Homemade Healthy Pooch-ini's and Sibbie's 3rd Birthday!

I have been planning this post for almost a year and am so excited about it, it's kind of silly! Today is Sibbie's 3rd birthday, and exactly one year ago this week we adopted her! 

I realized just now when I went searching for that post I never actually told the story of how she came into our lives. So sit down and get comfy, because I have a fun story for you.

Last year when we moved from NYC to Austin we immediately noticed a ton of differences in daily culture/life, but one of the most obvious things that stuck out was the amount of dogs in Austin! Seriously, almost everyone has a dog, and they bring them everywhere. Austin is one of the most dog friendly places, and there are water bowls outside practically every restaurant and store. We would notice on our walks together how everyone was walking a dog except us. We felt it was time to add to our little family of 2.

I went away on an (incredibly amazing) food photography workshop in Montreal one weekend while Kyle stayed home for work and school. He emailed me on the second day I was there (I had turned off cell service since I was out of the country), and told me that they were having "Dogtoberfest" right outside of our apartment, which basically consisted of dozens of different kinds of dogs up for adoption.

I emailed him back and said, "aww, too bad you have to get to work."

I didn't hear a response, went on with the workshop that day, and later that night got an email from him saying, "I have a surprise for you." 

I asked him what dog we now owned (since I knew he must have adopted one!), and he replied with a picture of this white, fluffy, gorgeous husky, who he adopted from the amazing folks at Texas Husky Rescue.

I was so excited and couldn't wait to get home and meet her! I then showed the picture to all of the other attendees at the workshop. They started helping me brainstorm names, and since she was so ladylike and pretty they helped me come up with the name from my favorite characters of one of my favorite shows, Lady Sybil from Downtown Abbey! lol. The most outrageous and weird name for a dog, probably.

Fast forward to now and we pretty much only call her Sibbie, because Lady Sybil is four syllables and kind of ridiculous. Now that we have also adopted Scout, who is only 4 months old now, we have really come to see how much of a lady Sibbie actually is because she is so sweet, clean, quiet, patient, and almost cat-like sometimes. She is also such a diva. (*rolls eyes*). But really, she brings so much daily joy in our lives and we are both so happy to have her.

If you have ever been to Shake Shack, they serve these pooch-ini's on the menu. We treated Sibbie to them a couple of times and they are her favorite. It was the perfect birthday treat to recreate at home!

Shake Shack's pooch-ini's contain vanilla ice cream, dog treats, and peanut butter sauce. I tried to make my homemade version a little healthier for our pups by using frozen vanilla yogurt instead. Yogurt has less lactose than ice cream (and less sugar usually) so it is easier for them to digest. I think she enjoyed this version just as much (and was probably happy to take off the party hat).

---

Healthy Pooch-ini

serves 1 well-behaved pup*

Ingredients

• 2-3 scoops of frozen vanilla yogurt
• 2 dog treats
• big drizzle of peanut butter, melted in the microwave for 45 seconds

Directions

Scoop frozen yogurt in dog safe treat bowl, drizzle with peanut butter. Serve with 2 dog treats!

*for smaller dogs, half everything so they don't get a tummy ache.

---

Mochi Ice Cream Sandwiches with Homemade Mochi

We've made it to Friday, y'all! Woohoo!

Just popping in to quickly share this tutorial for homemade mochi (all the heart eyes), and how to shape them into little cute ice cream sandwiches. Lately, I have been loving having new weekend kitchen projects to look forward to (whether it is homemade croissants, empanadas, or that one time I tried gluten free baking...yikes.) and this was my project last weekend. While the list of ingredients is short, the process is multiple steps so make sure to set aside some time to do it. I would recommend making while you are having a netflix and chill day at home.

I had never tried or heard of mochi until my freshman year at Texas A&M, when my potluck roommate Priscilla introduced me to it. She also showed me the amazingness that is Totoro and Studio Ghibli, as well as was one of the first people to really introduce me to cooking. No seriously, when I went to college I barely knew how to cook an egg. We lived in one of the only dorms on campus that actually had a kitchen, so often we would go up to the fourth floor, carry all of her ingredients and cooking utensils, and she would proceed to make something delicious and incredible that only a college student who lives on greasy dorm food could truly appreciate. I was beyond impressed with everything she made!

Fast forward to today, and Kyle and I both love mochi now, especially when it is paired with ice cream. We often buy mochi ice cream from Trader Joe's, and I thought how fun would it be to make it at home! You can shape them into ice cream sandwiches like I did here (double points if you do), but you can also just do a dollop of ice cream inside each round and shape like regular mochi ice cream. Either way you can't do no wrong, because mochi and ice cream are on of the best pairings ever.

---

Mochi Ice Cream Sandwiches

makes 10-12 sandwiches

adapted from Food & Wine

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups mochiko flour (sweet rice flour)
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• cornstarch, for dusting your work surface
• 2-3 pints of ice cream, I used 1 pint each of vanilla, chocolate, and green tea

Directions

for the mochi

On a large clean surface, roll out a large sheet of plastic wrap (approx 1 1/2 - 2 ft) and dust generously with cornstarch. 

In a large microwave safe bowl, combine the mochiko flour, water, sugar, and salt. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Uncover, and stir with a spatula. 

Cover back with plastic wrap and pop back in the microwave for another 2 minutes. The dough should be thick and sticky. Stir together with spatula quickly to smooth out any lumps, about 30 seconds. 

Dump mochi mixture onto your cornstarch and plastic wrap surface. Lightly dust a rolling pin with more corn starch, and roll out until mochi is about 1/4 of an inch thick. (If mochi sticks to your rolling pin as you roll it out, just dust liberally with more cornstarch.)

Using a 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut out 20-24 rounds, re-rolling the scrap dough out again to make more.

Line a large baking sheet with plastic wrap and lay rounds on top. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 1-2 hours.

for the ice cream

Allow ice cream to soften for 10 minutes on the counter. Spoon the ice cream into a large plastic bag. Using a spatula, smooth the ice cream evenly in the bag until approximately 1-inch thick. Repeat with other 2 flavors if using more than one flavor.

Seal bag(s) tightly. Pop in the freezer until firm, about 2-4 hours depending on the coldness of your freezer.

assembly

Remove mochi from the freezer. Dust as much cornstarch off of the mochi, and lightly dab each round with a little bit of water.

Remove ice cream from the freezer. Working quickly, snip the edges of the plastic bags around the ice cream and peal it off. Using the same 2-inch biscuit cutter, slice out a round of ice cream, and place on top of one of the mochi rounds. Top with the other mochi round, wet side touching the ice cream so they stick. Repeat with remaining rounds.

Place sheet pan of ice cream sandwiches back in the freezer until firm, about 1 hour. Let soften for 5 minutes before eating!

*Wrap any leftovers tightly in plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to a week.*

---