Crock Pot Beef Roast

When it comes to home cooking there is no recipe that needs to be followed exactly (unless you're baking).  I use what's at hand, and most of the time I eyeball the measurements.  Today I am making a beef roast in the crock pot.  Being a Cuban married to an American, it is only natural that I have also married the ingredients.  For a Cuban recipe I would have chopped onions; I substituted Lipton's onion soup mix, and I would have used tomato paste; I used bbq sauce.


3 lb round roast
1 pkg Lipton's beefy onion soup mix
1 cup water
6-8 cloves garlic, pressed
1 cup wine (I only had white, but dry sherry or red would be fine)
2 tsp bbq sauce
1 bay leaf

salt to taste

Set your crock pot to high if you're home, or to low if you're leaving it to cook all day. Toss all your ingredients in, cover and walk away.

I went back and added two potatoes, carrots and olives in final two hours of cooking. These could have been added from the start, but my potatoes were already boiled from the previous day and I din't want them falling apart. Like I said, whatever is at hand.

Empanadas de Carne #2

Here I go again, trying another recipe for empanada dough. I searched the internet and finally decided that this recipe would afford me my next adventure, but as usual, I had to make small adjustments. Here are the ingredients I used for the dough... and by the way, the dough turned out really tasty and flaky.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1-2 tsp sugar
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp vegetable shortening
1/2 cup water
1 egg yolk

1 egg for wash

Mix your dry ingredients with the butter and shortening using a pastry cutter or two butter knives, until fairly well blended. Form a well. Whisk the egg yolk with the water, and drop into the center of your flour mixture. Use a fork to first blend it together and then your hands to knead it into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Separate your dough to form about a ten small balls. Sprinkle a work station with flour and roll out the individual balls into a circular shape about the thickness of pie crust. (I left my shape ragged because I was lazy and I knew how to fold them to make them look like they were round, but if you want to make them perfect you can use an empty coffee can to form the circle).  Pour about a tablespoon of your filling in the center and fold the dough over. Pinch and fold the edge together (there are many videos on how to do this, search "how to fold an empanada") or just use a fork to press the edges together. Place your empanadas on  a cookie sheet (I put parchment paper on the sheet) and brush the tops with an egg wash. Bake at 350F until golden brown. (about 25 minutes).*

*Please note that this dough recipe turned out great for baking, but I did not test it for frying, so I cannot give an opinion on what the results would be.

I made a simple meat filling for these:


1 1/4 lb ground beef, browned and drained
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tbsp cumin
1 tsp salt
olive oil
1 cup water

Coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil and Saute your onions, pepper and garlic. Add the browned ground beef, the water and spices and let simmer for about 15 minutes on low heat. Easy, huh?