Sweet Sweet Balls

Rice balls... What did you think I was talking about? Sheesh!

I don't know why I've been sitting on this recipe for so long. But let me tell you it is really delicious and a twist on your every day arancini (aka rice balls).

A few years back an arancini restaurant opened up near us.  We were all about the balls covered in marinara, ooey gooey with cheese.  But they were pretty pricey. You all know what that means. Figure out how to make them myself.

After making the traditional savory variety, I thought why not make a sweet version. Rice pudding surrounding a molten centre, a side of ice cream.... Mmmmm

Nutella was all the rage at the time, so of course we had to make a Nutella filled arancini. Then apple pie seemed like a natural choice rolled in cinnamon and sugar after frying.  They came out looking like timbits (for our American friend, timbits are donut holes).  After exploding balls I figured out that Nutella works better when it's frozen, and it makes it a lot easier to handle as well.

Cinnamon sugar apple pie filled arancini

This weekend my eldest declared out of the blue that we should make s'mores rice balls!  Who am I to stifle such creativity. 


The directions are pretty simple.  First you make your rice pudding, spread it in a pan to chill in the fridge.  You will also need egg wash graham crumbs and some plain bread crumbs.  I complained when my husband bought plain bread crumbs instead of the italian seasoned... but they came in handy on this occasion.

Place about 2 tbs of the cooled rice pudding in your hand and make a ball.  With your thumb press in a hole and spread the rice pudding out so you have more of a bowl shape in your palm like so.

The finished product should be about the size of a tangerine.

Now fill your rice pudding with whatever filling you'd like.  For s'mores I used 4 chocolate chips, 3 marshmallows and another 3-4 chocolate chips on top.  Now's the tricky part.  Try to close the sides back in to a ball around your filling.  You might find it easier to grab a bit more pudding to flatten out and add on top.  Roll in to a ball.  Roll in graham crumbs to coat, then coat in egg wash, then roll in a mixture of half and half bread crumbs and graham crumbs.  I found the graham crumbs alone did not give them a crispy outer layer. Fry the rice balls in oil at about 325 degrees until they are a golden brown.

 Cherry Cheese Cake Arancini

 S'mores Arancini

Other filling options:
Nutella- place 1 rounded teaspoon on parchment paper and freeze before stuffing
Apple pie filling - you can freeze this as well, I didn't.  Roll in cinnamon sugar mixture immediately after frying
S'mores - mini marshmallow and chocolate chips
Cherry cheese cake- mix cream cheese with powdered sugar to your desired sweetness. Stuff with 1/2 tsp of cream cheese and 1/2 teaspoon of cheery pie filling
Blueberry crumble- Add some rolled oats in with the breadcrumbs and stuff with blueberry pie filling
Caramel- Stuff with a caramel square
PB&J- Haven't tried this one yet, but it's next on our list. 1/2 tsp peanut butter & 1/2 tsp favorite jam or jelly

Rice Pudding
Use your favorite recipe, but decrease the liquid by about 1/2 cup so your rice pudding has a thicker consistency like risotto.
2.5 cups of milk (or non dairy substitute like coconut milk, almond milk)
3/4 cup arborio rice
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Spices *optional
1/2 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom

In a heavy saucepan over medium high heat combine ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook uncovered and stirring frequently for approximately 25 mins.  Remove from heat, place on a cookie sheet or baking pan and refrigerate until cool and thickened.

Really me,
Sweet Balls in my mouth (seriously get your minds out of the gutter!)
Nik

Jammin' Jambalaya!!

My mouth was watering hours before dinner since I decided to get started on my Jambalaya around noon. The recipe is super simple. You could easily use leftovers cooked earlier in the week and make this a simple 20 min meal. Or an easy slow cooker meal.

Here's what you need.

6 slices of bacon cut into 1 inch pieces
1 celery stock chopped
1/2 green/bell pepper chopped
1/2 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 chicken breast cooked and cubed
2 sausages cooked and cubed (andouille which I couldn't find here, but hot italian would be awesome, or mild italian for a kid friendly version, kielbasa is also a great alternative I came across)
1/2 pound fresh or frozen shrimp
1 can crushed tomatoes (I used whole tomatoes and an immersion blender)
2 cups beef broth
2 tsp cajun seasoning (I used creole seasoning, but they are very similar)
1c Instant Rice
Franks Hot sauce to taste (optional)

Since the chicken and sausage need to be cooked, you can do this the night before, or earlier in the week.

