A Healthy Chocolate Mousse Recipe

I have such a sweet tooth. Instead of giving up on my love for sweet things, I thought I would try and make "healthier" versions of the chocolate goodness that I love. Now before you judge this here Chocolate Mousse recipe, I urge you to try it. I did an office taste test and didn't tell people that the main ingredient was avo, and once I had told them, the were shocked. It tastes that good. 

A delicious chocolate mousse with a secret ingredient - avo.

A Healthy Chocolate Mousse Recipe for your Face

• 2 large avocados
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 6 Tbsp. honey (change to agave nectar if vegan)
• ¼ cup skim milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. instant coffee 

Take all of the ingredients and place in a food processor. Blend it up and then place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

 I got this from Oprah. 

Now feed your face! Yummy.

Chocolate Cupcakes - an easy recipe

Like my wise sibling always tells me baking is an exact science, unlike cooking, where you can throw a few ingredients together and get something really good. As such here is a simple fail proof chocolate cupcake recipe that is quick and easy to make. 

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

100g flour

20g cocoa

140g castor sugar

1.5 tspn baking powder

1 pinch of salt

40g unsalted butter (at room temp)

1 egg

120ml milk

1/4 tspn vanilla essence 

1. Mix all the dry ingredients with the butter. 

2. In a separate bowl whisk the milk, egg and vanilla essence. 

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, bit by bit, mixing after each addition. 

4. Make sure you don't over mix it.  

5. Fill up cupcake holders 3/4 of the way. I love the silicone ones. 

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 180C. 

Allow to cool before icing them. Add whatever icing you would like. I love butter icing, so all I do is cream some butter, add some cocoa, a lot of icing sugar and if need be a few drops of milk. Making icing is clearly not an exact science.

These are great to share with friends. I took some over to my sibling's place and like a good guest I forgot the tupperware and silicone cups there, which she had to clean. No such thing as a free lunch. :P

Tomato Soup aka Twighlight Soup

The best quote I ever heard regarding soup was "He is like a man with a fork in a world of soup" - Noel Gallager about his brother Liam. 

When it gets cold and rainy, it's time to whip out comfort food. Soup is one such food. This recipe is adapted from a vegetarian cookbook my BFF gave me when I was in my five year vegetarian phase. To those who hate tomato soup, this recipe is delicious and unlike any tomato soup I've ever tasted.

Twilight Soup in 5 easy steps. You're welcome. 

You'll need: 5 fresh chopped tomatoes, 1 can of chopped tomatoes, 1 cup of vegetable stock, 1 chopped onion, garlic & coriander. 

1. Chop the onions and saute in olive oil with garlic. 
2. Add the can of tomatoes and chopped fresh tomoatoes
3. Add the vegetable stock (I make a cup, You can use chicken stock if you want to)
4. Bring to the boil, then allow to simmer for at least 20 minutes
5. Add salt & pepper to taste, chopped coriander and blend away

Serve with toast and garnish with fresh coriander. #Yummy

Easy Choc Chip Cookies

About two weeks ago, I took a bit of a vaykayshan. I went back home and did nothing. I really believe that a vaykayshun can be summed by this beautiful quote:

So I did just that and got my bake on. Recently I have had a series of unfortunate epic fails when it comes to baking, so I was hoping to get my baking mojo back. 

You'll need:

* 125g butter * 30 g castor sugar * 125ml condensed milk * 210g flour * 80g choc chips *

Now follow these steps:

1. Cream 125g butter & 30g castor sugar using an electric mixer

2. Once creamed together, add 125ml condensed milk

3.  Sift in 210g flour & mix

4. Add 80g of choc chips & mix

5. Take spoonfuls of the dough, roll into balls and place on a well greased baking tray

6. Once the dough has been rolled into balls, flatten with a fork

7. Bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes

8. Place on a cooling rack

9. Once cooled enjoy with your favourite beverage

*

 

Tiramisu

For Mother's Day my sibling and I decided to head home and prepare a feast for our mom, just like we used to do back in the day. For dessert my sibling suggested tiramisu. I've never made it before but it is super easy to make and tastes delicious. 

Tiramisu 

I used this recipe by Gordon Ramsay. You'll need 

• 250g marscapone 
• 150ml cream
• 150ml coffee, cooled at room temperature 
• Boudoir biscuits (finger biscuits)
• 1 tspn vanilla essence 
• 3 Tbspn brandy
• 4 tspn castor sugar
• Flake or cocoa powder to dust/garnish 

 Whisk the marscapone, vanilla essence, brandy and 50ml of the coffee. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the cream and castor sugar together.  

Fold in the cream into the marscapone mixture. 

Mix it all together. Make sure that there are no lumps and be careful not to over mix.

Pour the rest of the coffee into a bowl and soak the finger biscuits. You'll just need to to dip them in on either side. 

