Turkey Empanadas with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Okay, I admit it. I'm guilty! Guilty of STILL having leftover turkey in my freezer from THANKSGIVING! Anyone else in the same boat? Luckily, this dish was the last of it. I also made Turkey Enchiladas a couple of days ago, but didn't get any pictures taken before it was devoured, so you'll just have to use your imagination there.

Bits of meat like this has to be used up fairly quickly after freezing, because of that funky freezer burn it gets. I have ham in my freezer about to suffer the same fate. That's next on my list.

This recipe came from Haley at Cheap Recipe Blog. When I was reading the recipe, I thought her substitution for capers said green onions, but it said green olives. Oops! Luckily, I had green olives leftover from my Turkey Enchiladas. I'd already chopped up the green onions, so I just added those in as well. I also decided to saute the white onion in 1 tablespoon of EVOO, before adding it to the rest of the mixture, instead of throwing them in raw.

On another note, I'm officially back on Weight Watchers this week. No more excuses! I'll report back on Sunday with any pounds lost.

Turkey Empanadas with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

This recipe has been doubled

Filling

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 packages of Goya Brand Empanada Dough (In freezer section of ethnic grocery stores, I went to a store called Valley Produce Market. They were $1.99 each.)

3 c cooked turkey, finely chopped

8 oz. light cream cheese, softened

1c cheddar cheese, shredded

1 large onion, chopped

4 tablespoons capers (or 1/2 c chopped green olives)

1/2 c green onions, chopped

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt and pepper to taste

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

2 roasted red peppers

1c light mayonnaise

1/2 c light sour cream

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium sized skillet, set on medium heat, saute white onion in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, until lightly golden in color. Set aside. Mix all other filling ingredients. Add sauteed onions, and mix to incorporate. Place one large tablespoon of filling in center of empanada dough round. Moisten edges with water, then fold the dough over, and seal the edges. Crimp edges with tines of a fork. Place in oven on greased baking sheet for 15 minutes, or until crust is browned and filling is hot. To make roasted red pepper sauce, combine all ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.

This recipe makes 36 Empanadas. 3 Empanadas with 1 oz. of Roasted Red Pepper Sauce is 12 points plus.

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