Italian Style Rice Balls

Rice Balls are a wonderful comfort food for me. My mom always made them for us when we were kids. They are great on days like today. A bit chilly and kinda damp. At least it is in my little corner of Maryland. My pictures of rice balls are not very good. I must confess that I don't find them very photogenic. Just tasty. I hope you'll try them. I used 4 32 oz boxes of Nature's Promise chicken broth. You can use your own home-made chicken soup or whatever brand you choose. I am partial to Nature's Promise brand because it tastes great and it is readily available down here. I used Uncle Ben's Instant Brown Rice because my mother told me to. Really, she did. I am going against what I have told you in previous posts about not using boxed breadcrumbs. I used them for this recipe, again because my mother told me to! I did go with my gut and use an organic brand.

Italian Style Rice Balls

4 Quarts of Chicken Broth (I used Nature's Promise brand)
1 pound of lean ground beef (I use Laura's brand)
1/2 cup of Uncle Ben's Instant Brown Rice
1/4 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs (I used organic)
1 egg
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese


Get your chicken broth boiling in a large stock pot. Once it reaches a full boil then start mixing all the ingredients together well (I use my hands to do this). Form the meat mixture into small balls and drop them into the boiling chicken broth. Boil for approximately 45 minutes. You should start seeing the rice balls popping up to the top of the boiling stock. Once they start to rise to the top, they are pretty much done. I served myself a bowl immediately. You can garnish with more parmesan cheese and some parsley if you like. I didn't bother. These are great without any garnish.

The Creative Cook