Good-for-You Chocolate Mousse

Mmm, mmm tasty: Chocolate Mousse

On Saturday while I was trying to make an frozen dessert in my Blendtec blender, I did what I frequently do and simply grabbed ingredients that were handy and hoped for the best. The result surprised me. My palate was expecting an ice cream of sorts, but was treated instead to a very tasty mousse. In retrospect, I realize the mousse-making ingredient must have been the added cocoa butter. (The chia seed helped, too, of course.)

Who knows why I throw in the ingredients that I do? Impulsivity teaches me some interesting lessons. This is one for which I am most grateful.

Now, the ingredients I used included a large tomato because that is what was readily available and practically begging to be used. Plus, I love tomato; however, for those of you who shudder at the thought of including tomato in your mousse--skip it. It's that simple. Substitute an equivalent measure of another ripe fruit.

Also, the liquid base I used was cucumber water, again because that was handy. In this household we brew up pots of teas or simply steep batches of vegetable or fruit waters. I will include a post about this within the next several days. Cucumber water is simply water that has had sliced cucumber sitting it for a bit. By the glass, just add a slice (or chunk) or two of cucumber--being sure to include the seeds--let it sit a moment and drink. The result is surprisingly refreshing and delicious.

As always, where possible I use raw, organic ingredients.

Ingredients

• cucumber water -- 12 oz
• flax seed -- large palm full
• chia seed -- large palm full
• maca root powder -- 1 T
• cacao powder -- 1 T
• Action Whey [TM] -- 2 scoops
• cocoa butter -- 2 T
• very ripe figs -- 4, peeled
• fresh papaya -- 3/4 cup
• ripe tomato -- 1
• maple syrup -- 1 blurp (maybe a tablespoon? I just tip the jug quickly)
• frozen blueberries -- 1/4 cup
• frozen strawberries -- 1 cup

Directions
Blend for whole juice.
Serve immediately or chill and serve the next day.
Garnish with sliced strawberries for an added sweetness.

Warning
Although made as a dessert, it is highly recommended that this food only be consumed at a time when the eater plans to stay alert for several hours. The inclusion of superfoods, in this instance most particularly the cacao and maca, make this treat not only a sweet dessert but also a recipe for sustained alertness. I only had one serving on Saturday night, yet was up well into the wee hours. A serving on Sunday following lunch kept me fresh and alert through the remainder of the day.

Smoothie

Smoothie: captured with flash photography.

This morning's low-glycemic index smoothie recipe combined high fiber and protein--provided by flax seed, chia seed and quinoa--with the fruit and vegetables at hand. Employing two exciting super foods--cocoa and maca root powder--the drink powered the members of our household for several hours before hunger returned.

Interestingly enough, the two photos are of the same beverage: the pinker color appeared when the camera's flash went off, and the more chocolaty color came when the dark background was removed and the automatic flash elected to not activate.

Same smoothie, without camera flash.

The ingredients: 

• fresh, raw goat milk--12 ounces
• chia seed--palm full
• flax seed--a palm full
• quinoa--a palm full
• raw, organic cocoa powder--2 tablespoons
• raw, organic maca root powder--1 tablespoon
• Action Whey [TM]--one scoop
• one fresh peach
• one garden tomato
• six overgrown green beans (that needed to be eaten)
• mint--a sizable handful of fresh leaves
• maple syrup--a quick pour, to offset tartness of maca
• frozen blueberries--1/4 cup
• frozen strawberries--8 to 10
• ice

The smoothie whipped up thickly and tasted fine for our needs. I would not try serving it as a restaurant or to anyone used to restaurant smoothies for it was far from sweet. That said, it was filling and refreshing, and carried us solidly until our midmorning snacks.

Coconut Kale Morning Smoothie

Morning smoothie, garnished with pumpkin blossoms.

This morning we started out the day with a refreshing Coconut Kale smoothie.

The first order of business was opening the coconut. Working over a large bowl, we sawed at the coconut's seam until we could easily press a knife tip into the coconut flesh. After emptying the coconut water into the bowl, and subsequently pouring it into our Blendtec blender, we got lazy and took the mostly-unsealed nut outside and dropped it onto the driveway. It separated nicely and the hull even broke away from the meat on one side.

Into the blender we added the following:

•  a large chunk of rinsed meat 
•  two kale leaves, a handful of parsley from the garden
•  a tablespoon of raw organic maca root powder
•  a scoop of Action Whey
•  a handful of chia seeds
•  a tomato from the garden
•  a few snips from a hot red pepper
•  less than a cup of fresh kefir
•  and a tray of ice cubes

Lesson: do not put a large chunk of coconut meat at the bottom of a pile to be blended. The meat kept the other ingredients from circulating until it had been fully blended into milk. Once that occurred, the rest of the blending process went quickly.

The result was delicious! The rich, creamy, coconut-flavored drink gave a delightful start to this destined-to-be-glorious day.

Breakfast Smoothie

Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day, but with today's busy lifestyles it's often the first to go. The time to cook a wholesome breakfast, then to sit and eat it can be difficult to schedule. While on the journey to better nutrition, I have managed to move beyond the grab a cup of coffee and run out the door style that served me for years, I have difficulty thinking about eating solid food first thing in the morning. Personally, I have found that smoothies provide a healthful breakfast option that's tasty, portable, and easy on the stomach. Also, while I have enjoyed a cup of coffee every morning for probably three decades, since learning that coffee intake can interfere with serotonin production, I have cut back on the coffee. A well-balanced morning meal blended into a smoothie can provide enough fuel to keep me going until noon without any cravings for snacks or caffeine.

What goes into my breakfast smoothie? In our kitchen, smoothie-making is akin to soup-making: whatever is handy goes into the recipe. Of late, kefir is the base liquid; our kefir is homemade using our fresh, raw goat milk from the farm. The drink pictured was blended almost a month ago, but to the best of my recollection the recipe included the following ingredients:

     * Kefir, made with raw, organic goat milk
     * Garden tomatoes, organic
     * Cocoa, raw, organic powder (from Optimally Organic)
     * Blueberries, frozen
     * Strawberries, frozen
     * Peaches, fresh, local
     * Garden cucumber
     * Garden mint
     * Action Whey (TM) --This is the ingredient
     * Nuts--either walnuts, almonds, or pine nuts
 
Possibly that smoothie included a palm-full of chia seed; I don't use it every day because it's stored on a high shelf and I do not always feel like climbing up to reach supplies stored up there. The same goes for various powdered super foods from Optimally Organic; usually I like to add maca root powder to smoothies.

A two-quart blender mixes up a smoothie big enough to drink a glass before leaving the house, then I bring along the balance in a plastic juice bottle. This allows me to pour out smoothie into my cup and sip throughout the morning. I love the taste of chocolate mint smoothies!