The avocado chocolate mousse made me do it!

The chocolate mousse made me do it.. and a little encouragement from a rather lovely friend...

So here i am, officially blogging and trying not to hear a "Julie and Julia" voice-over in my head.

I am a foodie. Where food is concerned I am obsessed! I am a pigman! I can't quit ... eating it, cooking it, reading about it.. food, glorious food.

And here i must confess, i have had a slight advantage.. which has enabled me to maintain disgustingly perfect weight and cholesterol throughout my love affair with baking cheesecakes, dishing up pavlovas and putting an extra drizzle of white truffle oil through the homemade pasta.. yes, rare to be sure, i was disemboweled as a small child!

Not something my parents had signed me up for (like piano lessons) knowing that i was going to become so obsessed with food.. In an unfortunate fight with a swimming pool filter, the pool filter won, and i was left disemboweled and unable to absorb fat. Yes, that's the brief version.. there were some years of trauma, maybe more so for my family than me, as i can't remember much other than a few dim memories.. one of which involved tottering up a hospital corridor with my grandma to ironically visit the kitchen.. for a square of cheese! However, this is not a pity party blog.. the point of my disclosure.. i was "re-designed" to be able to cook and eat and entertain like a MoFo!

However, for a mere mortal, i.e. my other half.. after many years of being held hostage to my lavish culinary creations.. his doctor informed him that he had reached a cross roads. After catching a CNN Sanjay Gupta special on the diet that saved Bill Clinton's life, featuring the remarkable Dr Esselstyn, we had a light bulb moment. This was followed by watching the doco "forks over knives" (www.forksoverknives.com) .. and after a few more crucial signs from the universe that the time was now or never, a new way of life began in our household.. a purely plant based diet, with no animal proteins, and (the kicker) no oil.

The dog remains unimpressed :) Hence the blog name. (She is still fed meat along with her rice and vegetables, rest assured.. however the only things that fall off the dinner table now are things like edamame beans and sugar snap peas, which dutifully she has still managed to show appreciation for! Good dog!

After experiencing the most amazing results (scientifically backed up by blood tests every 5 weeks!) and watching my newly svelte-figured man transformed in every which way .. and held up as a bit of a poster boy by his doctor.. i have been trying to document the journey in photos and recipes, up until now on Facebook.. and feeling a little bit of a douche, surely my non foodie friends must be thinking "oh god, ANOTHER photo of a bunch of vegetables .. what's WITH her? Be gone your lentils and your beans.." So a blogspot seems to make perfect sense. For anyone that DOES want to see pictures of vegetable food porn... ta-da! And this way i can post recipes one time and not be the crazy person with texting-recipe-thumb-strain!

For the most part i'm making everything up as I go (the foodie past has helped HUGELY in this),  however for my very first recipe - the dessert that inspired me to blog - this is an adaption from the extremely talented and legend chef Sarah Britton - who I admire greatly and recommend you check out her beautiful and amazing blog - mynewroots.blogspot.com

Chocolate avocado mousse tarts!

This recipe makes 12 mini tarts.

Ingredients:
For tart shells:
1 1/2 c walnuts or pistachio (walnuts are better for you, pistachio way more wicked)
2 T raw agave syrup
1 good pinch salt (to taste)

For Mousse:
1 large hass avocado
good pinch salt
8 large medjool dates pitted and finely chopped
3 - 4 T cocoa (to taste)
4 T agave syrup
3 tsp vanilla extract
juice from 2 small blood oranges

For serving:
1 pk raspberries

Method:
For tart shells, grind up nuts in a food processor and then add agave and salt till combined.
Spoon a heaped tsp of mixture into mini muffin tins and use your fingers to press the crumbles to conform into tart cases - they look a little rustic!
Place in the fridge for at least 30 min.

For Mousse: In cleaned food processor combine all the mousse ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy. Adjust to taste as necessary by adding either more cocoa or agave syrup.
Dollop into tart cases, top with a raspberry and carefully pop them out of the tray using a knife and very gentle fingers.

Voila!

Over and out :)