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Kids Cook Monday: Spinach Empanadas

January 30, 2012 By Kristi

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It’s The Kids Cook Monday and Bug and I made Spinach Empanadas.These empanadas are incredible, even the neighbors said so, so  you know I’m not just biased. Bug, our nearly 3-year-old was able to be a huge help. Here’s how we split up the work.

Spinach Empanadas

Ingredients

1 cup cream cheese
4 ounces butter
1 ¼ cups gluten-free flour
¼ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
⅓ cups diced onion
4 teaspoons minced garlic
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
15 ounces drain Spinach, Frozen
1 cup cottage cheese
⅛ teaspoons pepper
1 egg

spinach empanadas

The Kiddo’s Tasks:

  • Peel the packaging off of the butter and cream cheese and set it out on a plate to bring it to room temperature
  • Toss the cream cheese and butter into the stand mixer bowl
  • Pour the flour into the mixer bowl
  • Help squish the dough into a disk and place it in a plastic bag to chill in the fridge
  • Take turns with Mommy rolling out the dough
  • Help select the container lid that’s the perfect size to cut the circles in the dough
  • Take turns with Mommy cutting circles out of the dough with the container lid
  • Peel the packaging off the spinach when it’s thawed
  • Squish the spinach over the colander to squeeze out the water
  • Set the spinach in the colander (and try in vain not to squish it more) to drain out the rest of the water
  • Mix the ricotta cheese and spinach into the cooked red onion, garlic and mushrooms
  • Crimp the empanada edges
  • Spray baking/cookie sheets with oil or non-stick spray
  • Eat the empanadas and say “yummy, yummy”

The Mommy’s (or Daddy’s) Tasks:

  • Run the stand mixer for the dough
  • Set the timer for the dough’s refrigeration time (3 hours)
  • Do a little dance with Bug when the timer goes off
  • Help roll out the dough
  • Help select the container lid nearest to 5 inches diameter to cut the dough circles out (and wash the container lid before and after cutting…we had company coming over to eat with us, after all)
  • Help cut circles in the dough
  • Preheat oven
  • Saute the onions, garlic and marinated mushrooms.
  • Place sauteed veggies in a bowl to cool and check temperature while Bug waits to put in remaining ingredients
  • Fold the empanadas and let Bug do the fork crimping (make it look prettier if necessary)
  • Brush egg wash over empanadas
  • Bake the empanadas
  • Eat the empanadas and say “mmm” a lot

We had so much fun making these together and it was honestly a lot easier than I first suspected when choosing to make this recipe. And oh my goodness are they delicious! We and the neighbors all loved these empanadas and I’d definitely go through the effort of making them again in the future. Delicious!

Check out our other empanadas, too! Or these yummy dessert empanadas.

The Super Easy Vegetarian Slow Cooker Cookbook

Want vegetarian and vegan recipes you’ll love? Check out my first cookbook! I’m so excited about it and I hope you’ll love it. You can find more information about it right HERE.

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Filed Under: vegan, vegetarian, whole food Tagged With: empanadas, kids cook monday, spinach

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Kristi Arnold is a former newspaper reporter and editor who is now a cookbook author and gluten-free vegetarian(ish) mom married to Mr. Meaty, a "normal" omnivore. Helping moms introduce family-friendly meatless meals into their lifestyle with ease. Read More

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