A Whole Lotta Empanadas

One of my goals for this week is to try some new dishes. Using a few different recipes as guides, I came up with these super tasty, kid friendly, husband approved, empanadas. I added some nontraditional ingredients to boost the veggie factor, and my oldest who is my pickiest eater didn't notice at all. And baby ended up eating 3 of them!!! The kids ate them plain, but my hubby and I dipped them in my blender chimichurri sauce. They would also be good with guacamole, sourcream, and or some chipotle salsa. So so tasty!

This recipe makes a WHOLE bunch (64!) You can cut the recipe in 1/2 or cook up the whole mess of them and freeze some for later!

INGREDIENTS:

2 T butter

1/2 large yellow onion, diced small

1 cup shredded zucchini, squeezed of excess moisture

2 lbs ground beef

4 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp Mrs Dash Fiesta Lime

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 a bag of Simply Potatoes shredded potatoes

1/2 cup Fresh parsley, finely chopped

2/3 a cup of low sodium V8 vegetable juice

4 cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (I used Trader Joes)

flour

2 eggs

DIRECTIONS, THE FILLING:

1) Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add diced onions and sauté until translucent. Add zucchini and sauté until most of the moisture has been cooked out - about 5 minutes. Remove to a bowl and set aside.

2) Add ground beef to the same skillet and cook until just browned and no longer pink. Add back the onion & zucchini mixture, spices, shredded potatoes, parsley, and V8. Stir to combine and cook an additional 5 minutes. Allow to cool. 

NOTES: I transferred mine the filling mixture to a shallow baking dish and popped it into the fridge to chill for 20 minutes. You could easily make the filling, refrigerate, and assemble the empanadas the next day.

DIRECTIONS, THE DOUGH:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pop open a can of biscuits. Take each biscuit and peal 1/2 off yielding a total of 16 rounds. 

2) On a lightly floured surface, roll out each biscuit into a 4 inch circle. 

3) Add 2 tablespoons of filling to each rolled out biscuit and fold in half, pinching the edges to seal and forming a half moon shape. Crimp the sealed edge with a fork. And place on a lightly greased or silicone mat lined baking sheet, leaving at least 1 inch of space between empanadas.

4) Brush with an egg wash. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

NOTES: I rolled out each biscuit and then filled it rather than rolling out all the biscuits first and then filling all of them. You can freeze baked and cooled empanadas in a single layer in a freezer bag. To reheat, preheat over to 350 degrees. Place frozen empanadas 1 inch apart on a baking sheet, and bake for 20 minutes or until heated through.