Meal of the Day: Empanadas!

Happy Friday!  Before the weekend begins, I wanted to try a new recipe and put my baking skills to test.  There's no hand-mixers, frosting or chocolate chips needed here, but my main ingredient is a baker's best friend: dough.

I've been experimenting with dough lately and yeast has not been my friend when I first started.  Thank goodness for the internet because if something didn't go right, I went straight to my Macbook (which I named "Andre") and googled my situation in hopes that someone has blogged about it.

So, if you love Spanish food or want to try something new, I believe this will suit your taste buds!

INGREDIENTS:
EMPANADA
1 recipe pizza dough (you can buy pre-made pizza dough in the frozen food section.  Let it sit on the counter to reach room temperature while preparing the beef filling.)
1 cup flour for dusting
9 inch cookie cutter or any circular object

BEEF FILLING
1 lb ground beef
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
2 cloves garlic
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup beef stock
3/4 cup tomato sauce
2 small potatoes, peeled and diced
salt and pepper
olive oil

STEP 1: In a mixing bowl, combine ground beef, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper.  Set aside.

STEP 2: In a frying pan, heat the olive oil in medium heat.  Saute the onions, green pepper and garlic until soft.

STEP 3: Add the ground beef mixture, beef stock, and tomato sauce.  Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes.  Add the diced potatoes.  Cover and cook  for another 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are done.  Drain excess oil and set beef mixture aside.

STEP 4: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Flour the dough and once rolled into one ball, cut it into quarters.  *I avoid frying and/or deep-frying anything at my house.  Since I decided to bake the empanadas, you can look at these as calzones.

STEP 5: Roll out dough on a floured counter top.  Roll dough into a 1/8 inch thick layer and cut dough into circles using your round cookie cutter (I used a shallow container from the Chinese take-out).

STEP 6: Remove excess dough.  Place filling in middle of circle.  Carefully fold over circle with contents into semicircle.  Crimp down edges with a fork.

STEP 7: Place empanadas onto baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.  This should yield about 10 empanadas.

Serve and enjoy!