Red Velvet Cake Balls

I am not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day, not because it is a hallmark holiday or anything, but because lately, I am not really a huge fan of holidays in general. However, Valentine’s Day gave me an excuse to try making Red Velvet Cake Balls.  My mom directed me to Bakerella where I read a post about these cake balls. To say the least, I was intrigued. Turns out, they are a brilliant idea, fairly easy to make, and quite tasty. One of my coworkers described them as “sexy;” I am not sure what that means, but I think that it is a good thing. 

To make the cake balls you need the following things:

1 box red velvet cake mix

1 can frosting (the recipe called for cream cheese frosting, but I used whipped vanilla)

1 package chocolate candy melts

1 package white chocolate candy melts*

*the original recipe calls for 1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate) but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I settled on the candy melts that you can get at an arts and crafts store for making candy. I got both dark and white chocolate for added contrast on the actual cake balls.

Chicken Ginger Scallion Meatballs and Brown Rice Edamame Risotto

Chicken Ginger Scallion Meatballs and Brown Rice Edamame Risotto

I have made these meatballs a few times and love them. I first saw this recipe in the 2008 December issue of Real Simple. Real Simple always makes me think...remember when life was fake and complicated instead of real and simple? Anyway, these meatballs are really simple to make, with just a few ingredients, but they have some really complex flavors. I usually make them with some brown rice and edamame, but I decided to kick it up a notch and make the rice into a risotto. I thought a simple Parmesan based risotto with edamame mixed in would be a really delightful match for the meatballs. Since I had never made this dish in this way, it took a bit of figuring out to time manage it all. You may have noticed I often have process it all. So, I decided to assemble the meatball first, refrigerate them while I made the risotto. Risotto usually takes about 25 minutes to make, but since I made it with brown rice instead of Arborio rice (which is what is normally used) my cook time was doubled at minimum. Also, risotto usually cooks with out a cover so the liquid can evaporate, but with the brown rice, I needed to cover it for most of the time to allow the rice to absorb the liquid to cook. 

Chicken Ginger Scallion meatballs

Ingredients

• 1 package/1 lb ground chicken
• 2 green onions or scallions, chopped
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger (frozen)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Sauce

• 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Edamame risotto

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large white onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 cups brown rice (arborio rice)
• 1 cup  white wine (I actually had some left over muscatto in the fridge, it added a nice sweetness)
• 4 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable/chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups shelled edamame, thawed
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• kosher salt and pepper

As always, before you start, prep everything. Chop the green onions, the white onion, garlic, and grate the ginger. Again, I freeze the ginger, peeled in small sections. It makes it MUCH easier to grate and it will thaw when you mix it in with other stuff. Also, it doesn’t loose as much “ginger juice.”