Hey There!
Um, yeah, it's me. Back from the dead.
Actually, I'm just back from Florida, where I was working and eating and sometimes eating things that I should not have eaten. I've been home since Monday night, however, and good as gold. I gained a couple of pounds while I was gone, but the scale is already moving south again, so no permanent damage. ;)
Today I whipped together some chili based on stuff that I just had in my pantry. It came out fine, nothing special, but Bruce has had about six bowls (I exaggerate), so it is edible.
I love my new rice cooker. I just dump in some rice, dump in some water, punch a button and forget about it. I made rice before I actually made the chili, figuring I'd make rice pudding. We ate all of what I made, so I made more. Piece o' cake. Or rice. Anyway, the next time I go to Costco I am going to buy what I used to think was a lifetime supply of rice but which I now understand will last us a month or two. We eat a LOT of rice!!! Sometime tonight I'm going to go into the kitchen and make rice pudding. Or put the rice into the fridge. One of the two.
Not that we need more desserts. I just made chocolate mousse. SO easy and actually pretty healthy (although NOT super low calorie -- one serving is about 200 calories, but it is VERY rich and satisfying). My measurements are guesses -- I didn't really measure everything -- but after all, you should make it to your tastes. This is based on an Ellie Krieger Food Network recipe.
I took a pound of silken tofu, put it into my food processor, and whipped it around until it was smooth. I try to ALWAYS buy "lite" tofu, but this was regular, so you could save a few calories there if you can get the lower-calorie version (there are only 45 calories of tofu in each serving anyway, so you won't save a ton here no matter what). I put a 3-ounce dark chocolate bar (vegan -- you have to check because a lot of dark chocolate contains milk) and about a quarter of another bar into a bowl and microwaved it until it was melted (I keep stopping and stirring it and I only zap it for ten or fifteen seconds at a time to make sure it doesn't burn). Then I added a quarter cup plus a couple of spoons of cocoa powder (the unsweetened stuff), a little more than a quarter cup of water, and about a tablespoon of brandy (if you don't have brandy or don't want to use it, you could add a little coffee or about a teaspoon of vanilla, or mint flavoring, or orange -- whatever you like, really). Then I put in a few tablespoons of sugar. I stirred all of this up (the water makes the chocolate seize, which doesn't bother me, but the final product is not completely smooth, so if this bugs you I would put all the ingredients -- except the tofu -- into a double boiler and melt the chocolate the traditional way) and then added it to the food processor. A few whirls around the bowl and it was done. Placed into little individual cups and into the fridge. I divided mine into five cups. Here's a pic:
[Okay, I keep getting an "Internal Server Error" message when I try to upload the picture. It looks like chocolate mousse. This particular one was actually a bit soupy (well -- not SOUPY, but not as firm as you expect mousse to be) because it's supposed to refrigerate for an hour or so and I didn't let it refrigerate at all. :) Anyway, if I remember, I'll try again later and post a pic. But really -- it's like chocolate mousse. Because it IS chocolate mousse.]
Okay -- it finally worked. :)
More later...
Actually, I'm just back from Florida, where I was working and eating and sometimes eating things that I should not have eaten. I've been home since Monday night, however, and good as gold. I gained a couple of pounds while I was gone, but the scale is already moving south again, so no permanent damage. ;)
Today I whipped together some chili based on stuff that I just had in my pantry. It came out fine, nothing special, but Bruce has had about six bowls (I exaggerate), so it is edible.
I love my new rice cooker. I just dump in some rice, dump in some water, punch a button and forget about it. I made rice before I actually made the chili, figuring I'd make rice pudding. We ate all of what I made, so I made more. Piece o' cake. Or rice. Anyway, the next time I go to Costco I am going to buy what I used to think was a lifetime supply of rice but which I now understand will last us a month or two. We eat a LOT of rice!!! Sometime tonight I'm going to go into the kitchen and make rice pudding. Or put the rice into the fridge. One of the two.
Not that we need more desserts. I just made chocolate mousse. SO easy and actually pretty healthy (although NOT super low calorie -- one serving is about 200 calories, but it is VERY rich and satisfying). My measurements are guesses -- I didn't really measure everything -- but after all, you should make it to your tastes. This is based on an Ellie Krieger Food Network recipe.
I took a pound of silken tofu, put it into my food processor, and whipped it around until it was smooth. I try to ALWAYS buy "lite" tofu, but this was regular, so you could save a few calories there if you can get the lower-calorie version (there are only 45 calories of tofu in each serving anyway, so you won't save a ton here no matter what). I put a 3-ounce dark chocolate bar (vegan -- you have to check because a lot of dark chocolate contains milk) and about a quarter of another bar into a bowl and microwaved it until it was melted (I keep stopping and stirring it and I only zap it for ten or fifteen seconds at a time to make sure it doesn't burn). Then I added a quarter cup plus a couple of spoons of cocoa powder (the unsweetened stuff), a little more than a quarter cup of water, and about a tablespoon of brandy (if you don't have brandy or don't want to use it, you could add a little coffee or about a teaspoon of vanilla, or mint flavoring, or orange -- whatever you like, really). Then I put in a few tablespoons of sugar. I stirred all of this up (the water makes the chocolate seize, which doesn't bother me, but the final product is not completely smooth, so if this bugs you I would put all the ingredients -- except the tofu -- into a double boiler and melt the chocolate the traditional way) and then added it to the food processor. A few whirls around the bowl and it was done. Placed into little individual cups and into the fridge. I divided mine into five cups. Here's a pic:
[Okay, I keep getting an "Internal Server Error" message when I try to upload the picture. It looks like chocolate mousse. This particular one was actually a bit soupy (well -- not SOUPY, but not as firm as you expect mousse to be) because it's supposed to refrigerate for an hour or so and I didn't let it refrigerate at all. :) Anyway, if I remember, I'll try again later and post a pic. But really -- it's like chocolate mousse. Because it IS chocolate mousse.]
Okay -- it finally worked. :)
More later...