Well, I tried something new at dinner today, and it went over just as I'd wanted it to. In fact, I think I could do this again for breakfast and just use different stuff. Given the cheapness of the main ingredient...

I've made rice balls before. I prefer my rice a glumpy, sticky mess, and it's perfect that way for smashing into balls. The family, and I believe most other people I've encountered, prefer this whole "no grain sticks to another" sort of rice that I find to be just less enjoyable on the whole. Give me the glutonous mess instead, thanks.

Tonight I looked in my fridge and saw --gasp-- a cucumber and some radishes that needed to be eaten before they went bad, a defrosted baggie of turkey that maybe had a half a cup left, some carrot slivers I'd taken to school for a snack all of this week with no luck at actually consuming them (I'll eat raw carrots, but not if there's something else around. I used to really like them, but now they just don't do it for me. Unless they're the really sweet baby carrots, but those are just too costly in the likely event that they go limp in the fridge.), and a jar of pickles.

I had other stuff, too, just that's what caught my eye. So I made a huge pot of rice in the cooker and let it cool enough to handle, then stuffed it full of chopped pickles, radish, carrot, turkey, and cucumber. Sometimes a combination, sometimes only one thing, just whatever seemed to want to jump in with the rice at that moment.

Once they're all lined up on a plate, it's like rice ball roulette. What's inside? Who knows? Is this one a radish? A pickle? That one looks like it has some turkey hanging out. But does it also have a pickle in it? Or a carrot?

I don't think I've had so much fun eating since I got the blender and started taking my chances on smoothie ingredients. (for the record, you can't taste the spinach when you have berries in there, too.)

And you think, perhaps, that pickles don't go in rice. But you're way, way wrong. They're quite nice together. I think breakfast rice balls would be great. Stuff a little ham/onion/bell pepper/tomato mixture in there and tell me it's not great. I bet it is. I think I'll even give fruit a try. Some canned pear would be wonderful. It'd be all mushy and smooth when you ate... And berries? Those'd be good, too.

Rice balls for every meal!

I can't see many downsides, really. Rice is cheap, easy to find, and at least somewhat nutritious. And easy to make. Start up the cooker. Use the time to chop stuff up. Stuff, stuff, stuff. Take your chances. After they're set up they don't fall apart or anything, unless you've stuffed them too full. I had a turkey radish rice ball explode on me. But only the one. I think if you wrapped them in plastic wrap and didn't put them at the bottom of your bag, they'd travel well, too.

Yep. So dinner was good in a "play with your food" kind of way, and now I want to do filled rice balls again, even though I've got six left for tomorrow. They're so much more fun than the plain ones. And not much more work, either. For the end results, I'd say filled is the way to go, even if you're in a hurry.

I wonder if you put shredded cheddar and pimentoes in one. And for another one, maybe some beans, kind of mashed up a bit. Pulled pork would be good. Mushrooms, corn, sausage, dried fruit... I see no end to the sorts of stuff that would make good fillings.

And that's dinner.

Love and Peace