Super Bowl Bawls

I had one of my more brilliant ideas recently. After talking with a co-worker about a buffalo chicken dip he had, the wheels in my brain started turning. With the super bowl coming up, buffalo wings were on the mind. So I thought, why not take the idea for this buffalo chicken dip, and put it in ball form, fried up as a tasty half-time appetizer? I've made a lot of meatballs in the past, so I started thinking about ingredients and methods. I settled on the following for my first attempt.

Buffalo-style Kickin' Chicken Balls
Makes about 6 dozen
Filling:
1 rotisserie chicken, meat pulled from bones and hand-shredded
4 celery stalks chopped fine
1 1/2 packages of neufchatel cheese, softened
2 oz blue cheese crumbled
1/4 cup Frank's hot sauce plus more for dipping
2 cups unseasoned organic breadcrumbs
Breading and Frying:
1 1/2 cups flour
3 eggs beaten + 2 Tbsp water to make and egg wash
3 cups panko
Canola oil for frying

I started off by blending the cream cheese, the blue cheese, and the hot sauce until there were no lumps. I then stirred in the celery and the chicken. It looks like sort of a tuna salad consistency at this point.

Ingredients and Chicken ball batter (pre-breadcrumbs)

After that, I stirred in the breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup at a time until I reached an almost dough consistency. At this point you can use your hands to roll 1 inch size balls.

Balls taking shape

The next step is rolling the balls in a 3 part breading. First in flour, next in egg wash, finally in panko. Start leaving these on a platter until you're ready to fry (keeping as cold as possible - fridge if needed).

Roll em' and dry em'

Fry the balls for a just a few minutes 2-3, until they reach a light golden brown color. Set on a drying rack to drain any excess oil.

Fried up goodness

Serve the balls alongside some extra Franks (I like mine submerged quite honestly) and with some celery sticks, and you've got yourself a game winner.

Tasty Balls

All the small things

While trying to stab some life into my grouchy veins lately (like all my positive babes out there), I'm finding that it IS all the small things that make me smile.

New business cards for work

Bento fish bottles for sauces and organizing my loot

Lazy lumps of snuggling kitties (and yes, that's how I sleep)Nieces who make you laugh at the bitter cold

Now spring just get here as soon as you can. Here comes the sun...do do doodoo, here comes the sun, and I say...it's all right. :-)

Economy: You A**hole

I haven't had much to post about lately. Quite frankly, I haven't been in the most optimistic of moods due to our dire economic times. I thank my lucky stars everyday that both Brad and I have secure jobs, as I watch people around me loose theirs, struggle to make ends meet, and have extreme amounts of generalized anxiety. It's bittersweet for me, because it's taken me the last few years to get past all my own anxiety! It seems somehow unfair that just as I'm finally not having to struggle anymore, when things are in a good place for me, things are not so great for those I love. Such is life I guess though, right? C'est la vie? When life gives you lemons, make lemonade? I do believe though, that we can all weather this storm together and that things will get better just as soon as they can. So here's to hoping we have a President that moves our economy in the right direction, focusing on staying positive and taking pleasure in the small things. Together, we can...

These times...they are a changing

Well here it is folks. Finally, the end of an "error" as they say. Out with President George W. Bush, and in with Barack Obama! I wasn't able to watch the inauguration coverage as I was swamped with meetings at work, but I did catch bits and pieces when I got home, and what a great day for America! Drawing on that inspiration, I made dinner tonight fit for a new President. Sometimes inspiration comes in waves, you know?

Chicken Briciole
3 large chicken breasts, butterflied and pounded extremely flat (you want cutlets here)
4 slices white sandwich bread
2 big handfuls pine nuts
3 cloves garlic, rubbed over a microplane
one big handful of parsley
the zest of one lemon
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
~1 cup good white wine
~4 tsp basil
Salt & pepper to taste

In a food processor, pulse up the torn bread, the garlic, the pine nuts (toasting them prior makes them especially delicious), the lemon zest and the parsley until they resemble corse bread crumbs. Set aside. Butterfly your chicken breasts (I just hacked mine into whole thin breasts by cutting them in two lengthwise), then pound them out using a skillet or meat tenderizer under a plastic storage bag until they're about 1/4 inch thick. Now spread the breadcrumb mixture evenly on top the chicken, roll up each cutlet, and secure the seam with toothpicks. Place these rolls into a slightly oiled pan on medium-high-ish. Cook about 5-6 minutes per side, until all sides are browned. Once each side is browned (but doesn't need to be entirely cooked yet), remove the chickens to a platter. Deglaze the pan with the wine (stand back!) scraping up all the stuck on chickeny bits. Add the can of tomato sauce, the basil, the salt and pepper to taste. Simmer the sauce for about 5 minutes, then add back the chicken, cover, and let cook on medium-low for about 10 more minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Make sure to occassionaly rotate the chicken so it's all covered in saucy goodness.

