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.