Chocolate Chocolate Caramel Mousse Cream Pie

My parents were in town for a few days, and my dad's birthday happened while they were here. Because my mom's kitchen isn't fully equipped with ingredients, and because his traditional birthday dessert (chocolate death cake - maybe a post for another time) was a bit much for the amount of family that was here in terms of quantity, Mom asked me to make a little something and I jumped at the opportunity. Food is not officially a love language in terms of the "Five Love Languages" book, but it really is to me. I appreciate really good food, but even more I love to make really good food for people I love. Which is why I'm not terribly interested in selling what I make as one relative often suggests that I do (although a cupcake bakery could be super fun). Making it a money thing or a job would just ruin the experience for me, you know?

Anyway, I have all kinds of decadent things pinned on pinterest, and when I looked at what I had available for no-bake pies (it's hot and I'm very pregnant, k?) lots of things appealed to me but didn't seem quite right for my dad. I'm not sure he shares my fetish for chocolate/peanut butter things (my pinterest food boards are littered with recipes of that variety). He's very much a chocolate man, but a plain chocolate cream pie, even with an oreo crust didn't seem like quite enough for a birthday to me. So I combined a couple of ideas and decided it was probably post-worthy. :) I used the chocolate pudding from this recipe and the chocolate caramel mousse and crust (slightly modified) from this recipe. Also opted to top with the whipped cream and chocolate shavings from the chocolate cream pie recipe. The result was wonderful! And so I'm sharing with you.

It was every bit as good as it looks (probably better because I'm not a very skilled food photographer at this time). Very decadent, but the whipped cream lightened it up just enough to make it possible to consume a larger piece without feeling ill. Unless you have a much lower tolerance for rich foods than I do. Then proceed with a generous slice at your own risk. hahaha

Chocolate Chocolate Caramel Mousse Cream Pie

Ingredients

Oreo crust:

• 24 oreo cookies
• 3 T. melted butter

Chocolate pudding base:

• 2/3 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
• 3 Tbsp Cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 2 1/4 cup Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Chocolate caramel mousse:

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup salted caramel sauce, store-bought or homemade 

Directions

Make the crust:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch pie dish with cooking spray.
Place the Oreo cookies in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add in the melted butter and pulse until moistened. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pie dish. Bake for 10 minutes, or until fragrant and set. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

 Make the pudding:

Combine sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in a medium pan.
While stirring constantly, slowly add in milk and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla.
Pour into pie crust, cover with plastic wrap directly on the pudding and chill until firm. (2-3 hrs)*

Make the mousse:

In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the chocolate on high in 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval, until melted and smooth. Let cool.
In a large bowl, use an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment to beat the cream until soft peaks form. On medium speed, gradually add the caramel and continue whipping until medium-stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the cooled melted chocolate until combined. Pour into cookie crust and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours.* Top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings (optional).

*I found a hurry-up method for chilling these kinds of recipes in the freezer. The rule of thumb I found was specifically referring to cookie dough, but I took a risk and tried it with my layers and it worked great! Just be sure to use a timer so you won't overdo it. The rule of thumb is to chill in the freezer for a quarter of the amount of time you would in the refrigerator. For the pudding layer that was between 30-40 minutes, and for the mousse layer it was about one and a half hours. As I said, it worked great for me!

Fun Friday: I've Just Had an Apostrophe

Gratitude statuses for the week:

• I'm thankful for people with special skills in crafting. In general, I do not so the Super Saturdays that happen enable me to have things I like in my home for a reasonable price. Thanks to my ward relief society today!
•  I'm thankful for the blessings of the temple. I don't get to go nearly as often as I'd like, but I have claimed the blessings available only at the temple for myself . . . SO thankful for that. Some things would be too hard to bear without the promise of eternal family.
• I'm thankful that snow hasn't begun falling in earnest around here. I don't love running, but I do it b/c I love being fit and I strongly prefer running outside. The snow doesn't make that impossible, but much less likely. :)
• I'm thankful for my warm home.
• I'm thankful that my mom taught me how to bake whole wheat bread. It makes your house smell awesome, AND it tastes good! :)
• I'm thankful to know that I'm a daughter of God, and that I have a specific and glorious divine role in His plan.

