Sicilian Rice Ball Casserole

My friend Sara from Yeah, Like I Have Time For This was hinting around asking someone to make this for her.  Since I've had the itch to make arancini or rice balls, I thought I'd give it a shot. Things over here have been a little crazy these past 2 weeks and I thought this was a dish that could go a few days.

The recipe came from Gina's Skinny Recipes - if you have time go check out her site there are some amazing recipes on there!

Here is the recipe directly from her site - Sicilian Rice Casserole, Gina's Skinny Taste

Now I did make one tiny change.  I used 1 lb of  Italian Sausage with the casings removed and nixed the Turkey.  It was good and it did taste like an authentic arancini...almost.  I am used to my mothers arancini and have even had them in Sicily so when I tried this with the sausage meat it didn't hit home.  I will make this recipe again (I am already planning to make it for a few friends later this month) but plan on using a meatloaf mix instead.  I am almost positive using this instead of the sausage and/or turkey will get me the taste that I am familiar with.  Like I said, it was good and we all enjoyed it - my mother included.

And here is a picture ...