On Sunday, I ate an entire pineapple all by myself. That has nothing to do with this post, but I needed to tell someone. I feel better now.

This post is about popsicles. Matcha mousse popsicles, to be exact.

I’ve been reorganizing my kitchen and recently came across a set of popsicle molds that I haven’t used in a long time. I immediately thought to try making popsicles using a similar technique as that of the Green Tea and Pistachio Semifreddo recipe in my book, which uses freshly whipped cream as the base for a moussey texture.

I have this set of Tovolo popsicle molds* and I love them. Easy to use and easy to get the popsicles out of. It’s one of those kitchen gadgets that you know you don’t really need, but as soon as you’ve tried them you’ll never be satisfied with the old crooked-stick-in-a-paper-cup method again.

I loved the flavor of these. The tangy yogurt is powerful, but the matcha can stand up to it. They’re just lightly grassy and not too sweet.

The texture is the best part though. You can bite right into them without breaking a tooth. They give easily and dissolve in your mouth like cotton candy.

Matcha mousse pops

Cloud-like moussey popsicles with the springy flavor of matcha green tea and tangy yogurt.

Prep Time: 3 hours, 10 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours, 10 minutes

Yield: 6 popsicles

Ingredients

• 8oz. (236mL) heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup plain unsweetened yogurt
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 4 tbsp. powdered matcha green tea

Cooking Directions

1. In a mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the cream and sugar until stiff peaks form.
2. Gently fold in yogurt with a spatula and sift over matcha powder.
3. Beat again to incorporate and re-fluff the mixture to stiff peaks.
4. Spoon mixture into popsicle molds up to about a centimeter from the top and cap with the provided handles.
5. Freeze pops for at least 3 hours. To eat, run the mold under warm water until the popsicle slides out of the mold.

If green tea is not your thing, I’d imagine it would be fantastic to substitute cocoa powder to make a delicious chocolate mousse treat. You could even try using protein powder and convince yourself that it’s an appropriate post-workout snack. 😉 (Hint: It’s not.)

Speaking of my book, Amazon has recently dropped the price on it by a few bucks! This is great news to me since I’ve wanted it priced lower but have been unable to due to the constraints of the printer. Now though, you get it for less and I don’t make any less per sale. WIN! So if you’ve been thinking about picking it up, now would be a great time. I have absolutely zero control over Amazon’s pricing choices so this new price could change at any time and I would have nothing to do with it.

If you’re interested, click the banner in the sidebar or check it out here.

Have you ever made your own popsicles?

What flavor mousse pop would you like to make?

*This is an affiliate link. Product links on this website will always link to items I have actually used and find value in.

May 28, 2013 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 23 comments

Inspiration can come from anywhere…

Last week I sat looking at a list of over 30 recipe ideas for the blog with no desire to make any of them. I like to cook what I crave, and though the ideas I had already were good, I just wasn’t craving any of them at the time. I decided to poll followers of my blog’s Facebook page for what flavors you guys are loving right now. There were lots of good suggestions, but the one that immediately got my recipe-inventing wheels turning was… Sriracha sauce!

As soon as I heard the word I knew I wanted to make a chicken salad with lots of fruity spicy sriracha! I often mix sour cream and sriracha together to make a dipping sauce for panko-crusted chicken, so I knew this same concept would work perfectly in chicken salad form.

Sriracha is a Thai hot sauce made from chili peppers, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt. You may have heard of it referred to as Rooster Sauce, due to the giant rooster that appears on the bottle of the most popular brand. Whatever you call it, it’s a mild, fruity sauce that tastes great on almost anything. I love it on a burger or squeezed over fried rice.

