Easy Chocolate Mousse

 

The majority of our things are on their way to Chicago. It's hard to believe that the time is nearing for our big move up north. It's even harder for me to believe that this is the second big interstate move in five years and third in nine years. First it was Boston and now it's Chicago; I'm starting to think the north really wants us.

One of the frustrating things about this move has been having to plan what goes, what stays, and what we can live without for two weeks. A lot of my kitchen things went up so I am left having to be creative and making recipes that don't require much kitchen equipment. This recipe for Chocolate Mousse fits that bill perfectly as it doesn't require baking and the ingredients are minimal. The best part is that it comes together quickly and tastes amazing.

 

Easy Chocolate Mousse
Source: WonkyWonderful
Serves 4

16 oz cold heavy cream
2 Tablespoon powdered sugar
1½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave, stopping every 30 seconds to stir. Once the chocolate is melted, set aside to cool slightly.

Whip the heavy cream in your stand mixer using the whisk attachment until it thickens and peaks appear.

Add the powdered sugar and melted chocolate. Whip for another 30 seconds or until the mousse is thick and fully blended.

Transfer to serving dishes. Garnish with whipped cream or chocolate shavings. Serve and enjoy.

Note: the Mousse can also be refrigerated and served later.

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram @thecookierunner 

A Little Life Update

Nearly a month ago I posted this recipe for Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies. My intention behind the post was to get back into the groove of blogging. You know what happened after that? Cati got really sick and was hospitalized with pneumonia. To make matters worse, Elina got sick and developed bronchiolitis. Then, I got sick and then everyone got sick again. At one point, the three of us were on antibiotics. The past month has been so stressful because all the colds coincided with the end of the spring semester for me so I had a lot of fun working on my finals while cuddling in a hospital bed with Cati. 2013 is kicking our butts in the health department and I feel like I need a perspective change/adjustment. In the grand scheme of things my girls are healthy. There isn't anything chronic or debilitating, but I still have my moments of "why me?" and "can't we catch a break?" Cati's hospitalization has made me so paranoid of every sniffly nose and cough. My hope is that once school is over (next week!) we'll get a break from all the colds. I want healthy, happy, sleep-through-the-night kids again.

The big news around here is that we'll be moving to Chicago in July 2014!! Alex matched there for fellowship and we are all very excited. Half my family is up there so I am looking forward to reconnecting with them. It's going to be interesting moving up there with the girls and dogs, but we'll make the best of it, especially the cold! So if you are from Chicago, please let me know about things to do and child-friendly places to live in Chicago.

Other than that, things have been moving along steadily. Trying to make the best of everything and trying to enjoy the girls. Hopefully we are done with colds and hospitalizations and surprise expenses for the year. I haven't baked in a long time so please share recipes too!

Moving Trip, Part 3: Savannah Highlight

The main reason I pushed for a stop in Savannah on our trip down was because I really wanted to go to Lady & Sons. We went to the restaurant before they opened and stood in line with about 30 other people hoping to get a reservation time that worked with out timeline. Luckily enough it did and we were set to have lunch at 12:30pm.

