Empenada's A La Graul

  Thin crust, meat stuffed, gravy covered. Yup, sooo good!

These are FANTASTIC in the freezer and make easy lunches for Mike. 

Filling Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 cup(ish) cheese- I prefer cheddar for this
1/2 onion
Dash of salt&pepper
Optional:
1/2 bunch green onions
shredded carrots
french cut green beans

Dice onions and brown with beef. I like to add the green onions at this point too. I don't always add extra veggies, but I do like to serve the green beans on the side so I get them out now and drain the grease into the can. Add cheese at the end and take off heat. Let cool while you work on the crust.

Crust Ingredients:
3 cups flour
3/4 cup shortening
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cold water

Add flour & shortening in bowl. Cut together with a fork until it looks like lumpy flour (small lumps), add salt. Then add water, and mix with fork. The trick to getting the crust thin and flaky is not to over-mix it. Once its all mixed together, divide in two (this will cut down how much you work the dough). Roll out on lightly floured surface, sprinkling flour on top of dough before rolling, and cut into circles. I usually use a small bowl, but since they were all in the dishwasher yesterday, I just used a big cup. Whatever size you want works. I divide the meat in half at this point to make sure its evenly distributed. Fill, pinch closed, and set on ungreased pan.

Bake at 375-400 for about 20 minutes.

Gravy: I use one can cream of chicken, 1 can cream of mushroom, and milk (to get thinner consistency). Season as desired, I like italian seasoning. Heat and add on top when serving.

Fruity Spinach Salad

4-6 cups Spinach (or dark green leafy mix)
1/3 cup raspberries
Kraft Raspberry Vinegarette Lite (to your taste)
2 Tablespoons pumpkin seeds
2 Tablespoons feta cheese

All of the amounts listed are completely to your taste. This is a very yummy and healthy salad!

Balsalmic Chicken

5-6 chicken boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into wide strips
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion

1/2 cup Balsalmic vinegar
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon rosemary
2 diced tomatoes
1/2 cup grated cheese

Sear chicken in oil. As white in the chicken disappears, add the onion and saute it as well. Add the vinegar and spices. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add tomatoes and allow them to heat through. Sprinkle with grated cheese. This is delicious with wild rice!

Baked Butternut Squash

This is a great alternative to french fries.

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 Butternut Squash (Peeled and cut into small cubes)
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

Mix oil and spices in bowl. Stir in squash. Mix in Parmesan cheese. Spread out on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 50-55 minutes

Baked Spaghetti a-la Philly (Paula Deen)

What You Need (Paula's Recipe)

1/2 lb. angel hair pasta, uncooked

1/2 lb. ground beef

1/2 lb. Italian sausage

1 jar (24 oz.) spaghetti sauce

4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed

1 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1 cup KRAFT Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

Make It

HEAT oven to 350ºF.

COOK the pasta according to the package directions; drain.

IN a large skillet, brown beef and sausage; drain, if needed. Return meat to skillet. Stir in spaghetti sauce and cream cheese. Cook over low heat until cheese has blended into sauce and it is heated through.

COVER the bottom of a 13x9-inch baking dish with a little sauce. Add a layer of 1/2 pasta and 1/2 remaining sauce, then a little less than 1/2 of each cheese; repeat the layers, ending with the sauce.

BAKE in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Top the casserole with the remaining cheese, return it to the oven and continue to cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 5 more minutes.

CUT into squares before serving.    

 

What I actually did....

 

 

1 lb spaghetti

8 oz thin spaghetti

1 lb ground beef

8 oz fresh mushrooms

48 oz spaghetti sauce

8 oz low fat cream cheese room temp

2 cups grated cheddar

3 cups mont jack cheese

2 tomatos sliced into about 1/4" disks then cut in half

 

Preheat oven 350.

 

Brown burger, toss in diced mushrooms (i like the pieces a little bigger since they shrink up so much while cooking), add salt and pepper to season.   Add cream cheese and sauce and season, let cheese melt and simmer to bring out the flavor of the sauce. 

Cook the pasta in salted water al dente, drain and toss with evoo. 

 

I think the pan I used was 11x 15?  I put a cookie sheet under it just in case the sauce boiled over.

I layered the pasta and sauce and followed the original recipe for baking...kinda!  When I took the baked pasta out of the oven to add the last layer of cheese I put the fresh tomato slices over the top and then lightly salted and peppered them then topped with cheese.  Once the cheese was melted I turned the broiler on for just a minute to brown the cheese. 

 

 

***Ideas for next time***

 

 - Only uaw 1 lb pasta or add more sauce.  It turned out fine but I wouldn't mind it a little saucier (especially for the left overs).  More mushrooms! maybe some peppers and onions. Maybe a touch more meat - maybe even sausage like Paula does...

 

or. . .

 

- - Instead of topping with tomatos (that was mostly just for style points :), it did add some nice texture and flavor though!)  I might leave the cream cheese out of the sauce and turn it into spaghetti with un-stuffed mushrooms...

 

sauce, pasta, cheese, sauce, pasta, cheese, sauce, bake.  while baking brown 1/2 lb italian ground sausage, once its almost done toss in mushroom chunks (decent sized) and let the shrooms soften up. drain if needed. add 4 -8 oz cream cheese and melt into the meat and mushrooms then when the pasta comes out for the last layer of cheese top it with the mushroom sausage cheese mixture and cook until the top just starts to brown and gets golden :)  mmmmm?  I'll have to try it to know

Piroges

There are two variations of piroges I'm really loving these days. Sausage or Egg. They are pretty fast, but require all of your attention once you start!
But first things first.

Piroges (I buy them at walmart, one bag feeds the four of us for two meals)
2 Onions (more or less is up to you)
4 Peppers (I usually buy mostly green because they are cheaper and taste the same to me)
 Vegetable oil

I start the onions first, doing round slices and putting them in a pan with a few tablespoons of oil. Then I add the peppers, cut in strips.
Add a little water and put the lid on. Toss occasionally.

Then boil the piroges. When they float pull them out and put them in a pan with hot oil. Sear until golden brown.

Here is the variation. If I'm doing sausage I add one lb of sausage (cheap sausage tastes just fab) and throw it in with the veggies. If we really want a treat I'll sear the piroges in the sausage fat. You may die doing this but it will taste amazing.

The second variation is fried eggs. I fry them  in the piroge pan, cook the whites all the way, but runny yellow centers. Its delicious to dip your piroge in. And cheaper protein. YUM!

Steak Salmon- A Recent Concoction We Love

Costco Salmon A La Steak Style

This is super quick, and one of my favorite ways to eat this salmon. Its like $15 at Costco, and there are...a lot in the bag. For small (2-4) groups this is great.

I set out the salmon during the day and let it thaw in the fridge, it only takes a few hours.




Line a pan with tin foil (leaving enough on the side to serve as a lid), and rub a stick of butter over the bottom so its thinly coated. Lay your salmon in the pan, and lightly spread butter on top & sprinkle with steak seasoning (I promise its sooo good!). Fold the foil over so its covered (it doesn't have to be sealed).

Cook on medium heat for about 15 min. After it is cooked through, I turn up the heat for about a minute or so to get a nice thin crust on the bottom.

Goes great with pilaf, or the $1 herb & butter rice bags at Walmart :)