1. In a frying pan, crisp the bacon. Remove it with a slotted spoon. Add celery, pepper and onion. Cook until tender, add garlic.

2. Add chicken, sausage, tomatoes, beef broth, hot sauce, corn and cajun seasoning. (If you are using frozen shrimp add them now). Bring to a boil.

3. Turn heat down to a simmer, add rice and fresh shrimp. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until the rice is tender.

4. Add bacon just before serving. Enjoy!

K didn't even notice that I had done my hair when he got home. The waft of jambalaya was so strong in the air that he was pulled out of his boot and into the kitchen to look in the pot on the stove. Never mind that I had newly dyed my hair, he wanted to know what bowls to use. He wasn't disappointed.



We give this meal an 8.5 out of 10. It's easy, quick and tasty. It could have used a bit more heat, in K's opinion. This will be a keeper for sure!

Really me,
The Chef
Nik

How do you do that?

That's something I hear fairly often when I talk about my shopping budget. I usually spend about $80-100 every two weeks on a big shop. Then we will likely spend another $20 on extras during the two weeks for things like milk, or buns or a forgotten item for dinner. Lately we've been in a little rut. Working a few hours every week, two kids at home, pre-school, crawling, ballet and all the other things we do during the week make for a tight schedule.

Food and money and taste and time are all things that drive me crazy on a daily basis. Making healthy meals that don't take forever, taste good, and not break the bank. So when a dear friend said that she was going to try to have a different meal every day for a month. That sounded like an awesome challenge!

I'd love you give you the opportunity to follow along. I'll post recipes, and shopping tips.

We have our meal plan set for the next two weeks, I'll post the recipes with a rating as we go.

Today: Traditional rump roast ($8.59) Scalloped potatoes ($1.49) and Broccoli ($1.50)


Monday: Jambalaya
Tuesday: Quick Fry steak with mashed potatoes and corn
Wednesday: Fish Tacos with mango corn salsa
Thursday: Curry chicken with rice and peas
Friday: Chicken Fajitas with Fries Supreme

Since this is my first blog in a while, I feel like starting it off with a little fun.

Here's a picture of my Sunday shop for 2 weeks.
The person who comes the closest to the price I paid for all the items will win a little something.
Here's a little tip: I spent more on this shop than I usually do.















Eggs (18)
Quick Fry steak (2)
Medium Ground Beef (2)
Bon in skin on Chicken breast (pack of 5)
Chicken thighs (pack of 11)
Pork Shoulder
Bananas (4)
Oranges (4)
Green Pepper
Broccoli
Yogurt Tubes
Alphabits Cereal
Pasta Sauce (4)
Margarine
Butter
Diced Tomatoes (2)
Large Fajitas
Small Fajitas
French Fries
Coleslaw mix
Sour Cream
Whipped topping
Mac & Cheese (2)
Cheesestrings (pack of 16)
Whipping cream
Canned corn (2)
Tropicana Juice (1.63)
1% milk
Old cheddar Cheese (500g)
Mozzarella Cheese (500g)
Black Beans
Kidney Beans
Nibs (2)

ETA: I shop at Food Basics.


Really me,
Glad to be back
Nik

Food = Love

In my world food = love. When you love somebody, you want to take care of them. If you don't particularly care for a person, then you don't really care if they're hungry. Hunger is one of our most primal needs. Therefore, the more I care about you the more/better/tastier/healthier I feed you.

For example, when I bake to bring stuff to work, I usually make cookies or some kind of sweet. Sure I like the people I work for, so the food is tasty, but it's not cooking at my best, and it's certainly not healthy... cause I don't really really care about their health. (oops I think that came out wrong. lol)

I bet you thought this was going to be a touchy feely blog... ha! Wrong! It's a food blog!! But I had to explain all of that so that I could say "I must really love my husband and dad" and have you really understand why I say that.

Father's day Menu... Mojitos, Mules



steak on the BBQ, sausage, Garlic Parmesan Monkey Bread



Cola Ribs, potato salad, and....



Chocolate Banana Split Dessert.



Really me,
Your loving wife, and daughter,
Nik

Weekend of cooking II

K and I had a nice romantic dinner last night. Though Demi did share in the pasta she made in the form of linguine.

