serving.



Happy eating!!! Just a small note, this is a very heavy entree on the stomach so anything else served at this meal should be light. Typically one empanada will be all anyone needs to be full. Even on a very hungry day my husband can only eat 1 and a half!

These keep well in the fridge for about 3 days.