 IN OTHER NEWS:

Image from http://moviequotesonline.blogspot.com/2013/04/ive-just-had-apostrophe-i-think-you.html

I had an idea the other day that I thought was rather brilliant, but I want some feedback before I put it into action. Once upon a time I saw this handmade bag shared on facebook that I loved and wanted to have made as a gift for my younger sister, but felt that my beginner's level sewing skills weren't up to the task. The friend that had made the bag knew that I had crocheting skills she lacked and she suggested a craft exchange: I'd crochet her a scarf with materials she provided, and she'd make me the bag with the materials I provided. It went swimmingly and we were both satisfied with the exchange.

The world of pinterest has introduced me to many things that I'd like to make and/or have in my home, but for which I have neither the skill nor the appropriate equipment (think Silhouette Portrait/Cameo Projects), and low motivation to purchase the equipment because of the low number of things I would actually personally use it for. What if I were to set up a crafting exchange? Create a group on facebook perhaps, and have a file listed for people to share their names, their locations (for the purpose of determining shipment or personal delivery), their skill sets (including level). Then people could share projects they'd like to have made and share what skills they have to exchange, people could volunteer based on what they want, they'd privately communicate and work out some kind of deal. What do you think? Could it work? Suggestions? Does it even make sense how I've explained it? Feedback welcome. :)

The Good News Is . . .

I am doing really well at keeping my resolution of spending less time on the internet. This has also meant that I'm blogging less for now because the time I do spend on the computer I need to be doing stuff for my class. I'm taking an online class about creating site-specific dance. I really like it, but with weekly assignments and several video lectures weekly, it's becoming abundantly clear that it would have been extremely difficult for me to complete a bachelors' degree after I started having children. It's difficult for anyone, but I think I particularly would have struggled; just doing this one class is a struggle for me. So major props to all women who manage to complete a degree while raising children!

I still wanted to share my gratitude statuses from facebook, so for this post I'm pretending it's still Friday. :)

• I'm thankful for my home. I often wish it were a little bigger, or had more storage space, but I am really glad for a safe and warm place that my family can live in.
• I'm thankful that it's Sunday. Best day of the week in my opinion.  
• I'm thankful that I can read and for all of the wonderful books that I've been exposed to. (shout out to the Veterans! I'm thankful for them, too)
• I'm thankful that my cupboards and refrigerator are full of food. I keep hearing about different food drives, and we do our bit to try to help others in need and I am just so grateful that we can!
• I'm thankful for the technology that allows me to keep better tabs on friends and family.
• I'm thankful for my husband. We balance each other really well, he keeps me stable in more ways than one, and his confidence has rubbed off on me. Also, I just really enjoy looking at him. ;) 

My aunt commented on last one on facebook, "He is nice eye candy." lol

Fun Friday: Grateful I Can Move It

Last week I decided that for the month of November I'd be sharing my gratitude statuses from facebook here. So, here we go again. :)

• I'm thankful that my husband has a job, and that overall he enjoys it. What a blessing that he doesn't go to work every day feeling basically like he's a slave doing something he doesn't enjoy or care about!

• I'm thankful for family. I am super fortunate to have been raised in a wonderful family, and just as fortunate to have married into another wonderful family.

• I'm thankful for the freedom to make my own choices.

• I'm thankful for my body. I can learn a lot with it, and I can do a lot with it!

• I'm thankful that my parents gave me the gift of music. I had piano lessons, voice lessons, and some violin lessons growing up; the piano especially has been a soul soother for me. 

• I'm thankful for indoor plumbing. I keep coming up with something that's relevant to the day's activities; today I get to clean the bathrooms. I'd rather have to clean them weekly than have to run outside to an outhouse to do my business. hahaha

• I'm thankful for my degree in modern dance. It may seem useless, but it was dance education for most of my time at BYU, and I use my skills to volunteer in my kids' classes teaching creative dance. That makes me a rock star to them, so it was totally worth it if only for that. But you can bet that's not the only benefit I personally derived from it.  