Some of the recipes I read called for wonton wrappers instead of pasta. Somebody suggested doubling the wrappers to give you more of the pasta texture. Since I have a pasta roller, I made my own.
The pasta recipe I used can be found here, only I doubled the recipe. The trick to pasta is letting it sit after mixing for about 30mins to come to room temperature, and to take your eggs out ahead of tie so they are also at room temperature. I mixed my pasta in the bread maker, which also warms up a bit. That made life extra easy!

Crab Filling

1 can (4-6 oz) of crab meat
1/2 tub of marcsapone or ricotta cheese
1 tsp of italian seasoning
or
garlic, onion, basil and oregano to taste
salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the crab meat and keep the liquid aside for the tomato sauce. Combine all ingredients. Store in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

Creamy Tomato Sauce

1 can of diced tomatoes
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic (or as many as you like)
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp butter
basil, oregano and thyme to taste
salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp sugar or honey

Saute the onion and garlic. Once golden brown add tomatoes, crab juice, basil, oregano thyme and salt and pepper. Let simmer for about an hour so that the juices reduce. Use an immersion blender to puree the tomato mix. You can completely puree the tomatoes, or leave some chunks, whatever you prefer. Add butter and cream. Simmer for another 30 minutes.

To make the Ravioli I rolled out 2 flat sheets of pasta...err. Demi rolled them out. I used a small cookie cutter with a scalloped edge pressed gently into the dough just enough to leave the imprint of the outline. Then I placed about 1/4 tsp of crab in the middle of each ravioli. Use water to wet the ravioli around the edges. Place another sheet of dough on top, press down around the filling to seal the dough together. Then use your cookie cutter to cut out your ravioli. Make sure to use plenty of flour on the cut out pieces to make sure they don't stick to each other.











Really me,
The Chef
Nik

Weekend of cooking I

Crab ravioli with a creamy tomato sauce, garlic bread and banana cream puffs... sound good? That's what I made over the weekend. None of which is half as hard as it sounds. I will say in advance that I have a bread maker, and a pasta roller.

Grandma's Bread

In a bread maker add the following ingredients in order.

1 1/2 cups of warm water (about body temp)
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp butter (or margarine)
4 cups sifted flour
1 package yeast

Turn the bread maker on to dough/pasta setting. Allow the dough to rise once in the bread maker. Turn your oven light on. Flour your working surface, remove dough from the bread maker. Beat it down, separate the dough in two even sections, roll into a loaf, and put a few slits on the top of each loaf. Place the loafs into a greased bread pan. Place the bread pans on the middle rack in the oven, cover with a tea towel, allow the bread to rise for at least an hour, up to 3. Remove from oven, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake bread for approximately 20-25 minutes. *Tip: for a softer crust on your bread place a dish with water on the bottom rack while you're preheating and cooking your bread. You can also substitute shortening for the butter.

Cream puffs, and eclairs are some of my favorite treats. They've always seemed very daunting. But really it's not so hard at all. The recipe below is a combination of a bunch of recipes I found.

Banana Cream Puffs

Prepare 1 box of banana (or whatever flavor you're in the mood for) instant pudding.

1 cup water
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs

In a medium sauce pan bring water and shortening to a boil until the shortening is completely melted.
Add vanilla, sugar, and salt. Remove from heat add flour and mix with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a ball. Allow the dough to cool until it is just warm (about 45mins or speed it up by mixing it more). Once the dough is cool, add the eggs one at a time stirring vigorously to add as much air as possible. The dough will be thick and gummy.
Preheat oven to 425. Spoon little balls onto a nonstick baking sheet. Cook the puff shells for 20-25 minutes. When they begin to get brown, be sure to poke holes in them (a shish kabob skewer works well). This is crucial to make sure that the inside puffs up and dries out.
Allow the cream puffs to cool. Use an icing bag and medium pipping end to fill the shells with pudding. Top with icing sugar, or if you're any good with a double boiler, dip in a chocolate gnash. I suck when it comes to a double boiler so I just melted some chocolate chips in the microwave and dipped the puffs in that.
I also filled some of the puff with whipped cream. The canned kind made filling the puffs really easy and fun!



Stayed tuned for weekend of cooking II

Really me,
The baker,
Nik

Christmas Baking I

A friend asked for a cookie recipe for a cookie exchange which reminded me that I still hadn't written my Christmas baking blog, and here we are at T minus 1.5 weeks until Christmas! So without further ado, commence the Christmas baking!!

