Friday, December 9, 2011

Fab Food Friday!

BUFFALO BALLS!

That's right I said it, these are seriously the most fun to make and a great meal to take to all those Holiday Potluck's going on this time of year.

This recipe comes from these guys

at a restaurant in New York that is on my "food & wine" tour list some day called The Meatball Shop!


INGREDIENTS
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1/3 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce or any other favorite hot sauce
  • 1 pound ground chicken, preferably thigh meat
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 celery stalk, minced
  • 3/4 cup breadcrumbs
  • 1 teaspoon salt 
PREP
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Step 2: Mix together the butter and hot sauce in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat, whisking until well incorporated. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool for 10 minutes. 
Step 3: Combine the ground chicken, hot sauce mixture, egg, celery, bread crumbs, and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix by hand until thoroughly incorporated.This is the fun part!
Step 4: Roll the mixture into round, 3/4-inch balls, making sure to pack the meat firmly. Place the balls in the greased baking dish, being careful to line them up snugly and in even rows vertically and horizontally to form a grid. The meatballs should be touching one another.
Step 5: Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are firm and cooked through.

Allow the meatballs to cool for 5 minutes and serve with fat free blue cheese dressing and celery sticks. Doesn't get much better than this!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Magazine Trees

I have been completely OBSESSED with these magazine trees. Chris kindly rolls his eyes after I whip up another one and show him with excitement what I've created!

It's a great way to get rid of all those Christmas catalogs that come this time of year and creates a really great decoration!

Step 1:Spend some time breaking in  the bind a bit, it will be easier to work with. Then fold the top right corner of the first page into the center. Give it a good crease.
 Step 2: Fold that triangle page in half again. Bringing the creased part to the binding. Crease it again.
 Step 4: Repeat these steps for the rest of the magazine. Keep creasing...
 ...and creasing..
 ...and creasing...
 ...and creasing...
 It will look like this.
 Step 5: Now we need to make a flat surface for the tree to stand on. Start from the back and fold the bottom flap up along the line and crease.
 Step 6: Tuck the little corner into the triangle.
 Repeat this through the rest of the tree.
 Open up the tree and fold it around itself in a cylinder shape.
 I spray-painted them in gold to match our silver & gold Christmas tree.
HAPPY FOLDING!