Spicy Sriracha Chicken Salad

A spicy Thai take on chicken salad with the fruity flavor of hot Sriracha sauce.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Yield: Just over 3 cups

Ingredients

• 2 skin-on bone-in chicken breasts (makes about 3 cups shredded roast chicken)
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 heaping tbsp. Japanese mayo (or other thick style mayo)
• 2 tbsp. Sriracha sauce
• 2 scallions (sliced thinly)
• 1 tbsp. sesame seeds

Cooking Directions

1. Dry chicken breasts thoroughly with a paper towel and rub all over with a bit of olive oil. Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet at 400F degrees for 40 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
2. Remove and discard skin. Use your hands to pull the chicken from the bone and tear into small pieces.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine shredded chicken with all other ingredients and mix thoroughly. Serve on bread, a croissant, or over a salad as desired. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

I ate that sandwich for lunch right after photographing it and was in spice heaven. It’s definitely got a kick to it, but I didn’t think it was overwhelmingly spicy. If you’re sensitive to spice though, feel free to dial back the amount of sriracha you add. Start with just one tablespoon and taste it to see if you like it as is. And if you’re a lunatic, add even more!

Thanks again for all the awesome recipe inspiration. Anyone else wanna chime in with a flavor you’re loving right now? Who knows, maybe it’ll end up inspiring my greatest recipe creation of all time! A recipe to crash Pinterest! If only in my dreams…

May 1, 2013 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 14 comments

Earlier this year when Jeff and I were taking a vacation in Seattle, we visited a vegetarian restaurant for lunch called Cafe Flora. There, we had an appetizer of rosemary biscuits topped with the most amazing mushroom miso gravy ever.

Ever since then, I’ve been meaning to recreate the recipe at home but never really got around to it. So when I mentioned that I might want to make a miso shiitake gravy for the dinner party this past weekend, Jeff immediately asked, “Like the one we had in Seattle?!?!” Yes, my love, like the one we had in Seattle….but better!

I started by chopping up a bunch of shiitake mushroom caps. I’m not really sure how many, and they were all different sizes, but I’d say it was around 2 cups or so.

I even found this really cool “mutant” mushroom in the bunch…

I discarded the stems because while shiitake stems are edible, they’re very woody and unpleasant to eat. I sauteed them in a few spoonfuls of lamb drippings but really you can use any fat, butter would work very well. I also threw in a few of the roasted garlic cloves from the lamb which dissolved nearly immediately, but chopped garlic would be just fine. Also, I didn’t add any extra herbs because the lamb drippings were already so heavily scented with rosemary, but if I didn’t use the drippings I would have added a bit of chopped rosemary instead.

Once they were very soft I sprinkled in a little flour to make a mushroom roux. It should come together like a thick paste with the texture of wet sand.

Then I added in the liquids; vegetable stock, soy sauce, and a bit of apple cider vinegar. I put a big dollop of red miso in and used a small whisk to incorporate it slowly and completely.

Then it just needs to reduce a bit to the desired consistency.

It is absolutely killer at this stage with all of the chunky mushroom bits swimming in the richly flavorful sauce, but I decided to pulse it a few times in a food processor because I wanted a more homogenous texture, as you can see on my plate below. I think next time I would leave it as is though.

Miso shiitake gravy

A rich vegetarian gravy made with earthy mushrooms and salty red miso.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped shiitake mushroom caps
• half a quart vegetable stock
• 1/3 cup red miso
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 4 tbsp. butter
• up to 4 tbsp. flour
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary

Cooking Directions

1. Sautee mushrooms and rosemary in butter over medium heat until soft.
2. Sprinkle over flour while stirring and keep adding until you have the texture of wet sand.
3. Add in liquids and lightly whisk in miso to incorporate.
4. Allow to reduce for 5 minutes or until desired thickness is achieved.

If you can’t find shiitakes that’s ok, but I’d make sure to use another flavorful mushroom such as portabellas. Button mushrooms should really be reserved for topping salads and pizzas. And while I truly prefer red miso in this recipe for the way it pairs better with red meats, white will be just fine but can sometimes be a little too salty, so you might even want to omit the soy sauce if you’re using it to cut the extra saltiness.

This miso gravy is a recipe I fully intend to pull out again to impress a guest. Also, every time I make a roux I feel like a real chef. It’s so easy but it just feels so fancy!

Do you roux?

December 22, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 5 comments