Locomotor motion: crawling

Thing 2's class :)

Fun Friday: Gratitude

Like many people, during the month of November I'll post daily statuses of gratitude on facebook. During this month I'll copy and paste those statuses and share them here on Fridays along with other fun and/or joyful things. First day of November - here is my 'gratitude status' for today:

I'm thankful for the generously expressed love of my children. This morning my little toddler ran into my bedroom, crawled quickly from the foot of the bed to come and snuggle with me for a minute (maybe less) before he just as quickly exited my bed and room. hahaha

Also, here are our Halloween pics:

In costume at a church Halloween party.

With props!

 And a neat story shared on facebook:

Our carved pumpkins - the top two were designed by my two oldest.

Pumpkin Story
(source unknown to me)

A lady had recently been baptized. One of her co-workers asked her about what it was like being a Christian. She was caught off guard and didn't know how to answer, but when she looked over she saw a jack-o-lantern on the desk and answered, "It's like being a pumpkin”.

The worker asked her to explain that one. “Well, God picks you from the patch and brings you in and washes off all the dirt on the outside that you got from being around all the other pumpkins. Then he cuts off the top and takes out all the yucky stuff from the inside. He removes all those seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc... Then he carves you a new smiling face and he puts His light inside of you to shine for all to see”.


"Let your light so shine . . . " Happy Friday! And Happy November!

Fun Friday: The Only Parenting Book You'll Ever Need (pretty much)

From the beginning of my parenting adventures I have felt strongly that no parenting book was going to be able to adequately tell me how to parent different children. No one approach was going to be successful for all children. The only parenting advice that I've been interested is that found in the scriptures, from Latter-day prophets and apostles, or the whisperings of the spirit. Those have served me quite well, and will continue to do so.

I have in the last year come across a tool for better understanding of self and others called energy profiling. I was introduced to it in a blog that I followed. The program I first learned about applied the principles of energy profiling to how a woman can dress; it's called "Dressing Your Truth," and I've really enjoyed it (there's now a similar program for men). I'll talk about that in another post sometime, but today I wanted to talk about a different application of the energy profiling system that I think is very worthwhile.

Recall that I feel that no one parenting approach is right for all children, and that's why I generally don't read parenting books. I've now found a book that I feel gives legitimate and helpful tools for parenting different children - and aren't they all? It's called, "The Child Whisperer," by Carol Tuttle. I don't yet own it, but I am definitely going to. Because it applies the principles of energy profiling, you can learn to parent each individual child in your home in a way that honors you and each of your children.

I think from the beginning of my parenting I've been kind of afraid of crushing my children's spirits. I have felt for some time that the way we came to the earth as children is the most authentic and most genuine version of ourselves, and I didn't want to change my children or make them feel as if they were somehow fundamentally wrong. I'm not saying that I think that we can't or shouldn't change from how we were as children . . . mostly I guess I just feel that we should be able to just improve upon it rather than fundamentally change it. The parenting approach in this book helps the parents recognize their children's gifts and help them manage their child's challenges. The approach is highly adaptable for individual children, and that's why it appeals to me. So, I recommend it to everyone! As it says in the book, it's never to late to be a better parent.

Fun Friday: Developing Talents

My husband and I have a fancy DSLR camera. We purchased it a few years ago, and we love it. Shooting in auto mode it's almost impossible to take a bad picture. But it's such an amazing camera, and I love good photography - I've wanted to get out of auto mode and become a skilled photographer. I've also wanted to take classes, but haven't had the money/time, or the classes were no longer available. I've had free instruction pinned on pinterest but haven't had the time/motivation/subjects to bother with them. Until last Saturday. I've shared these desires of mine with a good friend, and she decided recently that she needed a current family picture. So she asked me to do it. I crammed a little bit on some of the shorter tutorials on pinterest and headed out to meet her family in a location that I knew someone else had taken some lovely family photos at last year. I think I did rather well (not to toot my own horn or anything). Here are some of my favorites:

My paternal grandfather used to own his own photography studio and I've seen some of his stuff - it was pretty darn good. Maybe I've inherited some of his talent? A girl can hope. :) Also hoping to do my own family photos this Saturday with a tripod and a self-timer. Hope that works out with three littles, one of whom is a toddler. hahaha

Fun Friday: Move Your Body!

