Nat's Amazing Empanadas

When Natalie makes empanadas, she eyeballs the ingredients and makes them just right.  After numerous occasions of carefully watching her work, I've made some estimations of her recipe.  While not as good as Natalie's, they are still some of the best Empanadas I've ever eaten!

Ingredients

• 1/2 - 1 Vidalia onion diced
• 1 TBS diced garlic
• 2 lbs ground beef
• 2 TBS tomato paste
• 2 tsp Italian herbs
• 1 beef bouillon cube
• 3 TBS Spanish party olives diced
• 1 28 oz can tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 egg
• Empanada disks (Goya disks for baking are my favorite)

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large frying pan, add the diced onions and crushed garlic. Cook until the onions are soft.
2. Add the ground beef, stir and cook until the meat is fulling cooked.
3. Add the Italian spices, tomato paste and salt/pepper.
4. Add olives, raisins, tomatoe sauce, boullion
5. Simmer until most of the juice has cooked off, but it is still a little juicy.
6. Taste and adjust salt/pepper and any seasonings to your personal preference. 
7. Let the beef filling cool down completely before using to fill the empanadas.
8. Lightly wet the edges of each empanada disk.
9. Place a generous amount of the beef filling on the center of an empanada disc.
10. Fold the empanada discs and gently seal the edges with your fingers. Then twist and fold the edges of the empanadas with your fingers. (Youtube Tutorial)
11. Brush the empanadas with the whisked egg/water mixture
12. Pre-heat the oven to 400F (200C)  
13. Bake on a cookie sheet for approximately 20 minutes, or until golden on top.

Lentil Soup with Sausage

 Ingredients

• Olive oil1 
• yellow onion, chopped
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 pound hot or sweet Italian sausage(casingremoved)
• 2 tsp chopped garlic 
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• pinch of red-pepper flakes
• ¾ cup dry white wine1 
• 14oz can fire roasted crushed tomatoes
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups dried lentils
• 1 bay leaf
• handful baby spinach chopped 
• 1 TBSP red wine vinegar

Directions

1. Cover the bottom of instapot with a thin layer of olive oil. 
2. Add the onion and season lightly with salt. 
3. Saute until the onion is softened and translucent - approx 5 minutes
4. Add the sausage. Break up the sausage and cook until brown, about 5 minutes.
5. Add garlic, onion and garlic powders, thyme, oregano, red-pepper flakes and pepper. 
6. Stir to combine and continue to saute for 1 minute
7. Add the wine and scraping the bottom of the pot to remove any browned bits. 
8. Simmer until reduced by half, about 5 minutes.
9. Add the tomatoes and their juices and the stock, lentils and bay leaf. Season generously with pepper and stir 
10. Cover and set steam valve to sealed position. 
11. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Let release naturally for 5 minutes, then release the remaining pressure manually.
12. stir in the greens and cook until wilted and tender
13. Stir in vinegar and salt and pepper to taste

Recipe from NYTimes Pressure Cooker Lentil Soup with Sausage

Meatballs

• Ingredients
• 1 lb ground beef (either ground beer or a mix of pork and beef)
• 1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 small yellow onion finely minced
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 2 eggs 
• Salt and pepper

• 
  
• Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Mix breadcrumbs, parmesean cheese, onion, garlic, and parsley
3. Add egg and combine
4. Mix in ground beef/meat
5. Shape into medium size balls.  Approximately 3 tbsp
6. Place onto cookiesheet
7. Bake for 17 minutes
8. Add to instant pot ON TOP OF TOMATO/MARINARA SAUCE and cook for 10 minutes

Bobotie

My MIL Carin was in South Africa a few years ago and brought this recipe back with her. This is super tasty, and a great meal to make for a large group!

Ingredients

2 onions - diced
1 slice white bread
1 cup milk
2 pounds ground beef
1 tbsp curry powder
2 eggs
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp garam masala
2 tbsp vinegar
3 tbsp apricot preserves
6 almonds - chopped
1/2 cup raisons
4 bay leaves

Directions

1. Saute onions, add ground beef and saute
2. Soak the bread in milk, squeeze the milk into a bowl (set aside)
3. break apart the bread slice and place in mixing bowl
4. Mix the onions, beef, 1 egg, sugar, curry, salt, pepper, turmeric, garam masala, apricot preserves, almonds, vinegar and raisins together
5. Place mixture in baking dish, insert bay leaves into the meat.
6. Cook at 350 (175 C) for 60 minutes
7. Beat 1 egg and milk that had been set aside. Pour over the meat and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

Dawit's pasta sauce

Dawit made this pasta sauce for us a few days after Bea was born. It was a hit and we are still making it to this day.

