Arancini - Italian Rice Balls

Arancini are fried, (or less commonly baked), rice balls coated with breadcrumbs, said to have originated in Sicily in the 10th century. The name derives from the food's shape and color, which is reminisient of an orange (The Italian word for orange is arancia, and in Sicilian arancici means little oranges.) Commonly in Sicily these rice balls are filled with ragu or vegetables, it is more of a Roman flair to have them filled with cheese, they are called suppli.

I saw a posting for this recipe on Brown Eyed Baker and thought, I have to make those! They looked delicious and sounded pretty easy to put together. I mean what could be better than rice and cheese, baked and all gooey in the middle...Yum! I was happy to see that these rice balls were baked, rather than fried. I am trying to make healthier choices these days so its nice to have the option to bake instead of deep fry. I also made my own quick marinara sauce to go with the little rice nuggets and I was quite proud of how that turned out.

Arancini - Italian Rice Balls
(original recipe from Brown Eyed Baker is here.)

2 eggs
2 cups cooked rice
3/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs
4 oz. mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes, about 1 cup
2 T olive oil

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

2. Beat eggs lightly with a fork. Combine with the cooked rice and mix thoroughly.

3. Take 1 tablespoon of the rice mixture, place a cube of mozzarella in the middle ane then top with another tablespoon of the rice mixture. Shape into a ball and roll in the breadcrumsbs. Place on parchement-lined baking sheet and continue with the rest of the rice mixture.

4. Refrigerate the pan of rice balls for at least 30 minutes.

5. Meanwhile preheat oven to 425. Drizzle 2 T of olive oil over the rice balls.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with warm marinara sauce.


Marinara alla BellaRosa
(I know totally cheese right HA!)

1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, pureed (or 1 can crushed tomatoes)
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/4 sweet onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, grated or finely minced
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. red pepper flake
1/2 tsp. sugarsalt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a small or medium sauce pot, add onion and garlic and saute until softened. Add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce and seasonings. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 20 minutes.

Gooey, baked Italian Rice Balls
with Marinara Sauce

Ok...now let me just say...these were a pain in the butt to make!!! The rice was really hard to work with, trying to form them into balls...I swear I lost a lot of the rice in the breadcrumb cause I was just trying to get it to stick together and keep a ball shape. It was really messy and I found I almost gave up cause I was getting so aggravated that it wouldn't stay together. I finally found a way to get it to stay was to just press the breadcrumb into it and almost have the breadcrumb help with binding it all together.

I totally forgot about refrigerating them before baking, but I was so frustrated. They came out great though! They were really delicious and very satisfying. I don't know when I would make these again, I mean they are really good, but a pain to make. I was really proud of my sauce though, I thought it was quite tasty. These were interesting to make, a pain, but the end result was delicious. Also according to the wikipedia definition, I think these should be called suppli...but what do I know?

Baked Arancini

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

-BellaRosa

Chocolate Dipped Marshmallows...for Glee!

Who here watches Glee?!?!? I do! I do!! I am a totally Gleek!! I know I am 25 years old, but back in high school I would have never tried out for our show choir, and they weren't as cool! Plus I have always loved musicals and this show is just fantastic!!

Every Tuesday night my best buds Kay and Michele come over and we have "Glee Night." We make dinner and have a good ol' time watching Glee. Mr. Shue is being called a slut, Rachel is having a hard time keeping a boyfriend cause she is a little crazy and poor Kurt makes me cry every week while he tries to find acceptance from his dad because he is gay. Oh, and Artie has the best voice hands down! :) It's a great show...but anyway.

This week I made a treat for the girlies, I made Chocolate Dipped Marshmallows!

Looks like the start of something delicious!

I was looking at some fun food blogs this morning and saw someone made some chocolate marshmallows and I thought "I am totally doing that for Glee tonight!" So here we are. I had a ton of left over colored sugar from my bridal shower favors...so I am always hoping to use them in some way, and they don't really come up too well on the chocolate but I still think it's look really cool, makes them sparkle.

So I did the normal double-bolier to melt the chocolate then just dipped the tops of the marshies in the chocolate and then pressed them into the sugar or sprinkles. Very simple and very pretty...and delicious!! Oh man a fresh dipped marshmallow in the warm chocolate...heaven! And I am not even a huge fan of eating straight up marshmallows, but dip them in chocolate! Ok!


Eat Drink and Be Merry....and watch Glee!! It's amazing!

-BellaRosa

Baked Rigatoni with Tiny Meatballs for the In-Laws

We had my in-laws over for dinner last night, and I found this recipe from Smitten Kitchen last week and knew I had to make it! So there were a few new things for me in this recipe that I have either never done before or was a different way of me doing something.

I have never done the "piece of white bread soaked in milk and then rung out and put in the meatballs instead of bread crumbs." I don't think I would do this again, I thought it was disgusting to do. I mean the meatballs were great, but that process was kinda gross to me.

And then making a bechamel was new, at least the way they have you do it, but it was delicious! I mean, I have made alfredo sauce before and essentially its like the same, the flour and butter and make a roux and then add the milk, but they way they have you incorporate they milk was new to me.

I felt that this took me way longer to make than I had anticipated. It took me and hour and a half start to finish. But then again I don't always have the best time management when cooking, like it's really bad, and I tend to do a step last that I could have had going while something else was working, but oh well.

The tiny meatballs were fun to make, a little tedious, but so they look so cute! And the bechamel came together quite quickly and then just the pasta to boil and then bake everything, not too shabby. It was so good, my father-in-law had 3 helpings...I kid you not! That means it was amazing!! And he took the leftover with them for his lunch the next day!

I thought this recipe was amazing and delicious and I think everyone should make it, it was so saucy and the meatballs were so tender and just melted in your mouth, this was a great dinner. I served it with a nice salad and some ciabatta bread, and it was great. I suppose you could add veggies or some spinach in for more nutritional value, but I liked it just the way it was.

For the original recipe click here.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!!

-BellaRosa

Monkey Bread

Monkey Bread couldn't be easier. And what's better than sugar, dough and butter...nothing! This is a great dessert or party food because its just pulls apart and everyone can take however much the want. And it's so delicious!

Here is the recipe I used, I have one other one and one for mini monkey breads, but the mini calls for making your own dough and this one just uses store bought biscuit dough in the tubes. And yes it uses a stick and half of butter. Get over it. It's butter. It's delicious and you won't be eating this all the time. :)

Monkey Bread

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 cans (16 oz.) Homestyle Buttermilk Biscuits (should be 8 in a tube)
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted

Heat oven to 350. Grease a fluted tube or bundt pan.

In a storage baggie combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon. Separate the biscuits so you have 16 biscuits. Quarter each biscuit and place in the baggie with the cinnamon sugar.

Toss to coat each biscuit piece with the cinnamon sugar.

Arrange the biscuit pieces in the greased bundt pan.

Melt the butter and add the brown sugar and combine. Pour over the top of the arranged biscuit pieces in the bundt pan. Bake for 28-32 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy. Let stand for 10 minutes in pan. Turn out on to a serving dish (I like using a pie pan cause it's gets gooey and messy and the side on the pan help keep it all contained) and serve warm.

It will be ooey and it will be gooey...that means it's good! I love that fact that it is all pull-apart, I think that is so fun! You get a little messy and it just easy going and comfortable. It's a great warm, comfort dessert. I hope you try it and enjoy!
Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

P.S. Please don't judge my pictures...I am gonna have to work on the whole lighting thing *argh*

*Note: You could really add anything you want to this recipe. Adding rasians or nuts would be good or even dried cranberry. Maybe try chocolate chips and they could melt and make it all chocolatey!