Polenta Triangles with Mushroom Ragu
Polenta:
2 cups chicken stock
1 Tablespoon butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
1/2 cup quick-cooking polenta
all-purpose flour for dusting
canola oil for frying

Ragu:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large package sliced baby bella mushrooms, coarse chopped
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 cups dry white wine
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

~2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream

For the polenta: Bring the water, 1 tablespoon butter, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a boil in a heavy medium saucepan. Gradually whisk in the polenta. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir constantly until the polenta thickens, about 5 minutes. Pour the polenta into a greased 9 by 9-inch pan, spreading so that it is 1/3-inch thick. Cover and let stand at room temperature until set, about 15 minutes. Once cool, cut the polenta into triangles. Dust each triangle with flour on all sides, and place in a frying pan with canola oil (oil should come up about 1/4 of depth of pan) until both surfaces are browned, ~ 4 minutes/side. Place on a wire rack to cool until ready to serve.For the Ragu: Heat the oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and onion. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper and saute until the juices evaporate, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until the mushrooms are golden brown, about 2 minutes longer. Decrease the heat to medium-low. Add the wine. Cover and simmer until the wine has reduced by about half, about 5 minutes. Add the parsley and cook another 1 minute. Wisk in the flour and cover and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, and add a touch of cream until the ragu has a nice velvet texture. Season the ragu, to taste, with more salt and pepper and spoon on top of the polenta triangles.Now just add a side of steamed broccoli, and you have a lovely dinner. Brad joked with me over our meal that this may be the first meal I have ever made that didn't have any cheese in it. He didn't even know it was possible for me to cook without cheese! I'm full of lovely surprises these days.

Commit to be Fit

As part of book club this month, the girls and I decided to embark upon a little healthy living competition called "Commit to be Fit." Essentially it's a game with a point system, where you gain points for doing healthy things, and loose points for not. We haven't decided yet what the total point value to strive for will be, nor what the winner will get, but we've got rules all figured out, which I'm pretty excited about. The greatest part about this competition is that it rewards and punishes behavior, not results. It makes it that much easier to make these rules part of your permanent lifestyle, which is much more motivating day to day and healthier long term!

Daily Points:

• +1 point for every day that you do not eat any fast food (fast food = any establishment without a waitress)
• -1 point for every day that you eat any fast food
  
• +1 point for every day that you eat at least 5 servings* of fruit & vegetables
• +2 points if you eat >5 servings of fruits & vegetables
• -1 point for every day that you eat less than 5 servings of fruits & vegetables
  
• +1 point for every day that you drink at least 32 oz of plain water (pellegrino can count)
• -1 point for every day that you drink less than 32 oz of water
  
• +1 point for every day that you exercise for 30 to 59 minutes
• +2 points if you exercise for at least 60 minutes or more each day (If you go over 60 minutes you only receive +2 points and not the +1 for each 30 minute increment)
• -1 point for each day without exercise

*serving defined as one half cup; greens/spinach/lettuce, one full cup. Examples:
Fruits - one medium banana, six large strawberries, two plums, fifteen grapes, one apple, one peach, one half cup of orange or other juice.
Vegetables - five broccoli florets, ten baby carrots, one roma tomato, 3/4 cup tomato juice, half of a baked sweet potato, one ear of corn, four slices of an onion.

Weekly Bonus Points

• +5 for every 3 lbs lost from the initial weigh-in
• -5 for every 3 lbs gained from the initial weigh-in
• +3 for taking an entire week's worth of allotted supplements (tailored to your needs)
• +5 for eating at least 5 servings of fruits & vegetables in the week (week = Monday through Sunday)
• +5 for 5 days of exercise in the week
  
• +3 for going a whole week without drinking any coffee or soda (diet soda's included)
• +3 for getting at least 6 hours of consecutive sleep for 5 days out of a week
• +3 for not eating any HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) for 5 days out of a week.

So there you have it. There's a spreadsheet to track your daily progress, and at some point we'll stop the game and see who got the most points, but we'll wait until at least everyone reaches 500 points. Healthy living games rule!

Bento box #2

I promise not to turn this blog into a daily bento offering, but for tonight, that's all I've got! Check it:While I'm at it, I should probably post a recipe, since I haven't written about food in quite some time. As you'll notice in the bento, there's some crazy green shaped meatball things. Those are another of my new found loves, spinach balls. I got the recipe from my mother-in-law up north over the holiday's, and I've been eating them like they're going out of style. Think spinach quiche without the crust. Yum.