One Cup Cookies

Like the title says, basically these cookies are one cup of everything. This is a very versatile base that you can add whatever elements that you want. My friend requested no chocolate chip cookies…. so please omit the chocolate chips, add some nuts or as Nanna does, use the broken up Score bar bits for a toffee taste instead! (Tip: You can find them already broken up at the Bulk Barn)

· 1 cup brown sugar
· 1 cup white sugar
· 1 cup butter, softened
· 1 cup peanut butter (Tip: you can omit the peanut butter by adding a few Tbsp of milk for moisture)
· 2 eggs
· 1 cup rolled oats
· 1 1/2 cups flour
· 1 teaspoon baking powder
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 1 cup coconut
· 1 cup cranraisins
· 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in the eggs. Add peanut butter until well mixed. Add dry ingredients, mix well. Drop spoonfuls onto a no stick cookie sheet and cook until the edges are just golden (*edited*about 10-14 minutes). The middle should still look a bit gooey. Let rest for a few minutes before removing from the cookie sheet.

Really me,
The Baker
Nik

Pops!

Summer is coming, and our little ones are growing up so quickly. Being a healthy mom I'm always on the lookout for interesting ideas to let Demi have her treats, but keep the experience as healthy as possible. I came across a great book called "Pops!" by Krystina Castella. The book has recipes for young and old. K and I have been indulging in some really great cheesecake pops... not that I need any more help with my waist line.

The book contains some really great recipes, and provides a great base for any creative health conscious mom. One of Demi's favorite treats so far is a one of my own recipes taken from the Peanut butter and Jelly recipe from the book.... ok, apparently I wasn't reading carefully because I just noticed that one of her substitutions is banana! (though she does it differently than me.)

Of course every new hobby requires my prerequisite trip to my favorite store to stock up on supplies. The Dollar Store! As the book will tell you anything can be used as a popsicle mold. I purchased some actual popsicle containers, but ended up having to drill holes in the plastic sticks because they were just slipping right out minus the popsicle!

By popular demand I'm going to share my peanut butter and banana pop recipe, and the recipe for the cheesecake pops.

Peanut Butter Banana Pops
1/2 peanut butter
1/2 yogurt
1/2 milk2tbs honey
Mix in a blender
1/2 - 1 banana cut into small cubes. Fill your pop molds with the peanut butter mixture. Place in the freezer for 1 hr.
Remove the pops from the freezer and insert your banana pieces. The peanut butter mixture should be thick enough to suspend the banana throughout the pop. Freeze overnight (or a good 6 hours)You can make this a PB & J pop by using fruit juice (we used Bolthouse 50/50 veggie berry flavor). Fill 1/2 of the pop mold with fruit juice, let freeze for 1-2 hrs. Fill the remaining space with your PB mixture.

Cheesecake pops
(these work best in a silicon mold or in a paper cup so you can cut it off)

1 cup fruit reduction (we used strawberry)8oz cream cheese room temperature
1cup heavy cream (I used 2%)
1/2 sugar
vanilla
Crust
10 graham crackers6tbs sugar4 tbs unsalted butter melted

In your cup evenly distribute the fruit reduction (makes 8 6oz pops). Freeze for 2 hours.
Mix cream cheese, cream, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Remove the cups and evenly distribute cream cheese mixture. Insert sticks. Freeze for 3 hours. Mix crust ingredients. If the mixture is not sticking together easily you may want to ad some water 1 tbs at a time. Press the crust into the pop molds. Freeze for at least 4 hours.Of course you can ad fruit to the cheesecake mixture as well, or use chocolate cookie crumbs.

I used cardboard with a slit cut into it as a brace to hold the popsicle sticks in place. *Disclaimer: Children should always be supervised when eating popsicles as they can be a chocking hazard, and the sticks can be dangerous if they are running with them in their mouth.*

Sesame Street silicone ice cube trays make excellent Elmo pops!



Enjoy!

Really me,
Coolest mommy on the block!
Nik

30 Minute Meals III

Ok, so this one isn’t quite 30 minutes, it’s more like 40, but it’s still really simple, tasty and healthy. In fact it's probably something a spouse or an older child could throw the last few touches on, and throw in the oven so dinner is waiting when YOU get home! (S I'm looking in your direction ;) )

Fajita Chicken Casserole (one pot wonder!)
You’ll need:
1 chicken breast per person
Chicken Broth
Brown Minute Rice (for two people 1 c is plenty)
Salsa
Cheddar cheese (used to top each chicken breast, so you don’t need a lot)
Fajita seasoning
Beans (1/2 can well drained of any kind you like)
Peppers, julienned
Sour cream

Night Before:
1. Grate cheese
2. In a large casserole dish layer rice, beans, peppers. Place chicken breasts on top of the rice. Top the chicken with salsa and grated cheese.
3. Cover and store in the fridge. (it is very important to make sure there is no liquid in the container or the rice will suck it up and ‘cook’ before it’s time.)

