Mochi Mania!

   I broke my promise about a "movie snacks" post, mostly because Lane and I ate everything before I photographed it, but I will deliver this week! Going to see the Serge Gainsbourg flick on Friday, and I will definitely need to be armed with superior alternatives to the candy counter. But until then...

 Mochi! Pronounced "mo-chee", this is something I've been eating every day for a week and I can't get enough. I'm not talking about those little flavored ice cream spheres you order at sushi restaurants, though those aren't bad, either. I'm referring to Brown Rice Mochi, a 1-inch thick "cake" made from cooked, pounded grains that you chop up and cook until puffy, gooey and crispy. How did I not know of this genius Japanese invention before now? It's so versatile! So quick to cook! Relatively cheap! My mind can't wrap itself around the culinary possibilities of this food, so this post will just have to contain five variations.

I have yet to bake or deep-fry mochi, my only method has been pan-frying with a little sesame or olive oil. It's very simple--just slide the sheet of mochi out of its package and slice it up however you like (although anything larger than a 3" square will be too soft-centered and will not give you the best gooey-to-crispy ratio). Pan-fry over medium heat with a little oil, about 3-4 minutes each side. I find covering the pan after flipping makes the mochi puff up a little more, which I like.

At this point, you can do whatever you want. I drizzled a mixture of tamari, Sriracha and dijon mustard on the mochi and and tossed it up with sesame seeds and green onions. Then I died. It was awesome.

Triple Sesame Mochi
(garlic-sesame flavored mochi cooked in sesame oil with sesame seeds)

I have plans to make Three Bean Chili and put garlicky mochi on top, sort of like croutons (hey, beans and rice! complete protein!) and I'll also add them to vegetable skewers...ahh, the possibilities. Grainaissance makes a whole line of flavored mochi that I've seen in several stores here in Eugene, so I'm assuming this is a widely available thing?

Mochi for breakfast, please.

Cinnamon-Raisin-Apple Mochi

Cinnamon-Raisin flavored mochi with stewed apples, raisins and barley malt syrup. Roastaroma tea!  So much more filling than I had anticipated.

And then I came across THIS at the market today:

WHAT.  Chocolate Brownie Mochi with WALNUTS.  Oh great, now I was totally forced against my will to think of a dessert.
I went ahead and pan-fried my 2"x1" rectangles of mochi in virgin coconut oil and decided I'd slice them open on one side and stuff them with cherry jam and almond butter.  But, as soon as I got out the almond butter, I started thinking about cashew cream, and then I started  to consider complementing the walnut flavor in the mochi, so I started thinking figs, but you can't have figs without balsamic vinegar, so I had to make a maple-balsamic reduction to drizzle on top...
in the end, I had three different desserts on one plate.  Poor me.

Mochi Brownies three ways
(Cherry Jam w/ Almond Butter;  Walnut-Fig w/ Maple-Balsamic Sauce; Vanilla Cashew Cream w/ Chocolate Chips)

These look really sweet and rich, but they're pretty balanced and almost mellow.  I dislike sweet-sweet stuff (most cake, cookies & candy) so these turned out perfect for me.  Although the brownie mochi contains cane juice, it's just enough to bring out the chocolate flavor and that's it--any additional sweetness came from my fillings, which were pretty simple:

Cherry-Almond: cherry 100% fruit spread, almond butter mixed with maple syrup, crushed almonds
Walnut-Fig: sliced dried black mission figs, chopped walnuts, balsamic vinegar mixed with maple syrup (reduced to a thick syrup over medium heat)
Cashew Chocolate Chip: cashews pureed with vanilla extract, maple syrup and water (into a smooth paste), crushed semi-sweet chocolate chips

There is no way I can pick a favorite, but I know I'll definitely be messing around with that Vanilla Cashew Cream in the future. Really crazy good. Lane was like, "What IS this?" It was practically frosting.

Oh mochi, I'm so glad we met.  Anyone else eat this stuff? How do you cook it? What do you like to add?  I'm so smitten!

A Little Wellness Never Hurt Nobody, plus...Stuff I Ate Today!

   My hilarious and beautiful girlfriend Alana recently caught my attention with her new blog, Unconventional Wisdom, where she discusses all sorts of things related to health, delicious food, family (she's a new-ish mom to a baby boy whose cheeks I badly want to smush) and general well-being.  One of the things I've always loved about Alana is her strong sense of intuition--everything she does always seems to be "right" for her at the moment.  She always knows what she's talking about because she speaks from personal experience 100% of the time.  No faking.  No false preaching.  I like this.

Anyway, Alana has been using her health counseling background to develop a "Wellness Plan" for herself, her family, and those with a desire to start eating more whole foods and to feel and look better, in general.  I support this!  As soon as I checked out her plan (which you'll have to personally email her to get), my brain started brewing up all kinds of ideas that I totally must cook and share.
Here's one:

NUT-CHO CHEESE STUFFED POTATO with GARLIC-LIME KALE
(...and if you are a cutesy name-hater, you can kiss my grits, I'm calling it "nut-cho cheese")

So, this would fall under a lunch item on Alana's Plan because it involves at least two vegetables and a protein. Here's what I did:
Boiled a russet potato (you could use a sweet potato, red potato, whatever) and cut it in half, lengthwise. Scooped out the insides of the bottom half and, along with the top half of the potato, mashed it up in a bowl with garlic, a little plain almond milk, salt, pepper, cilantro and scallions. Scooped the mashed potato filling back into the hollowed out potato.

