Suma Bloggers Network - Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Mousse - Quinoa Style

Hi there! Long time no post! I can't believe over two months has passed since I last wrote and published a post, how time flies!

I've been spending a lot of time down my allotment, which needed a hell of a lot of work doing to it. All my hard work has paid off though and I've been busy harvesting and preserving my produce. Thank golly I have a chest freezer now! 

I love spending time working on my allotment and its where you'll usually find me every weekend. Its like an oasis of calm especially after a mad week at work. Marco loves it too and is spoilt rotten by everyone down there. There is still much to do and I'll write a post soon with an update and some before and after photos so you can see why I've been busy.

Anyway time for this posts recipe! And its another Suma post and I decided to do another sweet dish rather than savoury just to steer me away from 'cheese' again! :o)

I've been experimenting with quinoa recently and I must admit I'm loving it, it really is such a versatile seed. I've been doing a little research too, and I've found out that it is a seed rather than a grain as I first thought and it is the seed of the goosefoot plant.

It is reported to have a number of health benefits too including anti-inflammatory properties. Quinoa is also a complete protein source containing all essential amino acids. This wonder seed is also a good source of folate and zinc. So you can see why I've been experimenting with it? I've used it in savoury dishes and used it instead of rice for chilli's etc, see my Winter Wellness Chilli Goodness Recipe and yes I've even used it in a 'cheese sauce' recipe! However, I've also attempted to use it in sweet dishes too as in this recipe. The result is good! To jazz it up a little I used a few raspberries from the allotment and the new flavour choc shot which is orange and cardamon. If you've not tried it yet then you should its amazing.

Chocolate Mousse - Quinoa Style 

Ingredients (Serves 4-6)
75g Red Quinoa
250ml Boiling water
200ml Almond milk
100g Fresh raspberries
40g Pitted dates
40g Cocoa powder
1 Tbsp Date syrup
1 Tbsp Choc shot (I used orange flavour)

Method

First add the quinoa and the boiling water to a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes.Drain and leave to cool.

While the quinoa is cooking add the pitted dates to the almond milk to soak.

Once the quinoa has cooled add to your blender along with all the other ingredients. Blend until the mixture is smooth and mousse like.

Transfer the mixture to glasses and refrigerate, the mixture will stiffen slightly.

Enjoy :o)

Jasmine x

Specials Board: Raspberry & Coconut Mousse

Yesterday I posted my recipe for raspberry cake and I did say that you would have some raspberry puree left over to make these - Raspberry & Coconut Mousse.

I've used a completely different method to make a mousse here than I did with my strawberry mousse or chocolate mousse. Instead of using coconut cream or avocado I used silken tofu. All three methods provide a silky smooth mousse, who needs eggs?

Ingredients

150ml Raspberry puree*
170g Silken Tofu**
1 Tbsp Maple syrup
1 Tbsp Coconut oil, melted
Chocolate shavings or mint leaves
for decoration

*Left over from the raspberry puree I made to make my raspberry cake yesterday.

** Left over from the raspberry cake recipe I made yesterday.


Method - Serves 3-4

Add the raspberry puree, maple syrup and silken tofu to a food processor and blend, scraping down the sides until everything is well combined and silky smooth.

Add the coconut oil liquid and blend again.

Transfer to small glasses, depending on the size the mixture will fill 3-4 small glasses or 2 large glasses like wine glasses.

Decorate with sprigs of fresh garden mint or shavings of chocolate. To make a chocolate shaving, turn a block of dark chocolate upside down and using a Y vegetable peeler start at the corner and drag across the chocolate.

I think this recipe fits the bill for the "Treat Petite" challenge, which is hosted by Kat on the Baking Explorer Blog and Stuart over at Cakeboi. Kat is hosting July's challenge which is the theme "Summer". You can't get anymore summary than fresh berries!

Kat states: "The idea behind Treat Petite is quite simple – it’s any sweet treat you can think of that’s not a big cake! From cookies to macarons, krispie treats to truffles; we want to see any delicious concoction you conjure up in the kitchen that is individually portioned!! And don’t worry; cupcakes are permitted."

