Caramel-Chocolate Mousse Pie

I allow hostesses say-so in dessert requests, especially if they say something like "chocolate and caramel, preferably" when I offer.

Behold, cool chocolate mousse nestled atop sticky (but not too sticky) sweet caramel with a simple graham cracker crust to balance out all that decadence.

It was declared a winner by those who fully appreciate chocolate among my sphere of influence. In fact, it received the rarely granted "I might need that for my birthday" award from a certain musical member of that sphere for the first time since my Caramel Brownies. That's serious.

 

Two weeks later, the flowers from ever-thoughtful ladies in my house are still thriving. The pie met its death by consumption within 24 hours.

More Chocolate+Caramel Combos:
Caramel Brownies
Mini Chocolate-Caramel Cupcakes

Just Love-ly Heart Brownies

Chocolate+Butter=Love

 My favorite decadent, fudgy brownies had made a few appearances as footballs. Now it was time to take them a more girly direction, and time to break my inadvertent post-holiday baking fast.

Don't forget Feb. 15, a.k.a. post-Valentine's chocolate sale day.

The next most exciting day on my food calendar? Whenever I can have my natural light for photos back in the evenings!

Recipe: Outrageous Brownies

Previous Valentine's Week Posts:
Chocolate Cake Balls
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Molten Chocolate Cakes

Try-A-New-Green (Fennell, Raddiccio and Endive) Salad

As I exited college, I journaled about a life vision: "Live simply (little "stuff") and naturally (eat local). Be deeply invested in serving my community and pouring into people using my gifts. A home (in the city?) that welcomes guests and friends for homemade food, fellowship, refuge, discipleship and learning..."

What does this have to do with a bowl of funky lettuces? Everything.

Five years later, these hands are a piece of my community, the produce selection a sign of knowing a friend's special diet and her desire to turn it into an adventure.

They are in my home (in the city!), the place of warmth and invitation I once dreamed of.

Texture experimentation: Success!

My ellipsis (fancy word for "...") cut off another part of that vision: some mushy words about a husband and children. Five years ago, that's what I envisioned as the ultimate in home life. What I didn't realize then is the degree to which I could so beautifully realize my hopes of everyday companionship and community through a wider body of people, especially its (insert "Single Ladies" chorus here).

The mushy part is still part of the life vision. But for now, I rest in the gift of the present. This night, it's crisp and colorful with a hint of licorice-tasting fennell. (Oh, and there was salmon to go with it. It was not local. Minor life vision fail.)

Slicing this babe resulted in oooing and ahhing over how beautiful its layers of innards are

Mini Frittatas with Feta, Swiss Chard, Mushrooms and Shallots

This is what happens when you fancify eggs for brunch with friends. I have yet to perfect a giant frittata, but making little ones in muffin tins turn out just fine. It was also easy to pull out servings for a few of us and save the rest for fast meals later that week.

Also, what are eggs without bacon?

Why cook spinach when you can get your hands on something as pretty as red-veined Swiss Chard? Like spinach, it also goes from a giant pile of leaves to a small ball of wilted green, and has a similar taste. Cooking is really quite fascinating.

Making these also reminded me I need to purchase silicone cupcake tins. Cleaning eggs out of metal ones is treacherous.

Best of 2013

My 2014 kicked off with a round of catch-ups with old friends, one of whom was baking the number one cupcake beauty below for a party tonight (and raved about the cake!). That reminded me to publish this post of my most trafficked (and coincidentally, my personal favorite) kitchen projects from the year.

Cheers to all the tastes of the past and future!

Chocolate Buttercream Cupcakes

Blackberry-Goat Cheese Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches
 

Chocolate Cream Pie Squares

Mint-Lime Fruit Skewers

Mexican Chicken-Lime Soup
 

 Not a recipe, but my most-trafficked, most beloved post of the year:

How to Make a Family Cookbook

Chocolate-Peppermint Layer Cake

Always searching for the latest greatest variation on homemade chocolate cake, I took the recipes I know work and added some peppermint flavoring. Voila... chocolate layers with peppermint buttcream innards and pepperming chocolate frosting on the outside.

In-person time with people trumped photo opps for this babe, so all I got was the whole cake in nighttime lake house lighting and then a giant slice that was left two days later. The slice only lasted like 20 minutes after this photo.

How to make this cake:

Chocolate Cake Layers
Buttercream Frosting, subbing peppermint for vanilla
Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Icing, subbing peppermint for vanilla
Crushed peppermints for garnish

Cabbage Wraps with Garlic-Peanut Sauce

If this looks like a rabbit meal, it is. My friend has to eat like one for health reasons, and so any time I happen to think of a meal that's not salad with chicken and that stays within the strictly meat and green veggie realm, I get excited and tend to cook up the meal ASAP.

Voila, Cabbage Wraps, served with Coconut Rice.

(As I type this, I can't believe I am just now blogging about about sweet, nutty Coconut Rice, pretty much the best form of white starch ever).

The serving line looked like a Thai taco bar, with more veggies and no cheese. Carrots added crunch, and the Garlicky Peanut Sauce a strong kick of spice and nuttiness.

Savoy  Cabbage looked like the prettiest wrapper to me because of its rippled texture and curly edges. It was also super sturdy, and my cabbage washing assistant discovered it can hold water, no leaks, like a cup.


If I were to make it again, I would...

• thin out the sauce with some water so it spreads its punch more evenly over the chicken.
• add another bell pepper and maybe some mushrooms and other veggies.
• double it for leftovers, and for the love of Coconut Rice.