Day 33 — Recipe: Chocolate Tofu Mousse

While I’ve decided to eliminate processed candy, cookies, cake, doughtnuts, and other baked goods, I’d still  like to enjoy a dessert or treat every so often. In my dream world I’ll find foods that taste delicous, but are made with healthy ingredients and a minimum of processed sweeteners. Treats that I can feel good about eating, that don’t trigger a binge or lead me back to processed sweets.

This Chocolate Tofu Mousse, created by world-renowned pastry chef Francois Payard and featured in Health magazine, satisfies all those requirements. Don’t think too much about whether it could possibly be good (like I did), just try it for yourself!

Chocolate Tofu Mousse

Prepare ganache: Place 8 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate in a bowl. In a saucepan, combine 1 cup soy milk and 1/2 scraped vanilla bean (I used 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract instead). Bring to a boil; pour over chocolate. Let stand 1 minute. Remove vanilla bean and whisk until smooth.

Make mousse: In a blender (I used a food processor), process 10 ounces drained silken tofu until creamy (about 10 seconds). Add ganache; blend until smooth (20-30 seconds). Spoon into 5 individual bowls; refrigerate until mousse is firm (about 1 hour).

To serve: Top with a few fresh berries (raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, whatever is in season). Serves 5.

Enjoy, and be amazed at how decandent it tastes!

Day 22 — Blog Love: 100 Days of Real Food

Today I wanted to share one of my favorite blogs, 100 Days of Real Food. Essentially a chronicle of one family’s efforts to cut out processed food, the writer Lisa Leake was highly inspired by Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food. She decided to reduce her family’s intake of processed food, at first drastically for 100 days (hence the title), and then in a way that is sustainable long-term.

I love how she shares the ups and downs of the initial challenge, and other challenges including doing the whole thing on a strict budget, along with tips, menus, recipes and encouragement. Plus really beautiful photos that prove “healthy” food can look beautiful and delicious. I particularly like her posts about how how challenging it is to make healthier choices in a world filled with processed food at every turn. Lisa challenges her readers, encouraging them to take small steps–try cutting something out for a week, or even just a day. Her frank, straightforward and honest style has kept me reading every post since the day I discovered her blog about a year ago.