Tofu Moussletoe: Easy Mousse Becomes Frosting
I can only speak for myself, but as much as I love and have a perpetual longing for the holidays, they seem to get more frantic every year, and I have to be mindful of holding back at times to keep from compromising health, and the ability to enjoy them. This past weekend I was struck by the importance of this when Dave and I watched a short documentary on stress from National Geographic in conjunction with Stanford University (it's pragmatically called "Stress", is only 55 minutes, and is available on instant Netflix...I highly recommend it!). The focus was long-range, comprehensive studies on stress and scientific, quantifiable data on the impact of stress on the body and one's life outlook. I can't tell you how many times I've said, or agreed with someone saying, "I really think stress has a lot to do with [something really negative]. Now, we have tangible information revealing that stress can wear us down in every aspect, from killing brain cells and depressing immunity to retaining unhealthy fat in the worst places, and even wearing down protective telomeres, consequently unraveling our DNA! The one flaw for me with this enlightening program was that more time wasn't spent advising us on how to curb stress. Though I guess we've all heard the usual recommendations of sleep, healthy levels of exercise, yoga, and meditation, all worthy advice we could take a little more to heart! A couple of points I did take away were: we can't control a lot of things, but there are certain things we can do to create a better response to stressors we must deal with; like, removing a*holes (excuse my crassness : ) ) from our lives to the extent we can, learning to say "no" more often and not attempt to do it all, and valuing serenity and balance over hyper control over everything. Anyway, there is a food blog-related point to this tangent, I promise! For me, cooking experiments and blogging can be a real stress relief, and I love them. But this week has felt so ridiculously busy, and the knowledge that my last blog post is steadily receding into the past, the idea of recipe experiments has been momentarily more stressful than fun. So, I'm sharing someone else's recipe: my Mom's. My mother has been mentioned in so many of my posts since starting this, it's about time, I think. My Mom as a rule doesn't use recipes; she kind of just throws things in intuitively, which is great for artistic freedom but not so great for re-creating successes. This one, however, was so usefully delicious, she kept the measurements.
If you're like me, you may be on the fence about soy somewhat (but that's another post deserving a lot more time and research), but whatever your thoughts, most agree it can be a terrific, complete protein, with some choices being better than others. One of my favorite desserts is actually a dark chocolate tofu mousse made with silken tofu. My Mom was experimenting with this idea and made a simple, easy mousse that she tucked in the center of a birthday cake, but which could be enjoyed on its own. The leftover "mousse" became a frosting by adding a little butter for more body. Like I said, my Mom's not big on measurements, so I'll have to try this myself another time (and update) to share an idea of just how much the below will make. Or, you can enjoy the experimentation possibilities it presents, provided it doesn't stress you out. : )
Chocolate Mousse Becomes Frosting
- 1 16-ounce package organic silken tofu
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon gelatin
Melt chocolate chips with gelatin in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Stir in cocoa powder to dissolve. Blend in a food processor with tofu.
*For frosting, add 1-2 tablespoons butter to leftovers (assuming about half is left).
Photo credit: Flikr user New Formula