Channeling my latin side...que the music and hip movement!

Alright who am I kidding I'm full blooded Portuguese so not much channeling going on. Last month we went over a friends Christmas get together and a beautiful mama there was making empanadas and my husband was very interested in it and decided to ask her 20 questions on what she was doing. Seeing him ask her all those questions I honestly started to cringe..(I'll let you in on a secret I hate to fry food, not because of fat and stuff but because I always think it's going to spit at me) So the whole way home he said "Mel do you think you could make those?" Well how am I going to turn him down so I told him I would. Today was the day...I put on my big girl pants and fry some empanadas and not only did I learn how to tame the oil, but they were so crazy good I'm sold.

I went pretty basic on my first try, nothing fancy.

Ingredients:

My basic taco seasoned meat that I make

Shredded cheese

Threw in some mash potatoes (hey why not)

Last by not least shells...(hint they are in the freezer section not the international aisle or bread section as I first looked)

So we begin

Fill shell, fold over and crimp with fork

Keep it going...thankfully not rocket science

Filled up my dutch oven with veg table oil until super hot. Then turned done heat to maintain heat. Time to fry up these puppies.

Fry till they look done..crispy look to them

and they were kind to me not one of them spit oil at me.

And I was afraid of frying...silly girl. Now that I've got that under my belt I see some crazy creations ahead of me...breakfast, dinner, and you bet even dessert..can't you picture it some nutella chocolate, marshmallows and crushed up graham cracker inside all melted and gooey....drooling over here.

Let me know if you try them..so much easier then you think.

Encouragement to chew on:

Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.
Albert Einstein