Salsa counts as a vegetable. You can quote me on this. So, when my mom sent me a jar of her homemade recipe, I knew I could tell my doctor with a straight face that I’d been eating my veggies.

It’s also coming up to the end of the semester. When this issue hits the shelves, you’re going to be knee deep in either finals or portfolios. Your buddies and you are going to be looking for something easy to eat. Something to sustain you through these last days. If you make a double batch of these, you can rest assured that it wasn’t really a form of procrastination, because your friends need things to eat. They need their veggies. You’re just looking out for them.

INGREDIENTS

  • ½ cup chicken breast (Or thigh. Or use turkey. It’s the end of the semester, you do you.)
  • ½ cup salsa
  • ½ cup shredded cheese (whatever leftovers you may have from the IP lasagna adventure.)
  • 2 prepared, refrigerated pie crusts.
  • 1 egg

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Bring a pot of water to boil and add your chicken. Simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
  2. Drain water and cut chicken into chunks, then shred.
  3. Combine chicken, salsa, and cheese into a bowl.
  4. Preheat oven (or toaster oven, you poor basement suite-dweller, you) to 375°F.
  5. Cut pie crust into 3-inch circles (use a cookie cutter, your mad knife skills, or the bean can from last night.)
  6. Spoon some of the chicken mix into the middle of the dough circle. Wet the edges and fold over, pressing together to seal in that chicken salsa cheese goodness. Repeat with all the dough.*
  7. Place empanadas on an ungreased baking sheet.
  8. Beat egg in a small bow; demand that it gives you the answers for the final exam.
  9. When it refuses to spill, lightly brush the tops of the empanadas with the egg. Laugh at whatever leftover egg remains in the bowl. It suffered for nothing.
  10. Bake empanadas for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown

*NOTE: You can freeze these things for cooking later. At this point in the recipe, just toss the uncooked empanadas in a bag and store for up to a month. (Remember to turn the oven off.) When you cook them from frozen, take on an extra 10-15 minutes of cook time.