For those of us that love food, I would say that there are certain foods that bring back memories. As a proud member of the Weight Watchers group, often we talk about feelings that trigger us to overeat; well, I would say that there are foods that I’m totally willing to spend those points on. For me, homemade Mexican food is where I splurge. I have identified that it’s the fact that I don’t live at home and I appreciate the home cooked meals that I often took for granted.
I think I must have been like thirteen, and we were celebrating Noche Buena (Chirstmas Eve) at Los Saldaña’s house. There was traditional Christmas food: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc. However, it has always been tradition to have Mexican side dish with some kind of homemade spicy salsa. Well, at this particular Christmas Eve, we had an empanada-making contest. It was so much fun and a memorable evening, very different than any other year. I made empanadas de picadillo and my sister and Mayra made empanadas de calabasa con pilonsillo (sweet pumpkin). They were so delicious! I won the contest… I’m kidding, I don’t remember who won. I just remember eating them, yummy.
This morning, hungrygirl.com announced National Empanada Day and I couldn’t stop myself from remembering the empanada making contest at Los Saldaña’s house. I Googled National Empanada Day and I ran into a website called “Home Baked Memories,” it’s a great website! It gives you a list of holidays along with recipes. So for those of you that like to explore in the kitchen and like to cook, here is one recipe that was shared on the website.
Celebrate National Empanada Day and perhaps you can share the name of a place you recommend that serves good empanadas in the city of Long Beach.