Chilean Empanadas Recipe

Dough

• 1 Package Puff Pastry Sheets
• Flour (to dust the surface and prevent sticking)

Filling

• 1 pound ground beef
• 3-4 small potatoes chopped and boiled until soft but not mushy
• 1 chopped onion
• 1/4 -3/4 cup raisins
• vegetable oil
• paprika
• cumin
• salt & pepper

Instructions

1. Start thawing the puff pastry sheets (I always leave this till too late!)
2. Saute the onion in the vegetable oil until soft
3. Turn the heat low and add the ground beef. Cook until just partially done
4. Add the raisins
5. Add the chopped potatoes
6. Salt, Pepper, Paprika, and Cumin to taste
7. Remove the filling from the heat
8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
9. Roll out the puff pastry dough and cut into circles about 5 inches in diameter
10. Scoop the mixture onto the puff pastry dough, then fold the circle in half and seal the edge by pinching and twisting.
11. Poke some holes in the dough with a fork (to let steam escape) and place on a baking sheet
12. Cook for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees

Waterfalls in Portland

When I went to visit Pam in Portland last month, we got to see some of the city's gorgeous waterfalls. Here's a (heavily edited) picture of one. It was pretty crazy to see the falls almost iced over, but it should have been a warning to us of the storm to come. I ended up being snowed in and having to wait until Monday morning to return home.

Tucson

Wow, Tucson is beautiful. Here's a picture of a cactus from Sabino Canyon. I like this one because it looks like the cactuses you see in cartoons. I didn't see any coyotes on the trip, but I did see several roadrunners running across the road. They're very small and do not look like the cartoons.

I don't remember the exact numbers, but cactuses with arms are very old. They don't grow their first arm until around 70 years old I believe. It's amazing to realize that they really are trees.

Welcome to here

You've made it here. Thanks for visiting! To the left you can see a pretty picture of a rose that was in front of my house this summer. It smelled very nice when it was in bloom.