Empanadas...sorta...

Empanadas

Empanadas are stuffed pastries that are either baked or fried. In Argentina the dough is typically made with flour, butter and eggs. Argentine empanada filling differs from province to province; beef, chicken, fish, and even fruit. One common filling includes onion, boiled eggs, olives and raisins. 

Here is the Aleacia version of empanadas:

For the filling I browned some ground beef, added diced onions, tomatoes and corn. Seasoned it with taco seasoning and cumin and added a dash of flour to thicken the juices.

While beginning to make the dough for the empanadas, I discovered we didn't have any eggs, I almost called it quits but my husband told me he had bought crescent rolls last time he went shopping. Sooooo, I used crescent roll dough. They aren't the correct shape and they didn't stretch worth a darn so they didn't hold much filling and turned out sloppy but I wasn't really too worried about it. I closed the edges with a fork.

Since the filling is already cooked through you only have to bake them until the dough is done and browned to your desired color. They were really tasty (even though not authentic) they were gone within minutes!

Graham Crackers! NOM

Today I knew we had to cook something simple because I haven't gone grocery shopping yet and was low on ingredients, so somehow I decided on graham crackers. We've made graham crackers before (with a different recipe) but I think I failed to write a post about them...well forget about those because this recipe is way better! The recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen and can be found here. I have to say, I didn't quite follow the recipe exactly though, I skipped a few steps in the process and mine weren't nearly as cute.

Charlotte always asks to pose with the ingredients before we begin

We used light brown sugar instead of dark

Charlotte blending the ingredients with a pastry blender, the recipe said to use a mixer but I'm lazy and only get the mixer out when I making a few things in a row.

Daddy helped!

The dough is very sticky!

Wrap it in plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge

Go ahead and let the kiddos snack on the dough, there are no eggs!

Cinnamon sugar! Not needed though, the crackers are quite sweet without it

Cut your dough in whatever shape you'd like, I used a pizza cutter but cookie cutters work great too 

Keep an eye on them, they burn easily

 I didn't get any pictures of them separated or anybody eating them because they disappeared fast. They were so good warm that nobody could wait for them to cool, there were burnt tongues all around. For an even yummier treat, try them warm with vanilla ice cream. Not kidding, these will not disappoint you and you'll probably never buy boxed graham crackers again!

All baked, took about 25 minutes for slightly chewy crackers. It's hard to decide whether chewy or crispy is better, I like them both!

Blended Banana Split

I heard a rumor that if you freeze bananas you can blend them into a fluffy ice cream like treat.

So, I froze some bananas. 

Here's a tip: take the bananas out of their peels before you freeze them, and to make things even easier for your blender, chop them into little pieces.

The peels turned a dark golden color

I started blending one banana at a time in the Magic Bullet but it proved to be too hard. I have the cordless Magic Bullet and it doesn't seem to have as much juice as one that plugs in, so in order to help it out a bit, I added some strawberry yogurt.

The strawberry yogurt and frozen banana tasted delicious blended together and I probably could have stopped at this step and the kids would have been happy.

Freeze the yogurt first if you want ice cream consistency

 I took it a step further and added some sliced strawberries! I added a sprinkle of sugar to help draw out the juices a bit.

As soon as I added the strawberry yogurt I knew I was pretty much making a banana split, so I added some chocolate syrup

 and then topped it off with whipped cream!

Enjoy!

French Bread

Today on the dinner menu was good old Spaghetti & Meatballs, yum yum! So I decided we needed some bread to go along on the side. I looked at focaccia and ciabatta bread recipes but I only had ingredients on hand for french bread, so I set out all the ingredients and Charlotte and I got busy in the kitchen! 

Sprinkle yeast on warm water to dissolve

Yeast dissolved in water

Adding the sugar to feed the yeast

Mixing in the flour

Patting the top with flour

Turn the ball of dough in a greased bowl once to coat

After an hour of rising

Punch the dough down

30 more minutes of rising

Form into a loaf, let rise for 30 minutes, then brush with egg white

Bake for 25 minutes, wonderfully crispy!

Buy some garlic spread or make your own (like we did) with butter, garlic and homegrown basil, salt to taste, broil it and serve with your yummy spaghetti and a salad.

We made the meatballs and sauce but not the salad, that is one of those all-in-one bad deals, yummers!

Everybody was begging for seconds!

Strawberry Lemonade Pie

My husband loves lemons, he claims it's because he has Mexican in his blood (he is part Mexican) I'm just not sure loving lemons is an actual Mexican trait though. Soooo, when McDonald's came out with their Frozen Strawberry Lemonade he became hooked. 

couponingtobedebtfree.com

I felt like every time I turned around he magically had a new one in his hand. I can't say that the Frozen Strawberry Lemonade isn't good, because it is good, but dang are they ever sour! 

Anywho, when I saw a recipe for a Strawberry-Lemonade Icebox Pie in the June 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living Magazine, I knew I had to make it for my lemon loving husband. 

Guess what, he loved it. 

So here are the pictures from making it, I hope you check out the recipe and give it a try, especially if you love Frozen Strawberry Lemonade from McDonald's.

(BTW, this was supposed to be a recipe with the kids but Charlotte was promptly kicked out of the kitchen for not listening, Momma don't play that in the kitchen.)

Graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter

Buttery crumb mountain!

Use the bottom of a measuring cup to flatten your crust

Toasty after baking

Sweetened condensed milk and eggs, Char said it looked like a face

3 large lemons gave me 2/3 cup of lemon juice

Stirring the juice, condensed milk, and eggs...it was stinky

Before baking

After baking

Macerating the strawberries in sugar and lemon juice

Egg whites and sugar over a pot of boiling water

I whipped the egg whites by hand resulting in a less fluffy more gooey meringue

YUM!

This was a super delicious pie, the lemon custard part (consistency of Key Lime Pie) was very tart but the strawberries and meringue gave it enough sweetness to balance it out. Even though the girls seemed to have inherited the lemon eating trait from Travis they both thought the lemon custard was too tart and ate only the strawberries.

We had a little bit of pie leftover so we put it in the fridge, it did alright, the juices from the strawberries soaked into the crust and the meringue became chewy instead of crispy on top. The tastes were absolutely the same, it was just a texture difference. I wouldn't leave it more than a night in the fridge, in fact, I'd recommend eating it the same day. I will be keeping this recipe handy, especially for summer months, it would be the perfect pie for a family gathering or picnic!

Linked to: Flutter By Friday hosted by Mama Dani's Musings