Dinner Time:
1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Mix the required amount of chicken stock with ½ package of fajita seasoning.
3. Pour into the casserole dish.
4. Cook for about 40 mins or until chicken juice runs clear.
5. Top with sour cream, enjoy!

Since there’s nothing else required after you throw the dish in the oven you can use the spare time to hang out with your family, do some house chores, surf the web etc.

30 Minute Meals II

In contrast to the first 30 min meal, this one is all about assembly. This is a quick meal I like to serve in the cooler months when you need something good and hearty. Most of the meal is assembly.

“Chicken A La King” with Rice
You’ll Need:
Brown Instant Rice
Chicken stock
TenderFlake patty shells (one per person is the proper portion size…we have been known to eat 2 each)
Campbell’s Soup (they used to have an A La King soup, but we can’t find it anymore so we use Smokey Bacon Chowder, or Chicken and Corn. What you’re looking for is a creamy soup with chicken and veggies)

Night Before
EDITED:
There are no steps for the night before. I just realized that the box says cook from frozen.

Dinner Time
1. Place the patty shells on a cookie sheet and cook as per box directions
2. In a small pot heat up the soup.
3. In a medium pot cook rice according to package directions using chicken stock instead of water.
4. Layer rice on the plate, patty shell on top and pour the soup over everything.

This recipe reminds me of a salmon dish my grandmother used to make on Fridays. She would make a roux, add a tin of salmon, some peas and serve it over a flaky pastry. This one will keep you nice and warm on a cool night.

Really me,
The Chef
Nik

30 Minute Meals I

I’m no Rachel Ray, who could compete with that butt anyways (or at least that’s what my husband says). But I have come to master some pretty simple 30 minute meals since going back to work. Since food, and particularly healthy, quick, budget friendly food always seems to be such a challenge, I thought I would share.

What makes my meals 30 minute meals is a bit of prep work the night before. My husband will do up the dishes and I’ll prep for the next day’s dinner.

One of my favorites is chicken fingers and fries with a side of coleslaw. For this meal I use some homemade food and some pre-packaged food.
You’ll need:
1 chicken breast per person (frugal tip: use dark meat to save money, and if you de-bone it yourself it’s also a lot cheaper)
1 med. sweet potato per person (or a bag of sweet potato fries will work in a pinch. And yes, you can do the recipe with regular potatoes, but they’re not quite as nutritious.)
Bag of premade coleslaw & dressing
½ c Italian Bread Crumbs
1 c Cereal crushed (cheerios, rice krispies, cornflakes, special K, any neutral cereal will work)
Butter (1/4c will do 2 and a bit breasts)

The Night Before:
1. Crush up about 1 cup of your cereal and mix with ½ c bread crumbs and 2 tbs flour.
Melt your butter in the microwave. Cut chicken into strips.
2. Coat the chicken strips in the butter, then place them into the cereal mixture. Coat well.
3. Place them on a baking sheet, cover and put them in the fridge. (Time saver: you can make a large batch when you have more time. Freeze them on a cookie sheet then transfer portion sizes to a freezer bag so they are ready and on hand when you need them!)
4. Cut sweet potato into wedges or strips. Place them on a microwave safe plate and microwave on high for 2-3 minutes or until they are fork tender.
5. Let the potatoes cool (silly me, burnt my hand the first time). Place them in a bowl, dress with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Mix until they are all well coated. (You can use any spice of your choosing to dress these up even more. We like Cajun spice.)

Dinner Time:
1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Place chicken fingers and potatoes on a large cookie sheet topped with parchment paper. (Kitchen Tip: parchment paper helps the sweet potato to crisp up).
3. Cook for 25 minutes turning once at 15mins.
4. Open your bag of coleslaw, add the dressing and serve!

Yes, you could use store bought chicken fingers and store bought fries. What I’m trying to avoid is the huge amount of sodium found in pre-packaged food. Homemade = healthier.

Really me,
The Chef
Nik