In addition to enjoying hand-delivered Chipotle, Ben and I have started watching America’s Next Great Restaurant on NBC every Sunday night.
The show’s judges, including Bobby Flay (love!) and Chipotle founder Steve Ells (cuckoo!) are on a quest to find and invest in the next big casual-dining concept. Contestants of the show pitch their restaurant idea, compete in a series of challenges and, in the end, one person is picked to have their concept turn into an actual restaurant with three locations across the country.
One contestant really cracks Ben and me up. He is THIS EXCITED about his concept and is just the sweetest guy ever. Joey Galuzzi.
Joey’s restaurant concept is to serve his Grandmother’s Italian meatballs smothered in homemade sauce, and call the place – wait for it – Saucy Balls. Bahaha – can you even imagine?!
“Hi Mom, I’m running late. Can I just meet you and Dad at Saucy Balls??”
Omg, no! I mean I really hope he wins, because he has a heart of gold, but something tells me the name of his restaurant is going to have to change if he does. Which is a shame, really, because hearing Bobby Flay say saucy balls over and over is definitely the highlight of my weekend…
Why am I telling you this? Because I decided to make my own saucy balls tonight – Asian Turkey Meatballs with Lime Sesame Dipping Sauce! 
Best meal I’ve had in ages!!!
I heart meatballs, but rarely – actually, have I ever? – make them myself. Until I stumbled on this recipe and knew I’d absolutely love it.
My favorite Asian flavors including soy sauce, sesame oil and scallions combine with ground turkey meat, and are rolled into yummy balls.
A quick bake and flip in a super hot oven renders THESE!
Now hang on – that’s just the ball portion of the show. In order to call them saucy balls, you’ve got to have sauce!
This 2-minute sauce is a little sour, a little salty, and a lot awesome. Oh, and really easy. Just lime juice, soy sauce, scallions, water and sesame oil.
Drizzle a spoonful of the sauce over the meatballs and it is a serious flavor explosion!
Since the meatballs are cooked quick and hot, they’re crispy and crunchy on the outside, but really tender and creamy on the inside. Perfection!
I served my meatballs on a bed of fried brown rice. I simply sautéed frozen edamame in peanut oil before adding cooked brown rice then flavoring the whole thing with sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger powder and garlic powder. An egg whisked with a couple drops of sesame oil was cooked in right at the end.
Yum, yum, yum. I would never put meatballs and fried rice together in a million years, but the flavor combo is just out of this world. Make these saucy balls, k?
In other news, it was a gorgeous spring day today and I cooked with my kitchen door wide open to let the cool breeze in.
I think we’re (knocks furiously on wood) going to be out from behind the bars of winter weather jail here pretty soon. Supposed to be in the mid-60s later this week! 8)
I’m going to nab Ben and take a quick spin around the block (just wrote blog) before…duh-duh-duhhhhhh…
The Bachelor finale!!!!!
I cheated and peeked at who the winner is on RealitySteve.com, and all I’ll say is, yay. YAAAAAAY! I really hope this lasts (if Brad wants to show his face in public ever again, I bet he’ll make sure it does!) Team Chantal or team Emily?
Have a great night!
~~~~~
What’s your favorite foodie reality show?
a. Chopped
b. Top Chef
c. Next Food Network
d. Man vs Food
e. other, I’ll tell you below!
Although it gives me serious anxiety, and the judges are just awful, my favorite is Chopped on the Food Network. I get so nervous when that clock starts ticking down and the contestant hasn’t figured out how to incorporate the fruit loops in with their lamb chops!!! AHH!
Have you been watching the celebrity Chopped? It is hilarious! I have to say though, it is a complete tie between Chopped and Top Chef.
Yes! Duff was SO crushed when he got chopped last night. Felt so bad for the guy! I know Top Chef is a can’t miss for sure!
Great dinner!
I LOVE Chopped. Have you seen the AllStar challenge?
We also enjoy Man vs. Food.
