Peanut Butter with M&Ms Mochi

The New Year is almost here!  We're so excited for 2014 and looking forward to another year of blogging and creating new recipes.  Our last post of 2013 mixes old and new.  Mochi is a common treat during the New Year's celebration for many Japanese & Japanese-Americans.  Chef Azuki mixes sweet mochi with peanut butter and M&Ms for a new tasty delicious dessert.  Try it, you'll love it!

Peanut Butter with M&Ms Mochi

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C mochiko

1 2/3 C water

1/2 C sugar

Chunky Peanut Butter

M&Ms

Directions:

1.  Put canola oil on a paper towel and grease a bowl

2.  Mix together mochiko, water and sugar together in the greased bowl

3.  Microwave the mixture for 5 minutes

4.  Take a rounded Tablespoon of mochi while it is still hot (be careful and put a little flour on your 

      hands) and form a flat circular disk

5.  Place one M&M & 1/4 tsp peanut butter onto the mochi

6.  Bring the sides up and pinch together so M&M and peanut butter are covered by the mochi

Let it cool a bit and they're ready to eat!  Yum!

BeaNspiration:  Resolve to be happy, TODAY!  

Happy Holidays!!!!!

Wishing all of you and your families

peace & joy!

Holiday Bow Tie Salad

It's almost here, it's almost here, it's almost here!  Only a few shopping days left until Christmas! Happy Holidays  from the Azuki BeaN Mamas!  Here's a holiday pasta dish that's sure to brighten up the festivities.  It's another that we posted before under One Chop/Two Salads.  

1 lb. box farfalle (bow tie) pasta

24 slices of Italian Salami cut into thin strips

4 oz. of cheddar cheese cut into cubes

½ red, orange and yellow bell peppers diced

1 C of grape tomatoes cut in half

3 Tbsp. capers

1 tsp. dried oregano

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

½ C Italian Dressing

*Optional – 1 Tbsp. Mayonnaise.  This allows the pasta to hold its flavor

        longer.  Otherwise, you may need to add more dressing before serving.

Directions:

1.     Cook pasta according to the directions on the box.

2.     Cool pasta

3.     Cut the salami, cheese, peppers and tomatoes

4.     Put pasta in large bowl

5.     Add the sliced salami, cheese, peppers and tomatoes

6.     Sprinkle on the capers, oregano, salt, and pepper

7.     Toss with dressing

BeaNspiration:  Enjoy the moment and feel the magic!

Quinoa Confetti Salad

The holidays are here and we're going back to some of our old standbys to take to various potlucks. This is one of our hidden gems.  We posted this under One chop, Two Salads but it's hard to find in our blog, so we thought we'd repost for your easy access.  This is an easy, delicious quinoa salad.  Try it for your next party!

Quinoa Confetti Salad

            1 C of dry Quinoa

½ red, yellow and orange bell pepper chopped

½ C grape tomatoes sliced in half

2 tsp. capers

1 sprig of basil sliced thinly into ribbons

½ tsp. oregano

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp pepper

¼ cup of Italian Dressing

Directions

1.     Prepare Quinoa as directed on the box

2.     Put in large bowl to cool

3.     Add the peppers, tomatoes, capers and basil.

4.     Season with oregano, salt and pepper.

5.     Toss with Italian Dressing

I love this salad and just made it for a holiday potluck.  It's colorful, festive and delicious!
It tastes great with spinach in it too!  

           BeaNspirations:  Enjoy the holidays with your favorite friends and recipes!

Just Wing It Chicken Wings

Chef Azuki is amazing!  I just learned how to make delicious crispy chicken wings in 20 minutes. How, you ask?  Well here's a recipe that Chef Azuki remembered her sister making, but she didn't have the recipe on hand.  She decided to just wing it because she had less then an hour to make dinner for a meeting.  I was there to help cut up the wings in half and remove the tips while Chef Azuki prepared masegohan (recipe to follow in a future blog) and edamame.

Just Wing It Chicken Wings

1 package family pack chicken wings

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 C flour

oil

Directions

1.  Cut off chicken tips and discard, then cut wings in half (separating little drummettes 

     from mid sections)  and place wings in a large bowl.

2.  Add all the ingredients except oil onto chicken and toss together

3.  Microwave 1/2 the wings on a platter for 8 minutes, then second half while 

     you start to fry chicken

4.  Put 3/4" of oil in the bottom of a skillet or wok

5.  Heat oil on medium heat

6. Gently wipe any moisture off the bottom of the chicken if it is wet after microwaving

7.  When oil is hot, fry the chicken until golden brown (make sure it makes sizzling sound 

    when chicken is placed in the oil)

It cooks so quickly since you already microwaved it and it's moist!  Just perfect chicken and really  takes so much fry time out of making fried chicken.  She was out the door with her dinner in tow, within the hour.  Chef Azuki's Little BeaN came up with a great title!

BeaNspirations:  Anything is possible with a little ingenuity!

Cranberry Pecan Biscuits

Chef Azuki's Little BeaN made cranberry jelly for Thanksgiving.  He only needed the cranberry juice; however, Chef Azuki didn't want to just throw the cranberries away.  She heard her mother's voice telling her "mottainai" which translates into "what a waste".  So today we made biscuits for breakfast with those "saved" cranberries.

Little BeaN's part in cranberry preparation:

Ingredients:

The cranberries: (what little BeaN did)
1 bag of cranberries (12 oz)
1 1/4 C sugar
1/2 C water
1/2 C orange juice


Directions:  Boil until the cranberries pop!  Drain the juice and use this for the Cranberry Jelly.
Save the drained cranberries for mama, Chef Azuki.

Cranberry Pecan Biscuits

Ingredients
2 1/4 C Bisquick
2/3 C almond milk
1 C of Little BeaN's drained cranberries or 1 C dried cranberries
1/2 C chopped pecans

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Mix together Bisquick mix and almond milk together on low speed for 1 minute
Fold in cranberries and chopped pecans
Place 1 Tbsp scoops of mixture on un-greased pan or cookie sheet
Bake in the oven for 7-9 minutes depending on your oven
Remove when golden brown

These morsels were wonderful for breakfast.  You can even add a little butter on them if you want.
We had them fresh out of the oven with hot coffee.  They would be delicious with a holiday meal also.  I loved the pecans and cranberries mixed together. The nutty and sweet flavors danced in my mouth.

BeaNspiration:  Don't waste anything, it's "mottainai"!