Chorizo Black Bean Pockets: Easy Betty Says It's Too Hot To Work

Last week, my little crew escaped to the Old Country (aka Pennsylvania) for a week to be spoiled rotten by the grandparents. Considering that the Dev's and I haven't been alone together for over two years and I hadn't had a moment to really get ready for Baby Boy, a week without Thing 1 and Thing 2 was a gift, plain and simple. Your mother in law may drive you crazy, showing up at your house all the time, taking the kids blah blah blah. You bless that woman right now. You don't know what a gift you have having family near you.

Needless to say, after we (kind of) adjusted to the quiet in the house (and the fact that we could eat candy for dinner and watch movies really loudly at night with no fear of waking the sleeping dragons), we transitioned beds and cribs and moved around bedrooms and painted stuff and scrubbed carpets and washed baby clothes. And after a baseless meltdown about the state of my body, the hospital bag is also packed and ready to go. So while I have no idea who is going to watch the girls while I'm actually at the hospital birthing their brother, everything else is ready for this child to actually enter the world (knock on wood).

I don't need to tell you it's blistering hot outside--yes, it's summer and it should be hot; but this is like "I'm sorry, I repent" hot out. And as I'm nearing the final stages of this pregnancy--this long and difficult pregnancy--I've reached that point where I don't leave the house unless absolutely necessary. If not because the cashier at my local grocery store can't keep her annoying comments about my appearance to herself, then because the heat index is in triple digits by 9 am.

And since I'm avoiding said grocery store, I need to get a little more creative with dinner around here. This is what I came up with tonight:

You'll need:
2  8-oz cans crescent rolls (shut up, they were on sale and I had a coupon)
1 pound chorizo sausage (I used mild for the sake of the children)
1 large or 2 small tomatoes, diced
1 cup cooked or 1 can rinsed and drained black beans
8 oz shredded cheddar

Preheat your oven to 375 and prepare a baking sheet. While your oven heats, use a skillet to cook the chorizo (remove the casing) with the black beans, adding in the tomatoes once everything else is cooked through. Cut the heat and taste your filling to see if it needs something more. If you like spicy, add in some hot peppers or some chili powder.  Mexican sausage is pretty flavorful though so you may not even need salt and pepper.






On the sheet pan, separate out the first can of crescent rolls so you have 8 triangles.









Now top them with a heaping tablespoon of the filling and top with the shredded cheese. Leave the edges clear.










Using the second can of rolls, top the triangles and seal the edges with a fork. You may need to stretch out the top piece a little to cover the filling but since it's not a super-wet filling, you shouldn't have to worry about them exploding open.

 Now you have 8 triangles....and also about half the filling left-freeze it for later or use up 4 cans instead of 2 and feed the neighbor kids that just got out of your pool.

Pop the pockets into the oven for 12-15 minutes and bake until golden brown. I served these with a little salsa and sour cream for dinner. Fruit salad on the side and you have a full meal. Easy peasy. Dinner in less than half and hour.

The filling on these could be anything really. Leftover chicken with some spinach and feta? Mozzarella, pepperoni and mushrooms with a marinara dipping sauce? A little ground beef with diced carrots and peas? Look around in the your fridge or pantry and use up that stuff that's just sitting around.  If you add cheese to it, I guarantee you can slip in some veggies without the kids caring.