“Forget Love! I would rather fall in Chocolate…”  famous chocolate quotes

How old were you when you first heard about chocolate mousse?

They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.  (Ps 36:8; NIV)

Here we are in the last week of July…and our last dessert recipe.  Let’s go out with a bang.  Now, I’m not saying that eating chocolate mousse is something to do very often.  It is a rare and special treat in our household.  And if someone is dealing with certain, severe health challenges, then even eating a more healthful chocolate mousse is a no-no for now. 

The first recipe comes primarily from the book, Raw Food Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet.  I changed quantities a bit and added coconut oil to make the mousse smoother and creamier.  It’s a raw food mousse that uses avocados, dates, cocoa powder, and agave nectar.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to make and how tasty and creamy the mousse really is.

I found a colorful description of Medjool dates on the internet.  “Medjool dates are a deep amber-brown and have a slightly crinkly skin that shimmers from natural sugar crystals. Bite into one, and your teeth sink into satisfyingly sticky flesh that tastes of rich caramel, hints of wild honey and a touch of cinnamon. Melt-in-your-mouth Medjools are so luscious they taste as if they have been warmed in an oven.”  Several sources said that dates are considered the oldest cultivated fruit in the world.

Shifting gears to the other recipe, I developed this rather traditional (and rich) chocolate mousse recipe for a friend’s birthday several years ago.  However, as I mentioned previously, it’s a rare treat when it’s made in this kitchen now.  Don’t be intimidated if you’ve not made a mousse before.  I did a short video clip demonstrating how easy it is to fold whipped cream and beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture to create the silky, smooth chocolaty dessert.  Enjoy!

Prayer Power
Thank You, Father, for Your goodness and love for us.  May we bask in all that is good on this day.

Links of the Day
Easy Chocolate Mousse

Traditional Chocolate Mousse

Making Chocolate Mousse

Blessings on you as you enjoy a treat for a special occasion.
 

“It’s nice to eat a good hunk of beef but you want a light dessert, too.”  Arthur Fiedler, American Conductor

When was the last time you ate mangoes?  How about kiwi fruit?

All your fortresses are like fig trees with their first ripe fruit; when they are shaken, the figs fall into the mouth of the eater.  (Nahum 3:12; NIV)

We’re featuring desserts for the month of July.  Did anyone make the Patriotic Cheesecake?  I’m curious about what you thought of the recipe?  Since that was a rather rich dessert, this week I’ve developed a lighter, raw dessert.  I actually got the idea for this recipe from a book entitled, Raw Food Made Easy.

I used mangoes, kiwi fruit and avocados to make a refreshing fruit tart.  If you’re not familiar with mangoes, let me introduce you.  The delicious and juicy mango has long been one of the world’s most popular fruits. According to various information websites, I’ve learned that the mango’s flavor is often described as an exotic mix of pineapple and peach. Mangoes are available from April to September, with June and July being the most plentiful time and offering the best price.

When buying a mango, make sure it has a tropical fruity aroma; unripe mangoes have no scent. A fresh mango will give slightly to the touch, but stay away from very soft or bruised fruit. Some mangoes ripen to a combination of raspberry, orange and green shades, while other varieties are golden yellow or green when ripe. If your mangoes aren’t quite ripe, storing them in a paper bag for a few days will help them along. The size can vary, but larger mangoes will have more fruit in relation to the pit.  If you’d like to know how to peel and eat a mango or learn more about a mango in general feel free to look at http://www.freshmangoes.com/aboutmangos/index.html.

Kiwi fruit, also known as “kiwi”, is another wonderful yet less common fruit.  This fruit consists of a hairy, brown peel containing green flesh, with white pulp in the center, surrounded by black, edible seeds. The fruit has a sweet taste, similar to a mixture of banana, pineapple and strawberry.   When shopping for kiwi fruit, select firm, unblemished fruit. The size of the fruit does not affect taste. Smaller kiwi fruit taste the same as larger ones.

Press the outside of the fruit with your thumb. If it gives to slight pressure, the kiwi fruit is ripe. If you apply pressure and the fruit doesn’t give at all, it’s not ready to eat.  Once ripe, kiwi fruit will keep for several days at room temperature and several weeks in the refrigerator.  I’ve noticed that organically grown kiwi fruit are comparable in price with commercially grown, so do price comparisons.  I’m a firm believer that the organic ones have more taste and flavor along with more nutrients.

Enjoy the tart and don’t be intimidated if you’ve not purchased some of these ingredients before.  I know you can do it!

Prayer Power
Father, we are so grateful for summer and the wonderful bounty this time of year brings to us.

Link of the Day
Raw Tropical Tart

Blessings on you as you explore some new foods.
 

“Cooking is not a requirement for healthy eating. I found such amazing health results as an outcome of raw food that there was no turning back.”  Dr. Douglas Graham, Healthful Living International

How many raw vegetables are you eating each day?

The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden.  (Deut. 11:10; NIV)

I know I’ve mentioned the many benefits of eating raw food, on more than one occasion.  There are people who eat a diet of 80-100 % raw, uncooked food.  There are countless books and several websites dedicated to raw food eating. 

There have been times in our lives when we’ve cycled through eating primarily uncooked food.  Even now, as our chronological age increases J (and as the price of groceries continues to climb), I’m preparing more and more raw food for us to eat.  Spring, summer, and early fall are the easiest times to eat more raw food, especially living on the east coast in the mid-Atlantic states.  For those Floridians and Californians in our midst, you’re blessed with abundant produce throughout the year.

Today’s recipe is a mixture of raw vegetables without it being a “regular, green salad.”  Different varieties of raw vegetables can be mixed together with a bit of olive oil and a favorite vinegar and labeled a “salad.”  The recipe today contains avocados, which are a wonderful food.  Actually, avocados are the fruit from the Persea Americana, a tall evergreen tree that can grow up to 65 feet in height.  Also known as the Alligator Pear, reflecting its shape and the leather-like appearance of its skin, avocados are a rich source of mono unsaturated fatty acids including oleic acid, which has recently been shown to offer significant protection against certain serious diseases.  The fat in avocados is a good, God-given fat.  Don’t think of avocados as a “fattening” food that needs to be avoided.

A ripe, ready to eat avocado is slightly soft but should have no dark sunken spots or cracks.  I cut it in half lengthwise and then gently twist the two halves to get it apart.  I then cut each half again lengthwise and then peel each quarter.  The pit will usually come out without much difficulty.  Then the quarters can be cut into pieces for a salad such as today’s recipe, or mashed with a fork to make Guacamole!  Other vegetables used in today’s recipe are cucumbers, which can be purchased all year round.  However, I’ve been buying the English, hothouse grown cucumbers this winter as they are grown without pesticides and herbicides.  I’ve recently found colorful peppers and tomatoes that are also hothouse grown without herbicides.  Even though they’re not grown organically, they are the next best choice for this time of year.  Feel free to experiment with tossing various vegetables together.  Have fun and enjoy!

Prayer Power
Lord, we thank You for all of the wonderful, colorful produce that You created for our enjoyment.  May we partake of more of Your created foods and less of man-made foods.

Link of the Day
Raw Veggie Salad

Blessings on you as you purpose to eat more raw vegetables.