Irish Beef Hand Pies

Its no secret that I don't love to cook. I've admitted this before. I love food and I love to eat but I would much rather be doing just about anything else when it comes to cooking. I have been wanting to cut down on our food budget, so I have been cooking alot more but I am being smart about it. I am making double batches of everything I cook and freezing the leftovers for a quick meal. I tried this yummy hand pie recipe from Martha Stewart after searching for freezer meal recipes. This is so easy and sooo yummy! It makes for a great fall-time dinner. Read on for the recipe and step-by-step pictures.

Ingredients: Red potatoes, green cabbage, carrots, Worcestershire Sauce, thyme, beef sirloin, pie crust. I modified Martha's recipe by adding the diced the carrots, and increasing the Worcheshire sauce and thyme.

Shred a 1/4 head of green cabbage and dice the potatoes and carrots.

Brown the veggies over medium heat in a saucepan with the oil.

Add the beef and cook til brown. Add the tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and a cup of water.

Simmer until soft and mashable. Meanwhile,  roll out two 9" pie crusts into 14" squares. Cut the squares into 1/4ths.

Dollop a spoonful of the mixture onto one half of a square. Fold crust over, and seal with fork tines. Place hand pies onto a foil lined baking dish.

In a 400 degree oven, bake pies for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

For freezer meals, put the remaining unbaked pies on a sheet and put in the freezer for one hour. Remove, wrap individually in tin foil, place into a Ziploc bag, and freeze for up to two months. To cook from frozen state, increase baking time to 30 minutes.

At the risk of resembling my college cafeteria cook, I am going to start using this pie crust idea to revive leftover casseroles and stews.

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