Harvest Meat Pockets

This recipe is a great one for the kids. My little ones love food that can be held in their hands and this one has a bonus of being fun shaped! My 10 year old had a great time making these and I got a night off.

There isn't really a specific recipe for this super simple dinner, but this is how we made them. We mixed about 1 cup of seasoned ground beef with a cup of ricotta, garlic salt and Italian seasoning.

Then I rolled out the pie dough that I had diligently worked on all afternoon. Ok, just kidding. I sent my husband to the store for a box of ready crusts. For customers I will make dough, but when I am going to be letting the 10 year old cook I don't put in that much effort. Yes, call me lazy, but it was a great shortcut and one I would recommend when you don't have the time to make your own dough. We used pumpkin and turkey shaped cookie cutters to make the shapes.

The cut shapes were placed on a cookie sheet. About a tablespoon of meat mixture gets placed on the dough shape.

The top shape was then laid over the top of the meat and pressed down on the edges. I would suggest rolling the rolling pin over the cut top shape a bit to stretch it out a bit. This will help it to cover the meat and bottom shape fully.

The meat pockets were cooked for 15 minutes at 350.  We served them with a tangy marinara. The kids enjoyed them and the 10 year old was excited to have made dinner. Personally, I was happy to have a night off!

 This is one of the turkey ones made by my 10 year old. Not bad for someone so young!

There is an endless amount of variations that can be made to this recipe. We have had them filled with taco seasoned meat, tomato and Monterry Jack and dipped into salsa. I have hidden enough veggies in these that a friend always asks what I am sneaking her when she tries my treats! My favorite thing to do is add a a bit of pureed carrot and some frozen spinach to the meat mixture.

Let me know if you have tried these or if you have any ideas for variations. I am always looking for great filling ideas.