Mochi: yet another breakfast option!

I am definitely a creature of habit. I will eat the same thing for breakfast for months on end.  I love breakfast and breakfast food and wake up hungry, looking forward to eating every single day.  So I get on a roll and go with it.  I think for probably a year I ate a fried egg on a whole wheat English muffin with a piece of soy sausage. It was delicious but I finally tired of it.  I have realized over the last year that it really is not in your best nutritional interest to eat the same things over and over.  A varied diet is what allows us to get all the nutrients, phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, etc that we need in our diet.  As they say, you should eat the rainbow to get everything your body needs.

So I have been varying my diet to get a more wide range of nutrients.  That said, I am not a fan of vegetables for breakfast.  I just don't like that sort of savory food first thing in the morning, so I work on getting veggies in my diet the rest of the day, and just getting some comforting, filling food in me in the morning.

I read on Eating Bird Food about a snack they had on a beach vacation, mochi. I was intrigued and sought it out at my local Whole Foods.  I decided to try it for breakfast.

Mochi is a Japanese food made from whole grain brown rice.  It is an all-natural food with no added preservatives or additives.  It comes in a big block in the refrigerated section of the store.  You cut it into small about 1 inch pieces and cook for 450 for about 10 minutes. They puff up and get golden brown, crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  I have tried the raisin-cinnamon, original, and cashew-date.  All were equally delicious.  The nutrition content is not outstanding...limited protein (4 grams in my serving) but only 2 grams of fat and 240 calories.  You can find the nutrition info and the ingredients on the grainaissance website.  It says a serving is 1/8 of a package but I eat 1/4 of a package. You can see that the ingredients are simple and healthy:

Raisin-Cinnamon: Organic sweet brown rice, filtered water, raisins, cinnamon, sea salt.


So I think it is probably as good as a whole grain bread, but is a nice alternative to wheat and is gluten free.  I can only imagine that the pizza flavor would be a nice snack, and chocolate would be delicious!

Unfortunately, my boyfriend told me it looked like dog poop on a plate!   I disagree and find it to be a fabulous breakfast when you open up each little puff and fill it with some peanut butter or almond butter.

Has anyone else tried mochi?  What do you think of it?


And this picture has nothing to do with breakfast but is added just for pure cuteness.  Who wouldn't love this cute face?!