Grandma's Empanadas

My Grandpa was stationed in Panama while he was in the military. Here is one of the recipes that came from the time that they lived in Panama. When I ran out of meat filling I took some quinoa I had in the fridge and mixed in some salsa and used it to fill the rest of the pastry I had left. It made a tasty vegetarian filling. 

Ingredients:

Pastry:

4 sticks of butter

2 (8oz) cream cheese

4 cups of flour

1 tsp salt

Filling:

1 lb of hamburger

1 Tbsp flour

1/8 cup water

1/2 package chili or taco seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

Brown meat

Add in the rest of filling ingredients cook and cook a few minutes more

let cool

Mix butter and cream cheese together. Slowly add in flour

Roll out dough and cut out circles (I used a little bowl)

fill with meat, because of the size of my dough circles I used a tsp of meat

fold over dough

seal with a fork

brush empanadas with egg white

 Bake at 400 for 10 minutes or until golden brown

 Enjoy!

Diane's Egg Rolls

This is the first time I have every deep fried anything! Let me tell you I was super nervous to fry.  I had my bag of flour on the counter at the ready in case of fire, luckily there was no issues and I would deep fry again! 

Ingredients:

Meat: You can use any kind of meat you like, I used shrimp

1 can of bean sprouts

1/4 onion

2 med carrots

1/2 cabbage

2 celery stalks

Seasonings to taste:

salt

pepper

soy sauce

garlic powder

 grate all the vegetables

Add in shrimp, I sauteed everything for about a minute, then let mixture cool

On a egg roll wrapper place a heaping tablespoon of mixture on corner

Roll corner over mixture

Fold corners over mixture to the center and roll until only a little corner shows

Use an egg yoke and brush it on the corner

seal egg roll

Use mixture to make all egg rolls

In a large pot, using candy thermometer and heat oil to deep frying temp

When oil reaches correct temp, carefully drop in a few egg rolls, you want to fry in small batches so that you don't over crowd the pot and lower the oil temperature to much

Carefully remove browned egg rolls and place egg rolls on a paper towel to soak up extra oil

Enjoy!

Shannon's Salsa Cheesecake

I know when you hear the words cheesecake you think dessert but this is an amazing savory appetizer that is always a hit wherever I take it. Make it the night before.

Ingredients:

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

2 cups sour cream - divided

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup salsa - hot works best

1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies, drained

Guacamole

1 medium tomato, diced

Tortilla chips

Mix cream cheese and Monterey Jack cheese until light and fluffy.

Then add in 1 cup of sour cream mix until combined

Then add in eggs on low

add in salsa and chilies

Pour into a greased 9 in springform pan. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 40-45 mins until center is almost set.  Remove from oven and immediately top with remaining cup of sour cream. Cool of wire rack for about 1 hour then refrigerate overnight

Remove springform ring add guacamole and add diced tomatoes.

Slice and serve with tortilla chips.

Enjoy!