My $4 pot of pork and bean chili is really morphing into some delicious meals this week. I ate a bowl of it the day I made it (only 3 points per 1.5 cups), had chili mac on Monday, and last night made empanadas!
You guessed it – the dough for my empanadas is my skinny pizza dough! It is such a versatile dough. I know what you are thinking – but Biz – how are you going to put chili in an empanada??
Easy! I just scooped some out, put it in a strainer over the pot of chili, and pressed out most of the liquid, so I was left with delicious pork and beans for the filling. The first time I made them over the weekend, that was the only filling – last night I added some Trader Joe’s lite cheese and that kicked it up nicely.
I rolled out an ounce of dough per empanada – I used 1/2 cup of the filling for four empanadas – be careful not to overstuff or roll your dough too thin, otherwise the dough will break when you try to press it together – not that it happened to me on my first try – I just read that on the internet 😛
Then with a fork – press the edges – be sure too to be ready to fry these. I waited a bit on the first one, and the liquid in the chili made the dough soft and tore when I tried to remove it from my cutting board. So mis en place! Roll dough, fill, crimp – fry!
I talk about it all the time, but I have new visitors here – I count one point for the oil when frying. I fry at 350 – which sears the food when it immediately hits the hot oil, thereby creating a barrier, which cooks the food but doesn’t make it greasy. When you get greasy food, you are either not frying at a high enough temperature (which then absorbs the oil) or you are using old oil. I can get about 10 fries out of my deep fryer before having to replacing.
So let’s break it down – 4 points for the dough, 1 point for the 1/2 cup of chili, and 1 point for the oil. I served mine with salsa, Greek yogurt and the green onion? That was just for the photo. I immediately threw them out as soon as I took this picture.
These are light, flavorful and delicious. I had these as a snack the day I made them – two was plenty!
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Yesterday I made a shower omelette – so good! Ham, spinach and cheese. My bagels taste delicious, they are not pretty, so I am going to try those again – maybe making my holes not so big??
Jenn and I walked Macy’s yesterday – one of the only downsides of spending our lunch hour walking, sometimes when I get back to my desk it gets busy – I didn’t put my lunch together until 3! My corn and tumeric blender soup (1) a turkey Tumaro wrap (2) and apple with Better N Peanut Butter (3) – 6 points.
And I made more empanadas for dinner! The photography isn’t as good when I am home on the weekends, but these were delicious! My dip is Greek yogurt mixed with Chiloula hot sauce. On the side was carrots and strawberries – 6 points since I added cheese to these. 😀
Yesterday was the best mail day evah! My Instagram friend Barbara sent me the cutest note and sent me this shirt – she said she has two daughters as well and they are both her favorite. Um, pretty sure we know that I am my Mom’s favorite – duh! I’m also pretty sure that I’ll wear this at every family event – thank you!
My other Instagram friend Judy sent me some loot too – how gorgeous is this box! She painted the outside of the priority box – so pretty! I’m already thinking of ways I can save this art.
Homemade granola (with the points marked!) foodie finds, and these screw top containers – thank you so much Judy!!
And Safe + Fair loot! My friend Courtney’s husband owns this company. The premise of the company is that they want to provide allergy free snacks at a fair price. Everything I’ve tried so far is delicious – don’t even get me started on the kettle corn granola – amazeballs. All the granola is 4 points for 1/3 cup or 130 calories, the pea protein snack chips – 28 chips (which is a lot!) for 120 calories and 3 points per serving.
I have a special link to get you products before they are on the market – check it out here.
Thanks again to dry January – I still have all those weekly points – and it’s already Wednesday. It also helped that I didn’t eat like an asshole over the long weekend. You pretty much have to treat the weekend like a weekday, with the exception of like one meal – otherwise you’ll be a hamster on a wheel – gaining and losing the same 2 pounds over and over. I know – I pretty much did that last year. 😛
Happy Wednesday – stay warm if you live where it’s cold – so not looking forward to subzero temps, but if that could turn into an early spring I wouldn’t be upset about that.
However, Hannah’s birthday is in early March – I had birthday parties where it was so warm we had water balloons, and others where I’ve shoveled snow, so you never know.
Make it a great day! Don’t eat like an asshole.
Love, Biz
What a shame your Mom does not have her phone. She would get a big laugh if she saw this shirt. What a great mail package to come home to. Let us know what you think of the eat me guilt free brownie. I am such a skeptic when it comes to some things especially when they blow up all over the internet. Your empanadas did not disappoint. Think they would work in the air fryer or be too soggy on the bottom? I am so afraid to try to kettle granola, if I love it I may never stop snacking. I have been on a sweet salty kick lately.