Mini-vaca and Empanadas…

So let’s start by saying my training last week, well, sucked to say the least. But I managed 2 runs, 2 LONG walks, and 2 swims so I guess that is better than nothing. My mileage spoke otherwise, but this is a new week, RIGHT!

I spent 4 days in Minnesota, and had a complete blast seeing my family. We got to MN late afternoon on Thursday, and just HAD to hit the Mall of America. The kids loved it! We had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp (great atmosphere for fun, but food was overpriced for the quality) and rode rides and walked the mall. It was a wonderful evening.

Friday we of course went BACK to the mall for a few hours, and my husband surprised me by getting me my DREAM ring. We got quite the deal for shopping at Ben Bridge jewelers, as this is where we bought our original set 8 years ago. They gave us full value for my original engagement ring, and although I hated to give it up, I know my band is the original band and that my husband helped pick this beautiful piece out for me!

After shopping we went to my Uncle Ron/Aunt Barb’s house for dinner and a boat ride. It was just awesome to be able to see both sides of my gi-normous family, and the kids had fun playing with their cousins.

Saturday was the reunion, and I saw people I hadn’t seen in nearly 10 years, if not more. I am blessed and reminded that my family is my constant whether or not we live near each other.

We got home late Sunday, and after over 1000 miles in the car over 4 days, my legs and knees were aching. So I took a nice long hot Epsom salt bath which helped tremendously, and settled in to getting the house cleaned and laundry done…well, started anyway, LOL…

Today I took the day off knowing we’d get home late and a ton of housework needed to be done. I kept Sophia home instead of taking her to day care and was woken up with her cooking me breakfast on her play kitchen. TOO CUTE!!!

We cleaned, painted toe nails, and then my cooking escapade ensued. I made homemade chicken empanadas, fresh out of my neighbors garden roasted squash with garlic and shallots, and re fried beans from a can-dressed up!

Here you can see step by step what I did…

Cube 4 chicken breasts rather small and add salt, pepper, lime juice, chili powder, adobo seasoning and fajita seasoning. Let this sit while you prepare the diced red onion, garlic, capers, and olives.

Mix these four ingredients into a bowl, and then saute’ over medium heat until slightly translucent. Next, add your chicken that has been marinating.

Once cooked, take off the heat and let cool completely.

The dough was rather easy, and I DON’T do well with baking…Simply at 3 cups of flour to 1 teaspoon of salt in a bowl. In a second bowl, whisk 1 egg, and 1 egg white with a teaspoon of vinegar.

Cut in 3 teaspoons of shortening, and then mix the wet and dry mixture together, being careful to not over knead. Once a nice ball is formed, wrap in plastic and place in the fridge for an hour. While this was chilling and my meat was cooling, I made my famous dipping sauce that my whole family loves.
Three spoonfulls of mayo, 2 spoonfulls of sour cream, 2 cloves of garlic grated on a micro-grater, kosher salt, pepper, smoked paprika and cayenne pepper and 2 green onions finely chopped make this sauce a WIN!

Next I prepared my squash by simply peeling, cubing, and adding salt, pepper and a touch of cayenne as well as minced garlic and shallots. I roasted the squash for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees. At 25 minutes, I added half a can of diced tomatoes as well as chopped green onion and cooked the remaining 10 minutes. YUM!

Now it was time to roll out the dough and start assembling my empanadas!

(I used a martini glass to cut these out, worked perfectly!!)

Make sure not to overstuff, and crimp with a fork to keep your stuff from pouring out!

Brush with an egg wash, and sprinkle with chili powder and ciliantro for color! I baked for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees!

Here is the complete meal (apologies for the paper plates, after 2 hours of cooking I didn’t feel like doing more dishes, LOL), with doctored up refried beans…added some smoked paprika, garlic, salt, pepper and cilantro for awesome flavor!!!

Thanks for hanging in there for this long post!!! Hope you all have a wonderful week!!!