I rarely eat meat, but this meal looks great. I like the addition of edamame in the rice – a nice little protein kick!
next food network star all the way!! except they always put the winner’s shows on at a horrible time…sundays @ lunch… so i never can watch because of church
That looks so good!!! OMG.
This is the first bachelor season I haven’t watched. But everyone I know loves Emily!
&& Top Chef.. definitely!
I love Man vs Food! It’s too bad though that he is done and is recruiting other people.
Now I want to make meatballs for dinner but I’m already having roast beef.
I am SO jealous of your nice weather!! It was -1 (yes, negative one) when I drove to school this morning!!
I’m not a huge meatball fan, but these look like something I would actually try!
Yeah, for The Bachelor finale tonight!! I’m really on the fence between Chantal and Emily right now. I’ll probably change my mind a hundred times throughout the show tonight!!
I love Top Chef, but my favorite is Giada at Home! I am also a fan of Cupcake Wars. Sometimes it gets pretty heated, which is entertaining to watch:)
We love way to many reality food shows, but I use it as research for the the blog, so it’s all good! Man vs. Food is a definite favorite of ours as well as Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives!
Oh my goodness.. I CANNOT stand Joey on ANGR! He annoys me so much and I think he is the cockiest person on the show. Like when he wanted his chef last night, and he wasn’t going to budge… But then he kept saying that he other team can’t always get what they want… Blah blah… Grr! Just wanted to smack him! He’s annoyed me since the beginning.
Your meatballs look delicious though. Neither my husband or I are a fan of meatball-meatballs… but yours looks good. And I made chicken ones before with spinach. They were delicious!
I can’t stop laughing. The beginning of your post is just too funny. Thank you for giving me a laughing moment at the end of my long day. As far as my favorite show- I love Chopped! Although honestly, I can watch all Food/Cooking shows
Adding this recipe to my must-make IGE recipe file. Thanks Kristin.
I printed that recipe awhile ago wanting to make it! So glad that you loved it and recommend it!
HA! I’m watching last night’s episode on Hulu right now. I do love Saucy Balls guy.
I love Next Food Network Star, Chopped, Man vs Food and Iron Chef!! I loved that Anne won last night’s Chopped All-Star Challenge… her charity was for Juvenile Diabetes Research… and I’ve had diabetes since age 12! I hope she wins the grand prize!
I haven’t seen the show but just hearing you talk about saucy balls cracks me up!
I’m currently watching The Bachelor and I almost clicked on that link but I don’t want to ruin the next 1 1/2 hours haha. SO EXCITED!!!
This looks like a wonderful dinner. I don’t think I’ve ever made meatballs either but it seems easy to do.
Have fun with the Bachelor tonight!
I love ALL of those shows! (I’m watching Next Restaurant as well.) I love the Chopped All-Stars right now though. I love that the people who are usually judges on it are being contestants and I love watching what they do with those crappy combinations of ingredients!
Is Bobby Flay the cutest, or what??? Lately, I’ve been into Cupcake Wars, but I loved Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. Does that count???
Your balls look delish! And saucy!
Those look delicious! I’m always looking for home-made Asian inspired dishes.
And Team Emily all the way! She’s SO classy!
Chopped for us too! The Saucy Balls look yummy.
Your blog is adorable and I love that you always post between 7-8 pm.
Team Emily all the way! I totally agree with Hannah– she is such a class act! I somehow convinced my man to watch with me tonight… can’t wait!
I tried to make a sauce just like your dipping sauce last night and it failed miserably! Must have gotten the proportions wrong.
As for the Bachelor, I think it’ll be Emily. But he might freaked out about the kid! I had no idea there was a site where you could peek early!
“Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” — LOVE Guy Fieri! I love the little ma and pa shops and hole-in-the-wall restaurants that only LOCALS know about! I seriously try to visit places on Triple D when I’m in new areas and I have YET to be disappointed
Team Emily all the way!!!!
Great take on the meatball with this Asian version, looks great!
TEAM EMILY!!!
I don’t typically like meatballs, but this looks great!!!
I love diners drive ins and dives…. I love seeing the crazy fattening things they eat hah
Team Chantal. I feel for emily and her past, but something about her seems fake to me. I think he picks emily, though, b/c it would be too cruel to let her get this far and break her heart.
