Easy empanada-muffins

I've been wanting to try this ever since Saturday when I made a pizza like version at my parents' house.  This was so much better... and counts as my new dairy/egg free recipe for this week. And it was so easy, Katie could do it!

These little creations are like a cross between an empanada and a muffin, hence the creative name I gave them, Easy empanada muffins.  I was inspired to make them in muffin tins after bumping into the Cowgirl Chef on blogger and stumbling upon her recipe for eggplant, tomato and feta muffins.  She is a texas native that lives in Paris, and her website features lots of mexican foods and Texas classics with "french twists." 

All you need for this recipe is a filling of your choice and Pillsbury crescent rolls.  I used left over taco meat (made with ground buffalo and a package of taco seasoning, a can of Rotel chopped tomatoes (drained) and a chopped onion), tomatoes, bell peppers, "tamed" jalapenos, left over sauteed onions, yellow squash (I know it doesn't sound like it belongs here, but it was a use-it-or-lose-it situation), and some salt and pepper.  I chopped the veggies in my food processor and tossed them in a pan.  When they were soft, I added the taco meat to warm it up.  If there is alot of liquid in your mixture, you might want to cook it out.  

I took the mixture off the heat and proceeded to the next step, but I think if you let the filling cool, it would work better.  I've read a quick cooling tip in Cooking for Food Allergies Everyday and Gourmet: spread the mixture out flat on a plate and stick it in the freeze for 5 minutes before using.  

I mixed in some real shredded cheese to a small amount of the mixture for Pres, but used Tofutti soy cream cheese for the majority of the filling.  I used one large package (8 rolls) and one small package (4 rolls) of Pillsbury crescent rolls.  Rather than separating the dough at the perforated marks, I pushed the perforations together with my finger and cut the dough into little squares.

I put about a tablespoon of the filling in the center of each square and roughly folder the corners up so they met in the center.  I then put each empanada-muffin into the muffin pan, which I had spritzed lightly with olive oil.

I cooked them for ten minutes at 375 degrees.  They were a little soft on top, so if you would like them more crispy, I guess you would cook them at a lower temp. for longer time...?  However, I don't need to worry about that because I don't like things crispy!

Let them cool before removing from the pan, or they might fall apart.  And there you go... easy goodness that can quickly switch between cheesy and dairy/egg free.  If you leave out the meat or substitute tofu, it's vegan! 

And you also have my first real recipe post, although I know I didn't really put a recipe on here.  But that's just me.  I'm not great with directions, and when you get them out of me, they are going to be of the East Texas turn-right-at-the-big-oak-tree sort.  Naturally, it would be the same for a recipe.

Adventures in Dinner Sitting

Crab cakes! These were a little harder than meatloaf. Either they fell apart very easily or I misremember the consistency of crab cakes. I fried these, but I have 4 more in the fridge that I'm going to bake later this weekend. Even if they fell apart, they were still good! Thank you Libby Avery for Cooking for Food Allergies Everyday & Gourmet.

I also made a white bean and eggplant hummus that I watched Giada make the other day. Yes, we are on a first name basis. Giada's hummus was probably better than mine but only because I had to work in batches due to my janky food processor. She put about 1/3 cup of olive oil in her hummus, but her olive oil must have been way better than mine because 1/3 cup of olive oil from my pantry was not a good choice. I doctored it with what I should have used originally: the lemon flavored olive oil from Texas Olive Ranch that I bought at Gruene a few weekends ago. Yum!