Place the soaked biscuits into separate serving dishes. You will probably need to break the biscuits so that they fit. I used two biscuits per dish. 

 Scoop the mixture over the biscuits and place in the fridge to set, for about 20 minutes. 

Sprinkle with either cocoa powder or flake and place back in the fridge until you are ready to serve them. 

 Yum!

Here is a recipe card for this Tiramisu recipe:

Delicious Dessert: P-p-peppermint tart

Over the weekend, I had some friends over for a late lunch. We sat outside in the warm winter sun, drank amazing vino and laughed a lot. I made a Thai Curry (my specialty) and a peppermint tart for dessert. This dessert is super easy to make, sets pretty quickly and is super delicious. 

P-P-Peppermint Tart

 Whip 250ml of cream. Being careful not to over whip. 

 Add one can of treat. Looks gross doesn't it?

 Carefully mix the cream and treat (caramel) together.

 Grate some peppermint crisp chocolate into the mixture and stir. 

 Crush up a few tennis biscuits into your dish and add about a tablespoon of melted butter. You can make this as thin or thick as you like. 

 Pour the cream mixture into your bowl over the biscuit base. 

Grate some more chocolate over the top for decoration and taste. Place in the fridge for about an hour and then it will be ready to serve. 

Teacup Chocolate Mousse - easy to make and delicious to eat

For the Easter weekend, I took some time off to recharge. Sure it was already a long weekend, but I decided to cash in and add an extra two days. The joys of vaykayshun. I did a lot of things I haven't really had time for, like making delicious food. 

Teacup Chocolate Mousse

 based on Nigella's recipe, which you can find here

 

 You will need to add 1 packet of marsh mellows, 3 slabs of dark chocolate, 50g of butter and about 60ml of boiled water.

Make sure you use a heavy bottomed saucepan. 

Melt it all together over a low heat. You don't want the chocolate to go all hard and burnt. The marshmellows take a bit longer to melt, but eventually they do. 

Take 284ml of cream and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Get out the blender and whip that cream. I suppose you could do this the old fashioned way, but it would take forever. 

 

Now fold the chocolate mixture into the cream mixture. Don't over mix it. It takes a while for all of the chocolate and cream to mix, but don't be tempted to over mix. 

Now for the easy part - pour the mixture into tea cups. I used a soup ladle so that the mixture wouldn't go all over the place. Put them in the fridge and allow to set. 

Then eat! These are quite rich, but are super tasty and for the effort that you put in, you can claim masterchef points because it is delicious. 

Oh yes the photos were not taken by me. I art directed them :) They were taken by @mynameinneon on his fancy new samsung note 2. 

 

For Your Face: Zucchini Salad

Last night it was my turn to cook. I was working late and on the way home I forgot to stop at the shops. So when I got home I had to be creative and resourceful. I produced a rather amazing meal, if I don't say so myself, and even my sibling and roommate were impressed. You see I hardly ever cook on a regular basis, even though I love to cook. Here is one of the amazeballs dishes I came up with. 

For your Face: Make your own muesli

The other day at work, one of my colleagues was saying how she had made her own muesli and that it was super easy to do. So I made some myself. It is so easy to make, you know exactly what goes in it and best of all it more delicious than any store bought muesli. 

Mix 500g oats and 200g desiccated coconut. Toast for 15 minutes.

 Melt 1 cup maple syrup or honey, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. 

Bring to the boil and stir for 1 minute.

Add the syrup mixture to the toasted oats mixture. 

Add in some dried fruit. 

Line a tray with wax paper. 

Add the mixture and flatten out. Put in the oven until toasted (about 30 minutes) at 180 C. 

Remove from oven and allow to cool. 

It goes great with milk or yogurt or just as is. Yum. Now feed your face. 

For Your Face: RiceKrispie Treats (recipe)

So on Sunday I was feeling rather domesticated and decided to whip up some tasty treats. I really wanted to make chocolate chilli fudge, but none of my friends like fudge. One friend suggested I made Rice Krispie Treats like "we had when we were kids". That is exactly what I did. 

Step 1: melt the marshmallows and some butter over a low heat

Step 2: Remove from heat and mix in some Rice Krispies (puffed rice cereal)

 Step 3: keep on mixing until all the marshmallow goodness has been absorbed 

Step 4: line a baking tray with wax paper

 Step 5: add the mixture and flatten with a metal spoon

Step 6: place in the fridge for about an hour

Step 7: remove from the baking tray and cut into squares

Feed your face and enjoy!

For Your Face: no cook oats (recipe)

Oats

I lurve oats. It is my go to breakfast. Some say its a mission to cook oats on the stove in the mornings, and sometimes it is, but this way is awesome! It tastes great and is so easy to make. You can make some for the week and store it in the fridge. Yum.