Mochi is a traditional Japanese food that consists of pounded sticky rice.  When pounded, the rice becomes sweet and it is molded into cakes and eaten on New Year’s Day.  The Japanese run on the Gregorian calendar just like we do here in the United States (unlike the Chinese and many other Asian countries, which run on the Chinese lunar calendar), so New Year’s Day is January 1st in Japan.

This is a simple and EASY dessert to make and it contains no refined sugar.  I suppose you could eat it for breakfast too, however I tend to eat my sweets after a meal as this helps with blood sugar stability.

The mochi I use is a whole grain mochi with no sweetener added.  To those of you who have been to Japan or simply picked up mochi at your local Asian market, this mochi will be quite different from what you are used to, but it is still delicious–and a little healthier!

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