Spinach Balls (makes 75)

2 10 oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, cooked and drained (squeeze it to get out all water)
2 cups stuffing mix (I use Pepperidge Farm)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 eggs
3/4 cup softened Earth Balance
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and form into balls the size of walnuts.
Freeze. (Drop them on a cookie sheet until frozen, then place in
containers). Place on cookie sheet, still frozen. Bake 10-12 min. at 350 F.

New Obsession

Today started off as a rather poopy day. I got several rounds of unpleasant news, so I treated myself after work to some retail therapy. Retail therapy and a new party dress usually makes everything better.

Can I make it a Birthday dress?

This evening did not disappoint. Then once I got home and worked out, I decided to end the evening on a happy note with tacos for dinner. Taco's are the only food shaped like a smile (Thanks for that, Earl Hickey)! After some dinner inspiration, I also decided to unveil for you my newest obsession. Behold:

The power of Bento

Bento is essentially the Japenese art of lunch making. Or rather, lunch box packing. Doesn't it follow suit with my love of all things mini, that this would be right up my alley? I've been psychotically checking bento box websites, blogs, and outlets for months now. I asked for my very own bento box and some bento box idea books for Christmas. Lucky for me, I was on the receiving end of some awesome goods (you rock Molly!), and even supplemented with a few more items of my own from a great site called I Love Obento.

New bento goodies

So get ready my friends, for lots of new bento box related posts. I'm just beginning so I don't quite have the hang of it yet, but I can only hope to improve over time with my newfound love.

It's Official

The Zawacki's are headed to Europe at the end of March. We'll fly into Munich and spend a few days with our friends the Metzner's (including day trips to Salzburg, Austria and Starkbierzeit), take the high speed train to Paris for an overnight in the city of Lights, then take another train to Brussels for a few days with my friend Erin Fleck and Belgian beer (and Bruges) before heading out to Amsterdam for home. I'm sooooooooooo excited! It's been a while since I've been to Germany, and this will be Brad's first time ever in Europe. Any other suggestions for things to do and places to see while we're there? We would like to make this trip one to remember.

I heart AADL

A quick little random post tonight to talk about my love of all things library. I think I have a secret obsession with libraries. In Rochester where I grew up, they built a giant monstrosity of a building that makes over a million transactions a year. I loved getting lost amongst the books in that place, studying in a private room, surfing the net back before my dad believed in computers, and just generally expanding my brain in a space full of knowledge. In fact, I loved the RHPL so much, that for a few summers and after school evenings, I even got a job there! Oh how I enjoyed sorting those books...
But then I moved onto cooler jobs for a high schooler, went off to college where I grew tired of acedemic library space, and finally moved to Milan, where I didn't even think about considering the library system before buying a house. What a mistake that was. I think my house has a bigger square footage than the library here. And forget about checking out anything even remotely new or worthwhile (sidenote: why do I pay such high taxes again??). For a long time, I gave up all hope of ever enjoying borrowing again, and started my flirtation with amazon's free shipping.
Something happened last summer though. After living for a brief while in Ann Arbor, I discovered that gave me resident status, and resident status meant free use of a district's libraries. At first I was overwhelmed and intimidated (why exactly are there 5+ library branches again? Can't we house everything in one giant building?), but then how my heart soared. Different branches around the AADL means there's an awesome intra-library transportation system, and even awesomer online ordering. Which means I could sit on the comfort of my couch, reading the best seller lists on my laptop, then immediately order those items to be picked up at my leisure at my preferred library branch, AND I even got an email alerting me of an item's arrival. How cool is that?
My love for tonight was sparked because I finally actually went and browsed around the new Traverwood branch of the AADL instead of just ordering things online for pickup. [Although I no longer live in AA (back in Milan for a while now), I just pay a non-resident fee that still gives me full use of all the library benefits.] Needless to say, I was impressed! I forgot how much I love just wandering around the cookbook section, and was pleasantly surprised at the sheer volume of DVD's available. Who knew I could get the entire series of Six Feet Under at the local AADL? Try finding that in Milan. Seriously, try. Anyway, I'm in a fantastic mood tonight because libraries make me happy, so I thought I'd post a little about my nerd love. Now you know. Don't say I didn't warn you.

New Kicks for Barking Dawgs

After a full 2 day New Year's Eve recovery (let's just say the 15+ jello shots I downed wasn't my best idea to date), I'm finally starting to hit those goals. I decided it was time for some new tennis shoes to help me on the treadmill. I have pretty high arches and one rolley ankle, so shoe durability and shock absorption is pretty important. I dragged Brad to Running Fit in Ann Arbor, and we both ended up with new kicks! An extra thanks goes out to RF dude for teaching us all about shoes and even a new way of lacing them to correct some of my problems. Now that the shoe business is all taken care of, I'm off to start my couch to 5K in 6 week program. Weeeeeee.