Tuesday "Try"... Mochi

Mochi is a traditional Japanese food made from a special short-grain sweet rice. It's steamed then the rice is pounded to accentuate its chewy texture and nutty flavor.

I found a cinnamon raisin Mochi the other day marked down, so I thought why not give it a try ( there is a plain flavor available too). The recipe on the back of the package was, Raisin Cinnamon Mochi Danish that I decided to follow and see what happened, but Pinterest is full of ideas for what to do with Mochi. I even saw one idea to make waffles.

This is what it looks like when you take it out of the package.

The recipe said to cut 2 inch squares and follow baking instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Place pieces at least 1 inch apart on a baking sheet

Bake 8-10 minutes, until Mochi pieces puff up and brown.

Here is what they look like after they come out of the oven.

The recipe said to remove them from oven, let cool and take a sharp knife, cut a slit in one side of each Mochi pocket and stuff with cream cheese, nuts and honey.

I didn't have cheese or non-dairy cheese on hand, so I used peanut butter, honey and chopped up some walnuts. I'd like to try the cream cheese ( non - dairy for me) next time. It would add a very nice contrast that the peanut butter didn't. But it was still really good, easy and fun to play around with. 

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Tuesday "Try" Remake Baked Cinnamon Breakfast bites...

 Cinnamon Baked Breakfast Bites

http://ohmysugarhigh.com/scrumptious-baked-cinnamon-breakfast-bites-recipe/

Here is all the ingredients I used for my version of the Scrumptious Baked Cinnamon Breakfast Bites I posted on facebook for "Syrupy" Sunday. I wanted to try these but I needed them to be Gluten and Dairy Free.

I used:

potato starch

tapioca starch

 brown rice flour

 organic sugar

organic shortening

earth balance

almond milk

brown rice cakes

The recipe called for 1 1/3 cup of all purpose flour so I used a combination of potato, tapioca and brown rice flour to equal 1 1/3 flour. I added in the baking powder and some xanthan gum ( about 1/4 tsp) because when your baking with gluten free flour it helps hold it together. 

I used part shortening and part earth balance because I didn't have buttered flavored shortening as the recipe suggested. I worked it in until it resembled crumbs.

Then the recipe called for crisp rice cereal which I did not have on hand so I used some rice cakes, put them in the food processor and ground it up.

Here is what they looked like. Just like crispy rice cereal!

Next I put the flour mix, rice cakes ground up, 2 Tb. sugar and incorporated them all...

Added in 1/2 cup of almond milk, and stirred until a fairly stiff dough formed.

I took the dough and shaped them into about 1 inch balls. I melted 1/4 cup of earth balance instead of butter and mixed the 1/2 cup of sugar with cinnamon. I dipped each ball into the earth balance and then the cinnamon sugar mix. 

Put them into a glass pie pan and baked on 325 degrees for about 12-15 min.

The finally results - GOOD!

What I would do different next time would be use a little less cereal and use all earth balance instead of half shortening half earth balance. And probable no rice flour because the cereal is rice based. It's fun playing with recipes. 

......If you need help with your recipes

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Tuesday "Try"... Jicama

Jicama

Pachyrhizus erosus, also known as Mexican yam or Mexican turnip, is a native Mexican vine, although the name most commonly refers to the plant's edible tuberous root. Plants in this genus are commonly referred to as yam bean, although the term "yam bean" can be another name for jícama. The names for jicama include Mexican potato, ahipa, saa got, Chinese turnip, lo bok, and Chinese potato. (In Ecuador and Peru, the name jicama is used for the unrelated yacón or Peruvian ground apple, a plant of the sunflower family whose tubers are also used as food).^[2]

This is the Jicama I bought at my local store, it was 1.69 lb. and I'm so glad I tried it. The taste and texture was similar to an apple, celery and a potato and my favorite part was the "crunch". I loved it! When I "googled" how to use it, there were many options, from salads to stir fries, and a great snack idea, like the one I made. I tried peeling the Jicama with my potato peeler but the skin was a bit tough ( could have been my peeler ), so I just used a small knife and it came off easily. 

I then cut in half, sliced thin, sprinkled sourthwest seasoning an lime juice on it. I had a hard time not eating them all. I just LOVED the crunch I usually crave when I'm looking for something to snack on. I even made a few with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on ( thought if it tasted like an apple - why not) and that was yummy too. I'm looking forward to incorporating Jicama in my diet.

Some health benefits..

Jicama is an excellent source of fiber and vitamin C ( 44%) of the daily value per serving. 

It's a powerful antioxidant that zaps free radicals to protect against cancer, inflammation, viral cough, cold, and infections. http://foodfacts.mercola.com/jicama.html