If you give a mousse some cream

The snow forecast lead all the schools in the area to declare today a snow day well in advance, so yesterday I rushed home to make preparations....er, actually, I rushed home to make mousse. Same thing, right? I went to my neighborhood Italian market to pick up ricotta cheese and whipping cream. Let it snow! First, 2 cups part-skim ricotta with 3 TBSP unsweetened cocoa. My addition, which I highly recommend for a BIG flavor bump, is a bit of espresso powder. Throw these things in the food processor until heavenly smooth. Then scoop out every last morsel with your Pampered Chef scraper and put into a big bowl. Put 2 large egg whites (best if they're at room temp, but I couldn't wait), 1/2 cup sugar (I used less), and a pinch of salt into a glass bowl on top of a little pan of simmering water. (Your bowl shouldn't touch the water---and don't boil the water, just let it simmer.) Whisking the whole time, cook until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is warm---around 3 minutes.

Then, take the glass bowl out and use an electric mixer to beat the egg white mixture until it forms stiff peaks.

To prove they are stiff peaks, hold the bowl upside down over Lucy's head and watch her squirm.

Yep, those are some stiff peaks.

Then FOLD a big dollop of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Ahhhh, folding.....a favorite technique that I could drive into the ground, so will try not to here. If you don't know the technique, google it up and be sure to follow it for best results.

Scoop the mousse into 6 small bowls, like these cute Willow House ramekins my sister sent me. We love ramekins! Now, here comes the hardest part of the recipe: Chill for 3 hours. Harrumph.
When the torturous 3 hours is almost done, drag your daughter into the kitchen to see the delight of whipping real cream (I'm embarrassed that she says she only knows the taste of Cool Whip---really? Granted, we really don't eat much of either at our house, but obviously I've been a most neglectful parent). I taught her the trick of chilling the beaters and stainless steel bowl--I put them in the freezer at the same time I put the mousse in the fridge, a bit of overkill but if I didn't do it then I would forget. Add a couple of tablespoons of confectioners sugar and about 1/2 tsp of vanilla, and let her rip on medium speed for ..... I don't know how long, probably less than 2 minutes, just until decadently soft and luscious. Grab a couple of mousse ramekins out of the fridge, top with big dollops of whipped cream, and sit back and contemplate another snow day.
Here's Lucy eating nachos while waiting for the mousse to chill. Lovely headgear.

Lucy's Roasted Vegetables

Yesterday during a mid-day emergency refresher stop at Starbucks I asked Lucy to name three of her favorite foods. Of course the little high achiever wanted to know how general or specific she should be. After I told her it didn't matter, she named pasta, roasted vegetables, and fruit. Here's what she said about roasted vegetables: "I like the way you do them, but what I really mean is the ones to put on a sandwich." So today I roasted her a bunch of vegs specifically to put on sandwiches this week. I didn't think to take the "before" picture until I had already sliced the eggplant and salted it on paper towels to draw out a lot of the water. The main difference between these and the vegetables I usually roast are how they're cut (these are all done in long, thin slices) and that I used a lot more olive oil than usual.
Eggplant, yellow squash, red and green bell peppers, red onion, and carrots. For Lucy.

Fruit Loops

Last week at my WeWa meeting we reviewed a list of in-season fruits and veg, and I've been hungry for pineapple ever since. SCORE! Today I picked one up at Apple Farm, my fruit and veg market, for $1.99. Big mistake. I should have bought at least 2, probably 3---considering that I had to stop and eat the very first piece I cut, before I could even continue. Sweet, juicy, perfectly ripe...in fact, perfect in every way. I quickly put the rest in the fridge for L and me to nibble on, hopefully for a few days, but I kept thinking how much someone with little fat 3-year-old fingers would love to have one of those rings for a snack. So, if you have some of those little fat fingers at your house (or even if you don't!) look for a fresh pineapple this week, and enjoy.

Since I used to avoid buying whole pineapples because I didn't know how to prepare them, I thought it might be good to throw a visual tutorial in here.

Thank you, Pampered Chef apple corer!

By the way, I have a big pineapple corer/slicer from The Pampered Chef, but I find it easier to just use my big Santoku Chef's Knife.

Happy New Year on a Plate

Black-eyed peas: you knew it had to be. Frozen---my current preference, as they are fresher tasting than dried. I don't care for canned so much.

Brussel sprouts: roasted, from frozen. This was an expansion of the required greens genre, for us southerners. First time I used frozen, and they're not as good as using fresh...a little mushy inside. Maybe because when roasting fresh ones, you can cut them in half first. Anyway, I accomplished my two goals: having something a little bit along the lines of greens, and using up something from the freezer.

Baked sweet potato: perfection, topped only with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. There was one left in the basket, perfect for L and me to split.

Brown rice: a base for the peas, leftover from the fridge.

Cornbread: from the freezer, fried.

If you notice a theme here, yes, I'm working on the end-of-year and out-of-cash-after-the-holidays plus it's-just-a-good-thing-to-do-every-once-in-a-while cook out of the freezer, pantry, and fridge-a-thon. Try it: you'll feel thrifty, and you'll eat up a lot of good stuff you forgot you had. Next on my list? Scallops stir-fry with garlic, bell peppers, scallions, brown rice, and haricot verts. I wish I hadn't just eaten so I could fix it now.

All the best for 2011!