Beef Empanadas

Last week I gave you a recipe for Proscuitto and Fig Empanadas and this week I am giving you a recipe for Beef Empanadas.  These are also really easy, not as easy as last weeks recipe, but still pretty simple to make.  I made these with my friend Wanda also.  It was a day of cooking, which is always fun, especially with a good friend.

Beef Empanadas

Ingredients:

2 Pillsbury thin pizza crust

2 lbs ground beef

1 onion chopped

5 cloves of garlic chopped

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground oregano

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 TB oil

5 small red, purple, and yellow fingerling potatoes, boiled, then cubed

2 hard boiled eggs, cubed
chopped cilantro
grated cheese (I used colby jack)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking sheet with non stick cooking spray.

2.  Unroll your pizza dough on a large cutting board.

3.  I used a small 5 1/2 to 6 inch saucepan lid to cut circles of dough for the empanadas   I got 4 circles of dough from each pizza crust.  (There is quite a bit of waste, you could probably rework the dough and get more circles)

4.  Heat your oil in a large skillet.

5.  Then add your onion and cook until translucent over medium heat.

6.  Next add you garlic, ground cumin, oregano, salt and pepper and cook for a minute.

7.  Add your ground beef and break it up while you are cooking it.

8.  Once beef is cooked you can start stuffing your empanadas.

9.  Start by putting a few tablespoons of your ground beef on 1/2 of your dough.

10.  Then add some egg, potato, cheese, and cilantro.

 11.  Then fold the other half of dough over the meat mixture and roll the edges so that they are sealed. (Make sure they are sealed well so that nothing leaks out of the dough while cooking)

12.  Bake in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

13.  Serve immediately or remove from pan and place on racks to cool

Makes 8 medium sized empanadas

I hope that you like our little tour of Argentinian Empanadas.  Next week we will have Chorizo Empanadas, and then the next week I have a recipe for Banana and Dulce de Leche Empanadas for desert.  Have a great week and I always love hearing from you.

Enjoy!!!

Find us at these Great Parties!!!

Blue Pineapple Cocktail for Friday's Happy Hour

I made this Blue Pineapple Cocktail this week.  We have been at the house in Florida, and this seemed very tropical.  It's similiar to a Blue Wave, but a little different.  It came out really good, and is very refreshing on a hot day.

Blue Pineapple Cocktail

Ingredients:

2 oz Skyy Infused Pineapple Vodka

2 oz Blue Curacao

5 oz Pineapple Nector

Directions:

Pour all ingredients in a glass over ice.

Stir and Serve.

Makes 1 cocktail.

That was an easy one right.  This Blue Pineapple Cocktail is also delicious.  Give it a try.  Have a great weekend.

Enjoy!!!

Find us at these Great Parties!!!

Candied Bacon Wrapped Crackers

Today I am presenting you with Candied Bacon Wrapped Crackers.  I don't know how many of you like bacon, but my family loves it.  It is a recipe that originally came from my grandfather's wife, and I don't make them a lot, but I made them for Easter.  They were a big hit.  

They are pretty simple to make and not very time consuming.  Maybe about 30 minutes from start to finish.  So give them a try.

Candied Bacon Wrapped Crackers

Ingredients:

1 packet of Club Crackers (the box has 4)

2 lbs bacon (each strip cut in half)

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup water

Directions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet or cookie sheet with sides with foil and  spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  Put the brown sugar in a bowl and add the water.  Stir.  (It should be very thick)

3.   Next, you will wrap 1/2 of a strip of bacon around a Club Cracker.

4.  Then dredge the cracker and in the brown sugar/water mixture and lay on your baking sheet.

5.  Repeat this until you have used all of your bacon.

6.  If you run out of the sugar/water make a little more,  if you have some left you can brush it over the bacon and crackers on the baking sheet.

7.  Bake in oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the bacon is browned and crispy around the crackers.

8.  Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes and then serve.

I hope you like my Candied Bacon Wrapped Crackers.  They are a really fun appetizer to serve and definitely unusual.  Your friends and family will love them.

I always love hearing from you.  Have a great week.

Enjoy!!!

Find us at these Great Parties!!!

Wednesday's Adorned From Above Blog Hop 47

We want to thank everyone who shared with last week's Wednesday's Adorned From Above Blog Hop 46.  We love seeing all of your posts.

Welcome to Wednesday's Adorned From Above Blog Hop 47.  We will be doing a giveaway for a $50 Visa Gift Card once we reach 500 GFC Followers, so if you're not following on GFC, it would be great if you would follow us on GFC.

I will be featuring the bloggers from last weeks party and the next two parties in two weeks.  I'm with family for the next 10 days.  I am looking at everyone's posts and love seeing them.