My fav food show is definitely Man Vs. Food…..it is soo disgusting and health conscious WRONG it attracts me to it like a train wreck. It’s truly a miracle this man is still alive…lol.
Those meatballs definitely looked scrumdiddlyumtious. I also probably made meatballs a total of ONE time in my life but they turned out to be amazing. I absolutely will try and attempt to make these asian-flavored meatballs.
I am def. a lover of Man v. Food. He has inspired me to try my own food eating challenge (after my wedding of course!) Bring it on!
These look so good! Man v. Food has my heart! Adam is my hero haha
Team Emily for sure…but wow, the After the Final Rose was a bit of a shocker…I hope it works out for them.
I really am enjoying that america’s next great restaurant show – my fave gal is the one behind the ‘compleat’ idea.
I’m so happy Em “won”. Sure hope it lasts — they’re adorable together.
Those turkey balls look delicious!! My favorite reality show? I like DIscovery and Hostory channel shows, like Pawn Stars and Sons of Guns.
I love Top Chef! My husband loves Man vs Food, but it kind of grosses me out!
The fried rice looks delish and surprisingly easy and quick. I personally am a Man v. Food girl because I love seeing places that are good and serve a lot of food. Not to mention, I secretly believe I could beat him at any one of those challenges. What can I say, I love to eat
This dinner looks fabulous! I definitely need to make this one night for dinner! I love the Next Great Restaurant! It’s such a good show. I agree with you on the founder of Chipotle. He is a rather strange guy!
I LOVE Chopped and the Next Food Network Star! I’m loving the All-Stars episodes of Chopped! I actually met Geoffrey Zakarian back in November and he was telling me about how he competed on Chopped. I thought it was just for fun but as it seems, he is going to be competing on one of the upcoming shows! So exciting!!
My hubby and I are watching Next Great American Restaurant, too! We love it! It makes me so hungry though…
My other fav is Next Food Network Star, but I’m always bummed cuz it’s only on in the summer… but I love it!
We watch Gordon Ramsey’s America Hell’s Kitchen or anything with Gordon Ramsey in front of the title. He has like 3 or 4 different shows!
Since we dumped our satellite two years ago in favor of Netflix + Hulu for our TV fix, I don’t watch as much food TV as I used to. That may not be an entirely bad thing. But during the Midwestern Snowpocalypse of the first week of February, I watched an inordinate amount of Man vs. Food streamed via Netflix. Adam bugs me, but as @Masha points out, the show has a train wreck quality. And I do genuinely appreciate that he highlights local favorites in all the cities he visits.
We started watching that show too, and I cannot handle that guy saying “Saucy Balls” over and over. It seriously cracks me up!
Yesss I loooove America’s Next Great Restaurant. Mostly because I like to stare at Curtis Stone…
Right now I think I’m rooting for Meltworks, because who doesn’t love grilled cheese!!?? My other fave is Man vs. Food.
Top Chef, hands down.
I was team Chantal.
I love Top Chef! I get sucked into most of the cooking shows but Top Chef is the only one I DVR so I don’t miss it.
Happy Eating and Running,
Elena
I love DC Cupcakes. there is always so much creativity in their designs!
I was team Emily and sooo happy- however not so sure if they will last after watching the After the Rose show last night :/
That meal looks fabulous! I like meatballs but unfortunatly my boyfriend doesn’t like anything close to meatloaf which means no meatballs. UGH! Anyway, I LOVE CHOPPED! I could watch it all day long on Food Network. Wait who am I kidding… I could keep Food Network on all day!
Chopped, Top Chef, Worst Cooks in America…
This recipe looks delish! Since my wife and I shy away from red meat, this appears to be something we will go saucy over.
I love Chopped, and I can’t wait to see the All-Star episodes. I hate to say it, since it seems like all the comments here are pro-Adam, but I HATE Man Vs. Food. He is sooo arrogant! Sorry!
Top Chef for sure! DC is well represented in the All Stars!