Not Cook N, but I would like 2 B : Mochi Ice Cream

OMG!

Tried Mochi ice cream for the first time the other night and my mouth has been watering for it ever since.

I had heard of Mochi ice cream but I didn't know what it was. I assumed it was just Japanese ice cream. The box called to me at Trader Joe's on several occaisions, but I resisted, unaware of the awesomeness that I was so nonchalant in rejecting.

Fast forward to girl's night on Friday....

Really cool bimonthly book exchange at a girlfriend's home. We clear our bookshelves of whatever books we don't want, tote them to the book exchange party and come home with a bunch of other new books that other guests didn't want. We also drink wine and eat good food while discussing books we liked, didn't like...and other girl stuff.

One of the guests showed up with two kinds of mochi ice cream- green tea and mango. Mochi ice cream is a ball of ice cream that is wrapped in a smooth sweet dough made from rice flour and sugar and eggs. When you bite into one you get sweet and soft doughy dumpling and cool, ice cream goodness. I had one of each flavor - and I wanted more, but I didn't want to be rude.

The beauty of Mochi Ice Cream is that there is only about 100 calories per dumpling and about 4 grams of fat. (I don't know if "dumpling" is the correct term but they seem like a sort of dumpling to me.)

Trader Joe's carries these, and I have heard that they are offered in many sushi or Japanese restaurants. Try them...and invite me over when you do!

I would like to find a recipe. I may have to experiment a bit with this. While the dough seems fairly straight-forward from the list of ingredients, the ice cream seems a bit over preserved -lots of chemicals I would prefer to avoid. I will let you know as soon as I come up with a homemade version (or if you can send me one...I would be very appreciative!)

Cook N Breakfast: Maple Nut Granola

I have been promising Simon that I would make some homemade granola for a while now. This month's Martha Stewart Food magazine has a great recipe for a lower fat, maple syrup sweetened granola that fit the bill.

I am a big fan of Fage Greek yogurt. If you haven't tried this yet, you must! It is available at Trader Joe's and I am seeing it in more and more stores lately. I think this granola will accompany that nicely.

Maple Nut Granola

3.5 cups of rolled oats

1/4 c of chopped pecans

1/4 c of chopped almonds

5 t canola oil

5T real maple syrup*

1/2 t vanilla

1/4 t salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.

Spread onto rimmed ungreased cookie sheet and place in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheet halfway through cooking.

Cool completely before serving.

*real maple syrup tastes 10000x better than the imitation "mrs butterworth" or "log cabin" varieties that contain high fructose corn syrup. If you have never tried the real stuff, I encourage you to do this. It is a healthy alternative sweetener .

Bake N: ANZAC Muffins (American Princess Style)

Once upon a time (around Christmas), an American Princess was visiting her in-laws in a far off land....

Great gifts were bestowed upon this lucky princess on Christmas morning, but no gift was quite so appreciated as the Muffin cookbook that was given to her by the Queen (the mum of her handsome and incredibly charming prince...*heavy sigh)


The American Princess and her beloved "Muffin Cookbook"

The muffin cookbook was special for several reasons. Both the American Princess and Prince Charming had endured a full week of being criticized by the Queen for being overweight and certainly on the brink of diabetes. This book would serve as ammo should the subject of their American diets and overeating chance to rear its ugly head again during the remainder of their visit (nevermind the arsenal of mince pies, brandy cream, two Christmas dinners, sausage rolls, pork pies, Christmas pudding, cheese board and tins of quality street chocolates that had been thrust upon them since their arrival)..they both thought muffins were spectacular little treats...and, well, you only have to give the American Princess a cookbook to make her happy.

On the way home...down the M6, across the pond and up the I405...the American Princess came across this little recipe in her Muffin cookbook and decided that she must try it as soon as her very busy schedule allowed it: ANZAC Muffins

You will recall that back in September, I ...er...I mean...the American Princess....baked a batch of ANZAC biscuits for her dear sweet little Jake-a-roo. Check here for that recipe.

ANZAC biscuits are a favorite of Prince Charming too. He had surgery on Friday and has been laid up this week. He is improving- we just need to adjust his attitude a little. I can't think of a better way to do that, than to make him some ANZAC muffins.


Prince Charming tries an ANZAC muffin...he seems slightly improved here.

Of course, no sooner had I sat down with the cookbook to give the recipe a whirl, did I realize that this was not really a cookbook befitting an American Princess at all...alas! the measurements were are in metric! (No doubt an evil ploy by the queen to discourage our full execution of these fattening recipes)

Ah, but once again she has underestimated the American Princess -in-law and the power of the internet! With just a few taps on the keyboard, metric conversion was right at her fingertips! (Pray, let us hope she never does come up to speed in that skill or none of us will live happily ever after on the home cook n blog again)

(*insert evil laugh here).

A disclaimer: I really do love the Queen- she can be quite fun and pleasant to be around most times. Once we set our boundaries (and god knows this must occur every freakin' time we encounter each other....) she is really not so bad. I learned recently that she called me the "american princess" and if it weren't for the fact that I quite liked that title, I might have reason to be insulted by it. There are better ways to deal with these things, surely.

Notes on recipe below:

• 50g of butter is half of a cube or 1/4 cup


• Lyle's Golden Syrup can be found your better grocery stores. Our local Top Foods carries it. You can substitute light corn syrup if you can't find it.


• 290 C is 375 F - I used our convection oven at 350 F with good results.