Easiest Meatballs - Step by Step

If you have been around my blog for a while, you may remember the post I did about Porcupine Balls.  These are a quick meatball you can whip up on a school night, and they are sure to be a crowd pleaser. Serve them with your favorite dipping sauce (BBQ or ketchup, perhaps) or just eat them plain.

I love to cook with a blog right in front of me showing step by step, so here are a few photos for you.

Pour beef rice-a-roni into a bowl.  Add an egg.

Add 1 lb of lean ground beef (very lean - you don't drain the fat on this recipe!) and mush it together with your fingers.

Wash off your hands and grab a cookie scoop like this.  Proceed to scoop little balls of the meat mixture into a skillet.

When you run out of meat, it is time to put the skillet on the stove top and brown the meatballs on all sides.

Like this.

Don't let Dioji's bored expression fool you.  He loves food blogging.  It often means the food gets carried to and from the sunroom for photos.

After this, add a cup and a half of hot water and the package of seasoning from the rice-a-roni.  Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low.  Let it simmer for about 40 minutes.  Check on it once to make sure that you don't need to add any water.  I haven't had to lately, but sometimes I do.  You want to make sure the meatballs are moist.

Then you are done.  Sit down and eat those porcupine balls with a smile.   Best of all, if you want to pack them the next day as a lunch, they are a great size for that!

Hungry for more?  Take a look at my Meatloaf Balls:


Or, if you want to try another porcupine ball variation, take a look at this recipe over at Food Network.  They are using ramen noodles:

 

Enjoy!

Ho-hum Bento

Not sure what it was about my lunch this morning, but I really just wasn't liking the way it turned out.  But I am trying to post consistently, so I will show it to you anyway:

This is one of those things where I have to wonder what made this lunch different than the past few.  I am using pretty much the same colors/ingredients - so why am I not thrilled?

Looking at the pictures, I think maybe it has something to do with balance.  The bottom tier (with the meatballs) just feels off kilter some how.  And when I couldn't get that to look the way I wanted, I hurriedly threw my top tier together.

This bento contains:

• porcupine meat balls
• red & yellow pepper
• tater tots
• broccoli
• grape tomatoes
• dark greens
• carrots
• a strawberry

The good news is, it was tasty and filling.  There are the left over bits of carrot and pepper (after I cut out the shapes) hidden underneath the spinach in the top tier.  Anyway, that was today's lunch.

Happy bento and enjoy your weekend! 

Colorful Leftovers Bento

Today's bento looks like this:

A little less childish, but still kinda whimsical.

This bento contains:

• brown rice
• porcupine meat balls
• roast chicken
• lettuce
• red pepper
• black pepper sprinkles
• grape tomatoes
• carrots

Here it is all packed up and ready to go.

Happy bento!

Tuesday's Bento

Call it childish if you will, but I love having a lunch that smiles at me when I open it.  

My windowsill is certainly getting more attention lately than it has for a while.

This bento contains:

• porcupine meatballs
• tater tots
• red pepper
• broccoli
• grape tomatoes
• carrots
• lettuce/spinach
• red grapes
• a strawberry
• black sesame seeds
• nori

This is a large strawberry and huge grapes.  Please don't worry that I am not getting enough to eat!

 Here is my lunch ready to be packed away.  I took a blueberry (soy) yogurt with me today as well.

All ready to go in my Thirty-One thermal tote:

Happy bento!

Porcupine Balls

Last night, for a special treat, I made Porcupine Balls and Tater Tots for dinner. (Such a comfort food!) If you haven't had porcupine meatballs before (like I hadn't before I got married) you should give them a try. They are super easy to make, and taste delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 package beef flavor Rice-a-roni
• (or the equivalent 3/4 cup rice, 1/2 cup broken vermicelli or angel hair pasta, and seasonings)
• 1 egg
• 1.5 cups hot water

Directions:

1. Put the rice portion of the Rice-a-roni in a bowl along with the egg and hamburger. Use your hands to blend well and shape into small balls. (Trust me on the size here, when I first tried this I thought, burger shrinks when it cooks, so I'll make them a little bigger. But the rice and pasta expand as they absorb water - so they actually end up slightly larger than you form them. Important to note especially if you plan to use them in a bento lunch!)
2. Brown all sides of the meatballs in a skillet.
3. Add contents of seasoning packet (or your own seasonings if you aren't using packaged Rice-a-roni. I can't anymore because the beef version contains milk. So at this point I added beef bullion, a little bit of Lawry's seasoning salt, garlic salt, and parsley & little bits of carrot for color.) and hot water. Pour slowly over the meatballs, cover, and reduce heat to low.
4. Simmer for about 40 minutes. It may be necessary to add more water to keep the meatballs moist. Turn balls at least once during simmer so they don't burn.

Thanks to my mom-in-law for giving me this recipe!

Last night's dinner became today's lunch, as you can see. (I am loving my new microwavable bento box!) Alongside the Porcupine Balls are carrot slices and Tater Tots, with home grown parsley for a garnish. The top tier contains peaches that I canned with my aunt. They are tasty!

Enjoy!