We walked around Savannah and tried to get our stomachs hungry enough for the buffet. This is me before we ate. Can you see the naive look on my face?? Yes it's partly happiness that we were eating at Paula Deen's restaurant but it's also the look of overconfidence. I thought I'd be making several trips to the buffet. Boy, was I wrong.
They start you off by bringing you two slices of starch. One of them was a corn pancake and the other I think was a cheddar bread. Both were extremely good but you could feel the grease swimming around inside you. I liked the corn pancake the best because you could really taste the corn. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see how many times I had to dab a piece of the corn pancake to get all the oil out. I had to dab it 11 times to get all the gunk out of it. Can you believe that? No wonder there is a warning on the menu that says they aren't afraid to use peanut oil.
Thank goodness we had some lemonade to wash all the grease down. Despite the sweetness of the lemonade, this helped us feel just a little bit healthier. Until......We made the trip to the buffet. As I said earlier, the plan was to make multiple trips to the buffet. There were a dozen southern dishes in the buffet, but we both stuck to basics and got mashed potatoes with gravy, mac & cheese, fried chicken, and baked chicken. I wasn't a fan of the mac & cheese because it didn't have enough flavor in it and it seemed kind of pasty. I blame that on it being a buffet food item. The mashed potatoes and gravy were classic and just right. The real winner was the fried chicken. OMG the flavor was amazing. The chicken was incredibly juicy and tender and the complete opposite of bland. The baked chicken was just as good, but the crunch of the fried chicken really was the star of the show. After this serving I was done. I couldn't even think about standing up. I felt like I swallowed a brick and was hoping someone would offer me a wheelchair or something so that I didn't have to walk anymore.
Paula Deen obviously doesn't realize how filling her food is and included dessert in the buffet. The dessert sizes were extremely appropriate. You could knock these babies out with 4 bites. Unfortunately, because I was so full I was only able to take half a bite of my butter cake. I took the rest to go. The cake matched it's name. It was very rich and buttery and had this been any other day I would have probably loved it, but since I was so full the thought of eating it repulsed me. Alex toughed it out. He actually ate all of his dessert. He ordered the banana pudding and said it was delicious. The bananas were ripe and the pudding had the perfect flavor combination of cream and banana.
After lunch, we walked around the city some more. After being defeated by the buffet we hoped we wouldn't be defeated to the point where we'd never eat again. The food was very, very, very good but it was extremely heavy. This meal could easily be the only meal you eat in a day. I'm sure the breads alone had enough calories for the day.

Moving Trip, Part 2: DC Highlight

Aside from seeing Abe and the Supreme Court, both Alex and I were absolutely stunned by the Botanical Garden. If you are in DC and want somewhere to go, you should definitely go here. It's free and it's a beautiful oasis of natural life in the middle of the city. I could have easily spent the day in there photographing everything. There were plants from all over the world and it's amazing to see how it can all flourish and survive under one roof.

Moving Trip, Part 1

Holy cow. I was just looking through all my uploaded pictures and I realized that I never told you about our moving trip. It's been almost 4 months and I haven't even talked about with you. I'm so sorry! We drove down from Boston and made quick stops in both DC and Savannah. When I say quick, I mean quick. We spent about a day in each city, which in my opinion isn't enough, but we had a deadline and had to be in Miami sooner rather than later. As it is, I had to push for taking stops. Alex wanted to drive straight down and not stop at all.

Our first stop was DC. Alex went to DC as a child and I had never been. I was completely in awe of the city. There was so much to do and so much of it was free! We spent a day walking around and looking at the monuments and we both vowed to return when we could spare a few more days. I can't get over how much our our nation's past, present, and future is so alive in the city. The monuments are breathtaking. Alex's favorite monument is Abraham Lincoln's. Abe is his favorite president and he loves everything and anything having to do with him. I'm a little biased and my favorite thing in DC was the Supreme Court. The courtroom is gorgeous and I can only begin to imagine how it must feel to sit in that room while the justices are there.

White House.

DC Monuments.

WWII Memorial.

Good Ol' Abe.

FDR Memorial.

Old Post Office.

Capitol Building.

Supreme Court.

Supreme Court courtroom.

Library of Congress.

Supreme Court fountain.

Declaration of Independence.

Our second stop was Savannah. I was instantly enamored by this city. The architecture is stunning and the people are extremely nice. The city has such a vibrant and cozy feel to it. And again, the history living in the city is so amazing. One of our stops in Savannah was Paula Deen's Lady & Son's (I'll review this in a later post). Let's just say the restaurant is very good but the food is super heavy.I'm so glad Savannah was our second stop because after the day we had in DC we needed to rest. Savannah was perfect for taking a relaxing stroll and enjoying the beauty of the architecture and the many manicured parks.