Beef Empanadilla (Empanada) Recipe | Hip ‘n Creative

I love making beef empanadillas/empanadas for my family and I thought it would be awesome to share this recipe with you as well. I have been making these for years and love it!  I hope you do too.  Below I have the list of ingredients you will need to make a batch for yourself.  I also included the video for you as well!

INGREDIENTS: (Serving 20 Empanadillas)

1 lb of Ground Beef (or Chicken, Pork)
1 packet of Sazon
1 tsp Onion powder
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1.5 tsp of Adobo
1 8oz. Can of Salsa
1 tbsp of Sofrito
1 tbsp of Recado
1 medium Potato cubed
Oil enough for frying
2 packages of Empanada Disc (found in the hispanic section of your supermarket) *make sure to defrost your discs prior to cooking.

DIRECTIONS:
On a separate pot boil a medium potato until fork tender, drain and set aside. On a medium pan cook your beef on medium heat until brown then drain. Add all the ingredients together.

Next take your meat and potato filling and fill the center of the discs. Pinch the ends to secure the discs and prevent them from opening with a fork. Fry in pan for about 3 minutes (each side) on medium heat or until golden brown.

Serve alone or with your favorite rice recipe!  If you make this recipe please make sure to share it with me on instagram by tagging me @hipncreative!

xo,
Awilda

CHEESY TORTELLINI with MEATSAUCE | EASY SLOW COOKER MEALS | Hip ‘n Creative

I love CrocPot/Slow Cooker Meals.  It is such an easy way to make a meal, set it and forget it. It’s great for busy days as well as those hot summer days that are coming our way! One of the newest recipes we tried is this Cheesy Tortellini with Meatsauce.  It is so good and a meal even some of the pickiest kids will love!  Two of my Three kids are very picky (like their Momma) and they loved this easy recipe – they even asked for seconds.. seconds people!  That’s a win! 😉

So here is what you’ll need for this easy recipe:

• 8oz. Pasta or Marinara Sauce (your choice)
• 10oz. Tortellini
• 2 cups of Mozzarella cheese (shredded) or more if you prefer
• 14oz. Diced Tomatoes
• 1lb. ground meat or turkey
• Croc Pot/ Slow Cooker
• Slow Cooker Liner (optional)

This recipe is so easy it will take me longer to explain it that it is to make it lol.  But I want to share this with you because I love it so much and when I love something I need to share it with my besties!

First brown your meat and drain; next add you diced tomatoes and sauce.  Mix and let is sit on your croc pot for 3-4 Hours on High or 6-7 Hours on low.  About 15 minutes before serving add the tortellini and mozzarella cheese.  Cook for 15 minutes to allow cheese to melt and tortellini to cook and Boom done!  Super easy right?

I served this with some warm garlic bread but you can totally eat as is or add some steamed veggies on the side to this meal.

That’s it guys I hope you try this recipe and if you do and you love it, please share it with me on instagram with the hashtag #hncrecipe I would love to see it!  Here is a short video that I put together sharing my step by step instruction!

Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you on the next post!

xo,
Awilda

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Recipe

Hi guys!  Today I wanted to share with you one of my favorite recipes, this Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta is one I love to make.  I found this recipe a few year ago on Pinterest and it has been my go to meal for those hot summer months ever since.  Best of all it only takes 30 -45 minutes to make!  Which is a win for me!

Here is a list of what you’ll need:

• Penne Pasta 10-12oz.
• 1/2 cups of Bacon (crumbled) – I use precooked bacon but you can cook then chop them if you prefer
• 2 cups of Cooked and Chopped Chicken
• 1/4 cup Butter
• 1/4 cup of Milk (or heavy cream)
• 1/4 cup of Flour
• 1/3 cup of Ranch dressing
• 3/4 cup of Shredded Cheddar Cheese (or any cheese you prefer)
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• Olive Oil (optional -to keep pasta from sticking)

Directions:

1. First Cook pasta according to its package’s directions then drain.  In a separate bowl add the pasta with a little bit of olive oil (to keep the pasta from sticking) and toss in the cooked chicken and cooked chopped bacon.  Stir to mix it all together.
2. TO MAKE RANCH ALFREDO SAUCE: Melt butter in saucepan, add flour and stir to combine. Once you have your roux, add milk (or heavy cream if you prefer) stir constantly until sauce thickens (it took me about 5 minutes continuously stirring). Remove from heat and stir in Garlic salt, onion powder and ranch dressing until well combined.
3. Pour Ranch Alfredo over pasta, chicken and bacon. Stir to evenly combine.  And last add in shredded cheddar cheese and stir to combine.
4. Pour into a casserole pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes.