 Last Saturday I did my first 5K Color Run. I still don't really love running, but I do love to be healthy and fit, so I do it. I've wanted to do a Color Run for quite some time now, and I kept just barely missing opportunities. But I finally made it happen last weekend.Yea for my husband and kids supporting me in these things!

Pre-race

Nearing the end

The end!

 Our bodies are amazing gifts. Celebrate your body! Don't worry about what your body's not - celebrate what it is and what you can do with it! Move today! You'll be glad you did.

Check this guy out! Isn't he awesome?

Fun Friday: Service for a Funeral

Probably you may be wondering how 'funeral' and 'fun Friday' can go together. For one thing, it is my privilege to serve for a funeral today by providing a potato casserole for the family after the services, and I was asked to sing for the services. Also, in this case the death came to an elderly person, so in some respects it wasn't completely unwelcome. But this sweet sister (Ormae) holds a special place in my heart.

Ormae was one of the first sisters I was assigned to visit teach when I moved to this area over four years ago with my small family. Her hearing was sketchy at best, even with a hearing aid, and her sight was just about as bad. But she was so fun to visit. Occasionally she could hear our responses to her, but she could carry on conversation quite well, if mostly by herself. She shared great stories of her growing up years, her years as a mother and a hairstylist. She was sweet and sassy, and her nails were always taken care of and painted, usually pink. Once she shared with us that she never painted her nails red. Why? Because that's what she had seen the 'ladies of the night' paint their nails when she was young! hahaha

She had a strong testimony of the church, and it was such a pleasure to get to know her a little bit. I am so grateful that I was asked to sing for her funeral because I know (she told me many times) how much she loved to hear me perform, either vocally or on my violin. I just loved her and I'm so glad I get to serve her one last time. 'Til we meet again, Ormae I'll remember you and be grateful that you were a part of my life. I look forward to getting to know you better in the next life!

Focus Change

When I began this blog six years ago, it was mostly a way to update family and friends with our family happenings - primarily with photos. At the time we had dial-up internet and it took FOREVER to email photos, but blogging multiple photos was relatively quick. Occasionally I would post some of my thoughts about life and the gospel, and I was surprised to find that those posts received the most comments. Mostly the feedback made me feel like my viewpoint was helpful to people and that made me feel good.

In the past year I've made some changes to the blog to make my information more safe while also making it so that I didn't need to be afraid of my blog reaching a larger audience. This change was prompted by a message a brother in our ward gave about using technology to share the gospel. He encouraged us to set up profiles at mormon.org. Those profiles give you the option of linking a facebook account, and/or a blog. The facebook account was out of the question, but I felt that if I altered the blog a bit it could be a tool for good. But other than making it less personal so it wouldn't be a safety risk if more people saw it, I haven't changed much about how I blogged.

However, I've decided that I'm ready to make a change. I hope to be able to blog regularly about things that matter to me. For some time now I have harbored a secret wish to be an inspiring 'Mormon blogger,' and a sister in my ward encouraged me to go for it! I always do better when I have a plan and a schedule. I now hope to post two-three days a week with the following themes: Monday Musings (may or may not be spiritual in nature), Wonderful Wednesdays (definitely spiritual in nature, because the gospel is wonderful to me), and Fun Fridays (this is where I'll share family happenings/pictures). Stay tuned - and feel free to share the things you find worthwhile sharing!

For today's 'Fun Friday' edition: I got my hairs cut yesterday. I like it. :)