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.