Tonight, I've decided to start a blog to both monologue my cooking habits, and share them with the world! I am a twenty one year old male sharing a two bedroom apartment with two other guys. We have one bachelour sized stove with one large cooking element and three small ones, and three additional large stomachs.
Tonight, I'm cooking an altered recipe that I asked my Aunt about some weeks ago. I remember her and my grandmother making it when I would stay with them and it always filled the house with a very pleasant arouma! The original recipe Is just three ingredients, but I decided tonight to do some extra prep work and change them up.
On the Menu tonight is Special Cranberry Meatballs with Rice!
Normally, the recipe is just a 455mL bottle of Heinz Chili Sauce, a 398mL can of Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberries, and formed meatballs from Lean Ground Beef, cooked in the simmering / bubbling sauce made from the former two ingredients for two hours, but here's what I did instead:
I formed the meatballs just over 1 inch in size and placed them on a foil lined cookie sheet
( tip: I almost always line my pans with aluminum foil, much easier to clean up afterwards! ) . Preheating the oven to 350°F, I let them cook for about twenty minutes. This is so they wouldn't crumble while cooking further in the sauce, and drains them of a lot of grease, which would otherwise collect in the sauce.
Instead of just getting normal Chili Sauce, I got Heinz Chili Sauce Chunky with Sweet Peppers for additional flavour. Together with that and mashing the Jellied Cranberries, I let it mix and cook until simmering. Than, I tossed the meatballs in, brought it to bubbling again, tossed on the lid, and started the Rice!
I had gotten some Long Grain Brown Rice, store brand, and had cooked it a few times to get used to cooking rice. I found that I had to add a bit of extra water for it to come out just right. When cooking this time, I had my big lidded pot occupied with meatballs, so I used another big pot I have, put a lid on it that sealed a bit less well than if the lid were made for it, and tossed in some extra water to make up for all the lost steam.
One big thing I'm always doing it stirring the meatballs while they're cooking in the sauce so it doesn't burn on top or bottom. I have cheap pots so I always have to be very attentive to them. I also stir the rice a little until the last ten minutes, which is when I let it sit and cook out the rest of it's time.
Okay! After forty minutes, my rice was done, as per instructions, and they came out pretty good; could have cooked them for maybe a little bit longer like five to ten minutes. The meatballs have had more than enough time to cook since I had put them in the oven earlier and are well cooked through to the center. I stirred the rice and put it aside for a few more minutes to set, as per instructions, and stirred the meatballs, leaving them on the lowest I could set the stove.
Serving! After letting it sit and cool, I had served rice with meatballs on top and with ample amounts of sauce! A very tasty meal with a prep time of roughly an hour and a half tops if one were to be safe and take their time.
Maybe next time I'll try cooking the meatballs for only ten minutes in the oven and let them cook the rest if their way in the sauce, just to see if they soak up any more of the flavour. I'll have to make sure I cook the rice maybe five to ten minutes more. Also, hmm.. I didn't think of any vegetable dish to go with this! Uh-oh!
As for cooking tomorrow, who knows, I'll decide later!
