Empanada Recipes, How to Make Empanadas of Argentina, Mexican, Colombian style and Many More

What is an empanada? Fried or baked empanadas? How is the exact name: empanadas, empandas, enpanadas empenadas, empinadas, empanaditas or empanadillas? Savory or sweet fillings? There are so many questions, with several answers.

Let's tackle with the name: Empanada

Empanada is a Spanish term that doesn’t have a translation to English language, this is why you can find different spelled and misspelled names. Empanaditas or empanadillas are small empanadas usually, eaten as snack, and the ending "…itas" or "..illas" means small-mini, very common terms in Spanish language (Español)

What is an Empanada?

Empanadas came out of the Spanish verb "empanar", in other words to coat or wrap in bread. They are done with pastry dough (often also with phyllo dough) and the empanada filling can be your total creativity inside the kitchen.
The most popular are with beef, chicken, seafood, cheese, vegetables, spicy, pumpkin, apple and all have different sauces inside as well as shapes. Folding dough around your stuffing and sealing it, presto, you get an empanada!

Empanada Origin

The empanada-history is apparently from Spain, and a different version of Portugal, but it seems that, obviously, folded dough and yummy stuffing appeared in numerous parts of the world. We have the famous Indian samosas or the Italian calzone and many more, to name only a few.
Where the Spanish people were, they appeared empanadas, spreading in all Latin America, Caribbean countries and the Philippines.

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Giveaway Canvas Print from UPrinting!

I'm in giveaway-mood lately, so here it's other one for my US readers!
UPrinting is giving the opportunity to win fantastic Canvas Prints for your joy! You can decorate your walls with your favorite digital photos and your imagination is the limit.

UPrinting is a leading online printing company, specialized in high quality custom printing at the most affordable prices, including Promotional Printing, Brochures, Business Cards, Postcards and more.

What you can win? Here are the details:

16 x 20 Rolled Canvas for One (1) Winner
Specifications: 1 Business Day Turnaround
Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping
Eligibility: Limited to US Residents only

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Foodie Resources - Social Media - Blogging Tips - Diet Bloggers - Healthy Eating Habits: Best of the Week

The Best of the Week is a series of roundup-articles published every week, touching principally themes related to food, blogging, social media and health. For more information, you can read the first article of these series.

Do you want to be included in "Best of the Week" posts?
The featured articles come from the return-feedback in comments I've from other bloggers, from the interacting on my social networks as well as of selected-articles chosen between hundreds of my RSS reader's subscriptions to other blogs.

Where can you enter in this equation? It's simple: commenting on my blog and interacting with me on my social sites is the better way to have you present in my mind when I'm compiling the data to make it ;-)
Subscribe with a RSS reader or by email to be updated and also join me at twitter, facebook, stumbleupon, foodbuzz and join my blog on facebook.

So what are you waiting for? I expect hearing from you!

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Chile Earthquake, this Natural Disaster is one of the Worst Latest Earthquakes and Social Media Help for It

Chile earthquake, a natural disaster that is one of the major latest earthquakes. This year 2010 didn't begin well, plagued of earthquake activity. First the terrible one of Haiti and now the Chile earthquake.
Truly, the nature is angry with the world.

The major earthquake has had a magnitude 8.8, hitting Concepcion in Chile, generating waves and damages in Santiago de Chile (Capital), plus in nearer geographical zones like Peru, Argentine, Brazil, and Ecuador.

Tsunami alerts in distance areas like Hawaii and even Japan were dismissed fortunately. The earthquake effects are being perceived practically global and they are affecting strongly the economy of Chile.

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Best of the Week and Winner of The Kitchen Fork Giveaway!

The Best of the Week is a series of roundup-articles published every week, touching principally themes related to food, blogging, social media and health. For more information, you can read the first article of these series.

Do you want to be included in "Best of the Week" posts?
The featured articles come from the return-feedback in comments I've from other bloggers, from the interacting on my social networks as well as of selected-articles chosen between hundreds of my RSS reader's subscriptions to other blogs.

Where can you enter in this equation? It's simple: commenting on my blog and interacting with me on my social sites is the better way to have you present in my mind when I'm compiling the data to make it ;-)
Subscribe with a RSS reader or by email to be updated and also join me at twitter, facebook, stumbleupon, foodbuzz and join my blog on facebook.

So what are you waiting for? I expect hearing from you!

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Back & 2 Awards

I’m returning after a week that wasn’t memorable in terms of the bad weather.
Practically, all the week was with storms and raining, even till yesterday.
Of course the complete outdoor plans I’ve had for the break, were cancelled and only I’ve done a few hours of a windy-running at the beach (not precisely in a sunny & hot day)

The cold-wardrobe appeared in scene again even though is summer...
The situation was ugly with floods in several cities and alas, with persons disappeared carried by the fierce waters.
At some cities of the middle and north of Uruguay (my country), lot of people lost their homes due to the repetitions of the frequent floodings.

Due to the heavy rain, the electricity was cut in some places and for example, in Buenos Aires (capital of Argentine) the situation was worst with cars swimming in the streets in popular neighborhoods, really a chaos.

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4 Ways to Love the Healthy Foods You Have to Eat

The following guest post was contributed by Melissa Tamura.

Isn’t it just a bummer when you want to stay healthy but also want to eat what tastes good? Sometimes it seems that there are no real compromises for marrying what you love to eat with what you have to eat.

Of course, you could buy the low-calorie, low-fat, low-sugar products, but a lot of them offer only slightly lower calories, fats and sugars and add other not-so-healthy products to help preserve them. So how can you successfully love what you have to eat? Here are some ideas:

1. Spice Up Dishes with Foods in the Dietary Guidelines

One great aspect of the well-balanced diet is that meats, fruits, veggies, dairy and bread are all there. So it’s not that you can’t eat what you want, it’s that sometimes we throw the extras on like mayonnaise, fatty dressings, sugars, and the rest, which could throw your balanced diet out of proportion.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t dress up your foods, however. With a little creativity, you could have the extras without stepping far outside your guidelines. For instance, did you know that mixing plain yogurt with pureed cucumber and various seasonings makes a great topping for sandwiches? Also, if you want a glass of lemonade, instead of adding white sugar, you could add pure maple syrup – it tastes amazing!

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