Mexican Half Moon Empanadas

Tonights recipe was a collaborative effort with my boyfriend, Joe. He is of Mexican descent and really loves the taste of Masa, so that gave me something to go off of. While this recipe is not the healthiest, you will literally be coming back for more. It took about an hour from start to finish on this (mainly because we do not have a tortilla press and made these things a totally ghetto way :)

2 cups of Masa (the brand Maseca is available in the Mexican section of most stores)
2 1/4 cups of water
1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg of taco seasoning
1 can of re-fried beans
2 Tbs. Crisco
Bag of Mexican cheese
Oil for frying (vegetaable, canola, or peanut oil)

1. Brown the ground beef in a frying pan and add taco seasoning with half package of water.
2. Heat up the re-fried beans and add crisco to make a smoother consistency
3. In a large bowl mix Masa and water until a dough is formed.
4. Form the Masa mix into balls a little bigger than golf balls.
5. Either tortilla press or use a large book to press balls into flat tortillas (use between plastic wrap for an easy way to keep the dough from tearing)
6. forming a taco shape fill with meat, beans and cheese and press edges together (it will kind of look like a hot pocket), set all the half moon pockets aside
7. Heat oil until water dropplet boil when added
8. Add 2-3 empanadas at a time and let cook until both sides are a dark yellow/light brown-compare to dough color-about 3-5 minutes each side.
9. Either eat right away or put on a cookie sheet and keep warm in the oven (at 250 degrees) until you are ready to eat. Once you are about ready add cheese to the top.

This recipe was fun to make with somebody. They are not the prettiest things but they are SO tasty. It cost about $20 to make this. I would suggest serving with either a veggie side (like we did), or a corn/pepper mix, or even a salad.

Quick and Easy Meatless Lasagna

SO this was our Main Course for girls night. It was kind of a thrown together thing so I quickly threw this together.


14 sheets of lasagna
1 large tub of Ricotta cheese
1 bag shredded Mozzarella
1 small tub of Parmesan
3 eggs
1 jar of pasta sauce
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Boil lasagna until al dente (8-11 min.)Then rinse in cold water
3. Heat up pasta sauce until consistency is thin
4. In a large mixing bowl add all of the ricotta cheese, all of the Parmesan, and 3/4 bag of the Mozzarella along with all of the eggs and a bit of salt and pepper. Mix well
5. Layer the sauce then lasagna, then cheese mix followed by another layer of lasagna, then repeat until all the lasagna is used. The top layer should be lasagna followed by a layer of sauce.
6. Bake lasagna for 20-35 min. Until cheese mixture looks firm when you pull up a layer of the noodles.
7. Sprinkle top with remaining Mozzarella cheese



The total cost for both the lasagne and the truffles was about $20. The lasagna is nice and light while the truffles are rich and bold (experiment with the truffles using different kinds of oreos-peanut butter, coffee, etc.). Enjoy!

Oreo Cheesecake Truffles

So this recipe is a breeze make. Kinda messy but super quick and easy. And cheap. I made this one for my friend Steph, who came over for a girls night with chick flicks and lasagna for dinner (that recipe is to follow :)


1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 package of oreo's (trader joes makes a peppermint oreo -joe- that is awesome in this)
1 package milk chocolate chips
1 package white chocolate chips


1. In a blender or food processor blend up oreo's into chunky crumbs
2. In a large mixing bowl add softened cream cheese and oreo's
3. With a melon baller/small ice cream scoop, scoop up balls of oreo mix, line up on a cookie sheet and let chill for 10-15 min.
4. Melt bags of chocolate chips in the microwave or on the stove until melted.
5. Using a spoon drizzle chocolate over oreo balls and then place back in the refrigerator until chocolate has hardened

(an easier method than spooning the chocolate onto the balls is to stick either a toothpick or a lollipop stick-available at most craft stores- into the truffle and to just dip it in the chocolate) and it's kind a fun to eat on a stick :)