Chocolate Mousse

You know, ever since my job decided that they were going to monitor our internet access, my quality of life has decreased significantly!! Basically, I can't check my e-mails at work so they build up to a ridiculous amount and by the time I am done checking them, I don't have time to post on the blog. I'm just going to have to start scheduling the time to do it because post ideas keep piling up!

I was going to post what we did with all the bananas but then the weeks flew by. We ate several of them and made smoothies but we also made this really good mousse. It comes from Go Dairy Free which is a really good book for dairy-free snack ideas.

We actually had this over a week ago. All my time last week was taken up planning our weekend out of town. Bill had a bike race in Burlington, Iowa (he got 11th out of about 30). It was called Snake Alley because part of the course looks like this:

We stayed in Galesburg, Illinois for the weekend. Besides the race, we went to a train museum, ate at a creperie, looked at the Mississippi River, and saw Star Trek. It was a nice weekend but we were really tired from all the driving and the heat so it was nice to get home.

Chocolate Mousse

12.3 oz package of firm silken tofu

2 medium bananas, ripe

8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla

Place the tofu and bananas in your blender and process until smooth. Melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Pour the melted chocolate into the blender along with the vanilla and blend until it is smooth and creamy. Divide the mousse between 4 bowls, cover with wax paper and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Kay: I wish it had less banana flavor to it but it was really good besides that.

Mom (Dana): I've tried a lot of pudding-type recipes that use tofu but they always tasted a little funny. This mousse didn't have that weird tofu taste at all.

Banana Bread

Last Halloween, we weren't going to buy a pumpkin but on our way home from my parent's house, we noticed a sign that said "pumpkins $1". Who could pass that up? It was at this small tent set up in the parking lot of a small candle and craft shop. I had seen it there all summer but that was the first time we stopped.

A couple weeks ago, Kay and I noticed they were back so we stopped there after going to the library. I don't know where the produce comes from but there is a lot of it and the prices are really really REALLY low. We've started going there every week and I'm always amazed at how much we get for so little.

This week when we were checking out, the guy who I think is the owner said "You want some bananas for a dollar". Why not! He gave us two huge bunches of bananas and then said "I give you more if you can use them - no charge". 15 bananas is more than enough for us though!

So over the next week or so, we are going to post recipes using all of these bananas. The first thing I made was banana bread. Kay doesn't like banana bread and didn't even help make it this time (she is always at tennis) but Bill loves this recipe and he is very child-like at times so it counts as a child friendly food! I messed around with several recipes until Bill declared that it was perfect a few years ago.

I pulled this out of the oven just a couple minutes before Bill walked in the door. As you can see, one disappeared before I could even get my camera!

I usually make mini loaves but I only have 2 pans and this makes 4 and I didn't feel like doing two batches so I tried it in giant muffin pans and it worked great. Plus we don't feel as guilty eating a whole muffin (no matter how big) as we do when we eat a whole loaf!

Banana Bread

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup milk (I used rice this time)

2 eggs or 1/2 cup egg beaters

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup mashed bananas (usually around 2 bananas)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon ground flax

Mix all the wet ingredients together. In a separate bowl mix the dry. Add the wet to the dry and stir until just mixed.

For small loaves or large muffins, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

For a regular size loaf, bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

The small loaves work a lot better than the regular size one.