Whip-It-Up: Week 5

Here we are at week 5 of Whip-It-Up. Can you believe it? I’m over half-way done the 8-week challenge! Woo-hoo! :D

So for week 5, the theme is “Spicy”. The first thing that came to my mind was curry, but then I had a spicy meatball at Deuce Bungalow during the Granville Showcase last Saturday and it was like a light bulb went off in my head. I’m going to make spicy meatballs!

Next step was to look for a recipe, so off to Google and I found one here. The recipe has a lot of ingredients, but I think it’s manageable.

As usual I did some substitutions to the ingredients so here there are:
* No sugar
* Oats instead of breadcrumbs
* No flour
* Added chorizo sausages

The changes were not that drastic so I don’t think it will affect the recipe. I want to add chorizo sausages because Nick, a chef from work, suggested it and said it would add more flavour. We’ll see!

The preparation for the sauce and meatballs were straight forward. From all the mincing in this recipe, I should have bought that Good Grip Mini-Chopper I saw in the Bay! That’s the next item on my shopping list. :)

This is also the first time I used the new wet and dry measuring cups that Theresa bought for me! It’s so exciting that I actually can make proper and exact measurements! I can’t wait to make that tuxedo cake again!

Ok back to the meatballs. Everything was going along swimmingly well until the part where I had to puree the sauce in the blender. Well, apparently either there was too much sauce or I was not strong enough. The top popped off and I burned myself! Doh!

After I cleaned up and ran my hands in cold water, I moved onto the meatballs. Once again, the lack of cookware is popping up again. I ended up using the pot to cook the meatball as I don’t have a large pan. It actually wasn’t too bad and worked pretty well.

The end results? Delicious spicy meatballs! Honestly, these were tasty and with just the right kick of spiciness, especially since with the extra meat, which probably took the original level of spiciness down. If you like it more spicy, just add more chilies and cayenne etc. This recipe was quite easy to follow and I would definitely make it again in the future.

I am really enjoying this challenge, more than I had expected. I’m learning more about myself in that I can cook and that I enjoy cooking more that I thought I would! I think I would continue to cook after the challenge is over and that is a good thing. :)

Next week’s theme is appetizers, which means a lot of possibilities. So until then, enjoy the sunshine and keep cool.