Beef Empanadas

These were a yummy, easy dinner to make, though I will admit it took me a few tries to fold the edges of the pie crust together and make them look halfway decent! I doubled the recipe for my family of 6 and we ended up having some leftovers but not a lot. I froze the extras because we were headed out of town and I wanted to see if they would make a good freezer meal. They froze okay, but I probably won't do it again. I found them on http://numstheword.com/easy-beef-empanadas/ and I made the Esquitas corn salad that's also mentioned on that website. It was a huge hit with all of us!

Ingredients

• 1 package of pre-made pie crust (2 rolls)
• 1 Tablespoon of oil
• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1/4 cup diced onions
• 1/2 medium diced bell pepper, any color
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon chili pepper
• 1 cup Mexican blended cheese
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375*
2. Combine bell pepper, onion, garlic and oil and saute 3 minutes over medium heat.
3. Add hamburger, cumin and chili pepper to the pan and cook until meat is cooked through.
4. Set pan aside and let cool.
5. While meat mixture is cooling, roll out pie crust.
6. Using a bowl or large circle cutter, cut out 6" round discs from pie crust. You should be able to get 3 from each crust making 6 total with a 7th created out of the leftover dough rolled out.
7. Place 2 - 3 Tablespoons of mixture in the center of each pie disc.
8. Top with cheese.
9. Fold over and seal edges with a fork.
10. Place Empanadas on a cookie sheet.
11. Whisk egg and brush on to tops of each Empanada.
12. Bake in oven for 15 - 20 minutes.