For the nut-cho cheese, I threw all of the following things into my Magic Bullet: about 1/4 cup of cashews, 1/2 cup of liquid (I used the juice from a container of fresh pico de gallo), a little nutritional yeast, onion powder, yellow mustard, pico de gallo, Sriracha, and...the secret cheesy ingredient...
PRESERVED BEAN CURD.

Don't knock it 'til you try it. Preserved Bean Curd tastes similar to bleu cheese--pungent, salty, and unmistakably "gym sock cheesy", but it contains no dairy and no fat.  I actually LOVE it.  I used about 1/2 a teaspoon of this stuff and it made the cashew cheese so much more legitimate.  A billion Chinese folk can't be wrong, right?

Next, I sauteed some chopped Italian kale with olive oil and lots of minced garlic, then finished it with a squeeze of fresh lime juice. I warmed up the nut-cho sauce, poured it over the stuffed potato, and topped it with pico de gallo, cilantro and scallions (you can use whatever garnishes you enjoy--black pepper, chives, micro greens, etc).
Voila, Wellness Lunch.  Sue me.

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And in other news...
Here's what I had for breakfast today.

Garlicky Breakfast Salad

Yes, that is garlic, and yes, I eat that much garlic.  Don't worry, my husband does, too.  Mixed greens with homemade GARLIC dressing (minced garlic, cider vinegar, olive oil, maple syrup, salt 'n' pepper), steamed asparagus with pan-fried garlic and Veggie Sausage patties (Trader Joe's made those, not me).  I love salad for breakfast and I probably eat it four times a week.  I mostly attribute this to the fact that Nightmare Hippie Girl by Beck has been stuck in my head for close to 17 years. "She's cookin' sal-aaad for breakfast....she's got tofu the size of Texas..."  Can't really help it.

Lunch!

Crumbled Tofu Reuben

I spent waaay too much time looking at nothing good at the library today and came home HUNGRY.   However, something I've recently noticed about my appetite is that it doesn't take much food to make my hunger go away.  I often think I'm going to starve and so I desperately make a massive burrito, only to realize five bites later that everything is fine and I am no longer hungry.  So, today I wisely chose to make a small sandwich--that reuben is actually only slightly bigger than a deck of cards. Seriously.

One slice of toasted Fitness Bread (the best bread! the weirdest packaging!), 1000 Island dressing (Vegenaise, ketchup, relish, Sriracha), yellow mustard, pickles, mixed salad greens and pan-fried crumbled tofu (seasoned with a little tamari) mixed up with sauerkraut.  Ughhhh, so good.

Anyone else eat salad or vegetables for breakfast?  I'm always collecting new ideas.

Tomorrow: HOMEMADE MOVIE SNACKS

Introduction To My Mind, Man.

I've been interested in creating a cooking blog for years now, but I always end up deterred by the task of weighing, measuring and writing down every single ingredient and process involved in each dish. I guess that's called a recipe or something.

I'm not big on recipes. No offense to anyone who follows exact instructions 100% of the time, but recipes feel a bit like "paint-by-number" to me. The outcome is essentially the same each time you do it, and that just doesn't satisfy my artistic need! I want a little mystery, a bit of worry, a few mishaps, maybe a pleasant surprise.
So, I cook by brain.

What exactly does that mean, "cooking by brain"? Hey, thanks for asking, nobody! Basically, "cooking by brain" means trusting your ideas enough to spin them into delicious tasting food. It means seeing a good-looking dish somewhere and then trying to make it yourself, without instruction. It means following a craving and seeing what happens. It means adding and adding until you get the flavor you like.
It means freestyling, bro.

I imagine most people do this in some form or another, on a daily basis. Everyone has their special thing, right? You love mixing salsa into your hummus to go with tortilla chips. You add sliced apple to your grilled cheese. You throw frozen corn into the chili you're heating up. You top your toast with peanut butter, Sriracha and chopped garlic (okay, nope, that's just my husband).
Anyway, these are all examples of small ways we cook with our brains. I like taking it a step further and making multi-course dinners, party food, themed brunches, etc., all with the power of MY MIND!

That said, I am 34 years old. I do have quite a bit of cooking experience and I've certainly followed my share of recipes. I know that baking powder makes cupcakes rise, and I know that sweating onions in oil is the first step to good marinara. My shelves are bursting with cookbooks of every variety and I frequently pore over them for ideas. Lately, however, I rarely derive pleasure from cooking someone else's recipes exactly as  they're presented. The fun is all in the challenge, and so these days I cook almost entirely by brain.

How 'bout some breakfast?

This morning I wanted something Benedict-ish, but without the eggs and without the hollandaise. I ended up  sauteing thick slices of yam and red onion in olive oil (adding a little balsamic vinegar and salt at the end of cooking) and putting it all on sprouted wheat toast. The sauce is avocado, almond milk, apple cider vinegar, red onion, nutritional yeast, tamari, cumin, and of course a little Sriracha (all blended in the genius Magic Bullet). Topped with cilantro and black pepper. Success!