Strawberry Mousse

I'm loving this weather we are having at the moment! Are you? Wall to wall sunshine, I'm so glad I booked this week off from work. We were planning on holidaying in Dorset but unfortunately we had left booking somewhere far too late and couldn't manage to book a cottage for the 3 of us within our budget. 

To cut a long story short we decided to have a 'staycation' and I'm so pleased we did. It has meant some great days out, a visit (& forage) to my gardening angels allotment and lots of gardening and recipe creating too. The only problem is the week has flown by far too fast - I could do with another week!

Marco people watching on Formby Beach

July is the height of the strawberry season and you need to make the most of these delicious berries. Go wild for Strawberry Smoothies, Strawberries & Vegan Ice-cream, Strawberries & Balsamic Vinegar (don't knock it until you've tried it) and Strawberry Mousse.

My recipe for strawberry mousse makes a soft and silky mousse, it doesn't set firm like a blancmange. It tastes of the summer and I could eat it morning, noon and night. In fact I've eaten it for breakfast before now!

The recipe makes 2 large servings (wine glass size) or 4 smaller servings, but you'll go back for more.

Ingredients 

1 Can of coconut milk*
1 Punnet Strawberries
1 Tbsp Maple syrup

*Place the can of coconut milk in the fridge the night before.

Method

First clean and hull your strawberries and halve each strawberry. If they are very big halve them again. 

Add the strawberries and maple syrup to a blender or a liquidiser and blend until smooth.

Place a sieve over a jug and pour the strawberry mixture into the sieve. Using a back of a spoon carefully stir the strawberry mixture so it passes through the sieve leaving the strawberry seeds behind.

Open the can of coconut milk from the fridge and pour off the liquid into a container. Don't throw this away use it in a soup or pasta dish as a base to the pasta sauce. Mushrooms work well.

Empty the coconut cream that has solidified at the bottom of the can into a bowl. Using a electric whisk, beat the coconut cream till it is light & fluffy.

Pour the strawberry mixture into the bowl with the coconut cream and using the electric whisk make sure everything is combined. Pour into glasses and place in the fridge for at least an hour before devouring.

More berry recipes coming soon, keep your eye on that specials board...........

Edit Post: Challenges entered

As per the comment from Shaheen below  I've submitted this recipe to her "Vegetable Palette Challenge". 

Shaheen runs the fabulous Allotment to Kitchen blog and every month Shaheen chooses a colour, and you make a recipe with vegetables, fruits or a combination of both with that colour. Its a great idea! The colour for July is red.

Once you've posted a recipe you email Shaheen and a round up of all the entries will be posted on her blog before the end of the month.

After entering the strawberry mousse recipe into Shaheens Vegetable Palette Challenge I started scouring the web for other challenges and there are lots of them! I came across the flood blog diary, which lists all the challenges that are taking part each month, in July there are 25 challenges. Looking through the list I came across "Lets cook with Strawberries" and I thought why not enter this recipe there too, 'it would be rude not to', wouldn't it?

And I didn't stop there as I came across Simple and in Season blog, which asks you to enter recipes which use a product that's in season right now. I thought this recipe is also perfect for this challenge - why not enter it there too!

Looking around at all the challenges currently going on I came across so many other foodie blogs including Ren Behan who writes about seasonally inspired and family friendly food. Ren hosted the "Simple & In Season" challenge back in April.

I also liked the theme run by Vanesther, who was hosting the

Family Food chill out baby challenge for July. Vanesther runs the blog Bangers and Mash and her and Louisa form the Eat Your Veg blog both run the Family Food challenges. July's challenge "Chill Out Baby" calls for all recipes which are tasty eats and drinks for chilling out and cooling down in the summer sun. July seems to be hitting the mark so far on that one the weather has been gorgeous!

I'll be keeping my eye out for new and up and coming challenges, why not stop by the flood blog diary to see if any challenges tickle your fancy. The food blog diary also lists all the foodie giveaways too which is always worth a look!