You can leave this as is or you can also add some peas, broccoli or any other veggie you like!

That’s it!  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family and I do!  If you’re more of a visual person, I have a YouTube Video in which I show you how I make this recipe here: Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta

 

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Recipe: {Chicken Tater Tot Casserole}

I like trying different recipes.  Especially recipes that are easy to make and require no extra effort on my part.  Not that I mind making meals from scratch -on occasion, but when you have a million things going on on  any given day, it’s difficult to make a yummy meal everyone will love.  That’s when my totally awesome slow cooker comes out to play.  I just throw my ingredients, set it and forget it (until dinner time) 😉

This recipe comes from The Country Cook.  Boy is it goo-ood!  It’s definitely a crowd pleaser in my home and I hope it will be at your home too.  Now on to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 32 oz. Bag of frozen Tater Tots
• 3 oz. bag of bacon (Since I didn’t have enough bacon at the time I used a combination of bacon bits and microwave bacon.)
• 1lb. Boneless Skinless Chicken (cubed)
• 2 Cups of Shredded Cheese (I used Mexican Blend: cheddar, mozzarella,
• 3/4 Cup of Milk
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Cooking Spray or Slow Cooker Liner

Directions:

Spray your slow cooker with cooking spray.  Add a layer of tater tots to the bottom of the slow cooker.

Add 1/3 of the bacon pieces and 1/3 of shredded cheese.

Now add your diced chicken and season with salt and pepper (mmm-mmm doens’t it look good already?)

Now add 1/3 of the bacon pieces and 1/3 of the shredded cheese.

Another layer of the tater tots…

Finally finish adding 1/3 of the cheese and 1/3 of the bacon on top.  Don’t forget to add 3/4 of Milk (I almost did!)

Cover and cook for about 4-6 Hours.  Now doesn’t this look good?  Told ya…

You can add a side of greens (we added steamed veggies) and your done!  Now go on and try it… You’ll love it!

30 Minute Meals {Cheesy Chicken and Pasta Recipe}

First let me apologize for this photo.  It was the only one I had available because when we moved from our home I misplaced my camera’s battery cable and  I also lost all the pictures I uploaded onto the computer and had to make due 😦 .  I hope in the near future I’ll be able to show some awesome recipes with even better pics 😀 . Ok now on to the recipe..

Before moving in to our temporary apartment, I made a delicious Cheesy Chicken & Pasta.  Here is what you’ll need:

• 4-6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (thawed)
• Shredded Cheese of your Choice (I used Mozzarella Cheese Blend -the only cheese I had available at the time 🙂 )
• One bag of pasta (I used Shop Rite Pasta)
• Cooking Spray
• Aluminum Foil

Directions

Pre-heat your oven to 400°F.  Next tear out sections of aluminum foil (enough to wrap each chicken breast in) and spray with cooking spray.  Place your chicken on each foil and add your cheese.  I used about a 1/4 cup of cheese but you can use as little or as much as you’d like.  Wrap your chicken and place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes.  I like to wrap my chicken individually, that way any left over chicken can easily be frozen and cooked again (left overs rock!)  It also helps with picky eaters, my little one hates cheese on her chicken so I just lightly season hers and bake accordingly 🙂

Next cook your pasta according to package directions.  I usually wait until my chicken is just about ready so that the pasta is not sitting for too long.  I hate when my pasta is cold  or dry!  And if you don’t want pasta this chicken would taste great with steamed vegetables!  That’s it..  Easy peasy!!