So on to this weeks party.

We hope you have fun at this week's party.  We all love hearing from you, so we love your comments.

Now let's party

Have a great week.

This is where we party. Click to see all the parties.

Turquoise Ring Tutorial

I made this cute Turquoise Ring for Charly last week and I thought that it would make a great tutorial.  It was pretty easy to do and I think it came out really cute.  This is the first piece of metal jewelry that I have made since college and that was a very long time ago.  This was a really fun project.

Turquoise Ring Tutorial

Supplies:

needle nose pliers

Aluminum Ring Stick marked with sizes

Individual finger gauges for ring sizes

Jewelry pliers for bending wire

14 gauge silver tarnish free wire

1 turquoise bead

handheld reamer

wire cutters

Directions:

First I want to apologize for not having more pictures.  I didn't have my memory card in my camera, so these are the only ones I got.

1. Cut an 8 inch piece of wire.

2.  If the hole in the bead is not big enough to put the wire through, then you will need to need to make the whole bigger with the reamer.

3.  Then put the bead on the wire.

4.  Find the ring size that you want and then start wrapping your wire around the Ring stick to shape the ring.

5.  Wrap the wire around the gauge a second time.

6.  I then took the wire over the top of the bead on one side and then did it the other way to hold the bead in place.

6.  Next,  I squeezed the wires at the side of the ring together.

7.  Then I wrapped the wire at the side of the ring around the two wires to hold them together and look decorative.

I love the way this Turquoise Ring came out and so did Charly.  She put it on as soon as I gave it to her. I hope that you like it also.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.  I always love hearing from you.

Have a great week.

Find us at these Great Parties!!!

Faith and Healing in Matthew 8

I love the stories in Matthew 8.  I love hearing stories about Jesus healing people.   I especially love Matthew 8:10 about the Centurion's Faith.  He believed that  if Jesus just spoke the words, it would be done.  Now that is faith!!!

(Mat 8:1)  When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

(Mat 8:2)  And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

(Mat 8:3)  And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

(Mat 8:4)  And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

(Mat 8:5)  And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,

(Mat 8:6)  And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

(Mat 8:7)  And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

(Mat 8:8)  The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

(Mat 8:9)  For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

(Mat 8:10)  When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

(Mat 8:11)  And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

(Mat 8:12)  But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

(Mat 8:13)  And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

(Mat 8:14)  And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.

(Mat 8:15)  And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

(Mat 8:16)  When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

(Mat 8:17)  That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

(Mat 8:18)  Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

(Mat 8:19)  And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

(Mat 8:20)  And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

(Mat 8:21)  And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

(Mat 8:22)  But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

(Mat 8:23)  And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

(Mat 8:24)  And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

(Mat 8:25)  And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

(Mat 8:26)  And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

(Mat 8:27)  But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

(Mat 8:28)  And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

(Mat 8:29)  And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

(Mat 8:30)  And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.

(Mat 8:31)  So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.

(Mat 8:32)  And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

(Mat 8:33)  And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.

(Mat 8:34)  And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

I hope that you have enjoyed today's verses.  I always love hearing from you.

Have a blessed day.

Find us at these Great Parties!!!

Rosary Necklace Tutorial

I made this Rosary Necklace for Charly for her birthday.  It was my Great Grandmother's Rosary, and she had been asking for it since she was a little girl.  She would go through my jewelry box and ask for different pieces and try it all on.  The rosary was one of her favorite pieces.  Something she always loved.  So for her birthday I turned it into a necklace and it came out so pretty.  It has wooden beads and the cross is made of wood and silver.  It is a simple project and one that would be easy for you to do. 

Rosary Necklace

Supplies:

Rosary

1 clasp

2 jump rings

needle nose pliers

Directions

1.  Find the center of the back of the Rosary.  This is where you will place the clasp and jump ring.

2.  Use your needle nose pliers to open up the link between two beads.

3.  Separate the links



4.  On the right side you will need to place a jump ring into the link and then the clasp onto the jump ring and then use your pliers to close the jump ring.

5.  On the other side I had to remove 1 bead, because I did not have enough room to place my jump ring.  So remove the bead.

6.  Form a loop with your needle nose pliers, but do not close it.

7.  Then place your jump ring in the loop and close your loop with your pliers.

8.  You are done.  Just insert the jump ring into the clasp and you have a Rosary Necklace.

Now, I am not trying to put anyone's religion down, but turning my great grandmother's rosary into a necklace, we are not Catholic, and it was a shame to have it just sitting in a drawer.  So this was a way to pass a little bit of family history down to my daughter.  I hope this helps you with a necklace project.  I always love hearing from you.

Have a great day!!!

Find us at these Great Parties!!!