Ingredients

2-3 cloves of garlic
2 onions
1 small can of tomato paste
1-2 large tomato sauce
1 lb ground beef
Salt & Pepper

Directions

1 - Brown, garlic (make sure it does not burn) in olive oil
2 - Add onion and let it soften up.
3 - Add the ground beef and brown it. salt and pepper to taste.
4 - Add tomato paste &a bit more olive oil, stir until it starts to caramelize. It helps to turn up the heat. Add a bit more oil if it sticks.
5 - Add the tomato sauce and let it simmer in low to mid heat for about 20-40min. I usually go for 30min.

enjoy!

Långpannepaj with Bacon

This is a swedish recipe from "Hemmets Veckotidning". My MIL Carin made this for us last week and we gobbled it up. Great for leftover lunches and freezing. When I make this I will cheat by using store bought crusts (as reflected below), but you can always make your own if you are so inclined. Carin also lightened up this recipe by substituting the creme fraiche with milk.

Ingredients
3 nine (9) inch pie crusts
2 lb ground beef (800 g)
2 gold onions
1/3 cup crushed tomatoes (1 dl)
3/4 cups white or red wine (2 dl)
1 tbs dried thyme
oregano

topping
1/3 lb bacon (half a package) (140 g)
1 cup mushrooms (200 g)
2 peppers (color doesn't matter)
4 eggs
2 cups milk (5 dl)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (300 g)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400
2. Cook pie crust for 10 minutes
3. Brown the beef.
4. Chop the onions and add to browned beef on low heat
5. Add tomato and wine
6. Simmer on low heat
7. Add spices, salt and pepper to taste
8. Slice the mushrooms and chop the bacon into small pieces.
9. Cook, drain, and set aside
10. Beat the eggs and milk. Mix in the cheese.
11. Split the gound beef between the three pie shells
12. Pour egg mixture over ground beef
13. Sprinkle chopped peppers over the egg mixture.
14. Cook for 30-40 minutes (until the egg is cooked through)

ENJOY!

Shepard's Pie

This is one of the recipes my sister will actually eat even though she doesn't like her foods mixed together. Another great one for taking leftovers for lunch.

Ingredients

2 pounds lean ground beef
2/3 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic minced
2 pounds peeled potatoes
2 cups peas
4 tablespoon butter
5 medium carrots sliced
1 1/2 cups of beef stock
2-4 tablespoon flour (enough to make a medium thick gravy)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Sauté beef, onion, celery and garlic in a large pan until well done then strain off fat.
2. Boil potatoes until tender (about 20 minutes) then drain. Mash with butter.
3. Blanch carrots (just boil for a few seconds) and add to beef mixture.
4. Make a gravy with beef by whisking in enough flour to thicken.
5. When gravy comes to boil, add gravy to the beef & carrot mixture. Reduce heat & simmer 5 min.
6. Spoon meat mixture into a casserole dish then spoon potatoes on top.
7. Bake 20 minutes at 350 then top with cheese and let sit until cheese melts about 5 minutes.

* adapted from group recipe’s over the top shepards pie
http://www.grouprecipes.com/86436/over-the-top-shepards-pie.html

Chili (super hot, super meaty!)

We went to Marianne & Jacob's Superbowl potluck party last year and Chris brought his legendary meat chili. It's hot, but so good. He didn't have an exact recipe, but we have the ingredient list and just sort of throw things in the pot and cook. Hopefully you can use this list to throw together your own amazing chili.

Ingredients

1.75 pounds ground chuck
1 pound sweet italian sausage
1 pound hot italian sausage
1 package oscar Meyer boiled ham
5 rashers of bacon (crisped
1 real ripe tomato
1 12 oz. can of peeled tomatoes
1 12 oz. can of tomato sauce
3 sliced jalapenos
1 can of black beans
1 can of kidney beans (dark)
1 can of kidney beans (pink)
Onion salt
Sea salt
Paprika
Garlic Powder
Flour (for thickening)
Curry powder
Crushed Red Pepper
A tiny bit of Tabasco

Directions

1. Brown/prepare the sausage and ground beef. Cook it a little less than you would if you were going to eat it regularly. Add to pot.

2. Crisp the bacon (because it will cook with the sauce). Add to pot.

3. Chop up the veggies. Add to pot.

4. Slice the tomatoes, but do that in the pot, as they'll be peeled and messy.

5. Throw in the beans and cook for a long time on low. The longer it cooks, the more the spices settle in. Refrigeration helps that, too.