Pastelitos

I love having access to the plethora of recipes found online! I was making a Mexicali Hamburger Casserole (Better Homes and Gardens May 2008); you know, quick, easy mexi-meat mixture with a cornbreadish topping. It was easy enough and it would feed the man clan...but probably not excite them. I had the meat mixture combined and the thought of Honduran pastelitos came to mind!

There was nothing quite like the pastelitos there in Honduras. No doubt, cholesterol bound...as all they knew to use was Manteca...by the bucket fulls. Everything there was fried in thick white hydrogenized fat. We didn't know any better; we used it too.

After a Google search and perusing several recipes, I settled on a tortilla recipe (which is posted below)and revised it to suite me. You know, my desire to better the recipes and make them a little more healthy. So, I used half white and half whole wheat for the dough and even though I fried these "baby pies" as my own little baby (now 3) kept calling them..I did use canola. The family shared in the pleasure of this wonderful taste from my past...........pastelitos.

Meat Mixture:
1 1/2 lb of cooked ground beef
1 15 oz. can of Rotel
1 cup frozen kernel corn
1 cup of finely shredded Mexican cheese blend
the above ingredients were per the BHG recipe.
cumin, pepper, salt, SW chipolte seasoning, garlic powder...to taste

Tortilla Dough
http://www.cooking-mexican-recipes.com/flour_tortilla_recipe.html
recipe adapted from the above website

• 2 cups of flour (1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat)
  
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 TBS. vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup warm water

The directions for making these tortillas were rather detailed and lengthy. However, she did a great job of breaking it down and making it easy. I do encourage you to go to the above website. This was my first time attempting tortillas since my summers in Honduras as a teen. Oh, they used to make fun of my misshapen attempts at tortillas. Today's efforts were much better. Rather than trying to shape them in my hands like the dear ladies that tried to teach me in Honduras...I used my roulpat and silpat and a rolling pin... The next time I do these I will post pics! Worked like a breeze! Perfectly round tortillas to fill with the savory mexi-goodness!

The accompanying sauces were homemade salsa and Cafe Rio Dressing. The pastelitos were served with tortilla chips and a salad. Oh, so satisfying