Good Morning! Hope your weekend is off to a good start so far 
We don’t usually post on the weekends but I thought since we have had a lack of posts as of recent, I would check-in and share a delicious recipe with you all! I have actually made this recipe once before but the photo came out pretty awful so I decided to re-post it.
If you have NO idea what Arancini is, you may be more familiar with the common name given to these bundles of joy… “rice balls”. Arancini are Italian rice balls coated with breadcrumbs and they are usually filled with meat sauce, tomato sauce, mozzarella and/or peas. I originally found this recipe for a casserole/healthified version of Arancini on one of my favorite blogs, Iowa Girl Eats. Kristin found the recipe Gina’s blog. If you want to check out the nutritional facts on the dish, go to Gina’s blog…she has it listed on there! It is delicious and very easy to make, too!! If you are stuck on ideas for dinner next week…give this one a shot!
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked long grain rice
- 4 cups water
- 1 (2.5 oz) sweet Italian sausage link, casing removed
- 10 oz (.65 lbs) 93% lean ground turkey (1/2 package)
- 1/4 cup onion, minced
- salt and fresh pepper
- 5 oz frozen peas
- 16 oz tomato sauce (if you are REALLY want to used jarred, I guesssss you can but making your own is so simple and so much better…dont be intimidated!)
- 1/3 cup egg beaters or egg whites
- 1/2 cup pecorino romano
- cooking spray
- 4 tbsp seasoned breadcrumbs, divided
- 1 1/4 cup shredded part skim mozzarella
Directions
Cook rice in water according to package directions. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, sauté sausage meat; cook until brown breaking up into pieces with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Add turkey and onions and cook until browned, breaking up as it cooks. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then add peas and 8 oz tomato sauce and simmer on low, covered, about 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400°. In a large bowl combine rice, pecorino romano, eggs, and 3-4 oz tomato sauce and mix well. Rice should be a bit sticky. Spray a 9 x 12 casserole dish with cooking spray, making sure to spray sides too. Add 2 tbsp breadcrumbs to the dish and roll around to coat the bottom and sides. Take half of the rice mixture (a little more if needed) and cover the bottom of the dish and up the sides; press to form the bottom layer. Add the meat and peas. Sprinkle mozzarella on top. Top with remaining rice and press until even. Top with remaining 4 oz of sauce, remaining 2 tbsp breadcrumbs, and remaining mozzarella.
Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 more minutes. Cut into 8 pieces.
In other news…my two friends from school, Jen & Kelly, and I are participating in the “Down & Dirty Mud Run” in Philly tomorrow! It is basically a 10K course with a bunch of obstacles and mud. I have really no idea what to expect but if is anything like this…
…I am sure I will love it! Who doesn’t love climbing and running through mud?! I remember whenever it would rain my soccer coach would love to punish us by making us do a bunch of drills in the mud on the field behind our school. We ended up looking pretty much like the guy in the above photo. I kinda loved it, though. Once you embrace the mud, its a good time! haha So anyway…I hope its as fun as I anticipate it being! Tonight Kelly and Jen are coming over for dinner. And then tomorrow…its go time! WOOHOO! Have you ever participated in a mud run/tough muddder/etc?
What are your plans this weekend?
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Mmmm…heard of arancini but never tried…this looks GOOD! Mud runs kinda intimidate me, not gonna lie. This weekend has been a whole lot of boring so far, but tomorrow I have a potluck/pool party, which should be fun!