Laura's Chocolate Mousse - Gluten Free and Vegan

Topped with fresh blackberries from my brother and sister in law's garden. Yum!

Another Ode to Laura, this recipe is one she made when she came to visit Marie right after Aiden was born last summer. Sorry it's such a fuzzy shot but I love this one. Aiden was just a tiny peanut here. Laura shared her recipe in this post.  

There are so many recipes I haven't taken the time to blog lately. Life has been busier than it used to be and I've been sharing the computer and desk with my hubby so getting to it isn't always working out. This is one treat that has been a draft for nearly a year so it's time to make it blog official.

I've made it well more than a dozen times since Laura served this but was surprised to find I had actually made it and posted it earlier that year! 

My nephew told me it was already there when I mentioned I had to get it on my blog so he could find it. Oh my gosh, I'm getting old and losing my mind already. 

Check out the filling for my yummy but not so pretty Creamy Chocolate Filled Coconut Whoopie Pies! 

This is such a great recipe, naturally gluten free and vegan. It takes five minutes to put together, is a great make ahead dessert and everyone loves it. The recipe below is a small tweak from Laura's and from my filling.

Don't you love the way Laura packed them up to serve? I usually use smaller mason jars because I tend to serve these as part of a dessert table.

Because they are rich and creamy, a small serving is satisfying but because it isn't heavy or overly sweet a large serving is perfect, too.

 Laura's Chocolate Mousse - Gluten Free and Vegan

1 Can Full Fat Coconut Milk

1/2 cup (8) Organic Medjool Dates, roughly chopped

1/3 Cup Cocoa or Cacoa Powder

1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Powder

Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender (I use my Vitamix) or food processor until creamy and well mixed. There will be flecks of dates in the chocolate cream if you use a food processor. 

I like to fill tiny glasses with the mouse, chill and top with raspberries just like Laura when serving.

Enjoy!

This recipe has been happily shared on Gluten Free Wednesdays!

Olive, Garlic and Herb Dipping Oil!

If you have tried Laura's Garlic Herb Dip once, I bet you've made it several times. I still don't have the courage to add as many cloves of garlic as Laura does but we are hooked on that stuff.

It is absolutely amazing spooned over freshly baked crusty bread, but I love to drizzle it over grilled veggies, too.

The beauty of the recipe is that it really isn't a recipe. You just take a handful of fresh herbs of your choice and chop them up with some garlic, drizzle olive oil over the top and season.

Easy peasy.

Last week I had made a beautiful, crusty double loaf of Luce's New Italian Bread.

Charles Luce makes gluten free artisan bread so easy. I tweak the recipe ever so slightly and double it, baking it in a covered casserole instead of his baking bags. It comes out just right. The double sized loaf works better for my family.

We were getting ready to grill some veggies when I remembered Laura's dip.

I went outside to pick herbs and there just wasn't enough to make a nice amount so I grabbed a can of Santa Barbara Olive Company Olives. These are my favorite olives so only about 2/3 of the can made it into the dip. The texture and size of these olives are so perfect and they have several olives that are gluten free. A bonus is Santa Barbara is where my mom's family lived when I was young. The old mission on the label just makes me happy.

The result was really phenomenal. The olive texture and salty flavor worked so well with the garlic. The herbs I had on hand were fresh basil, mint, oregano and a tiny bit of chives. Any fresh herb you love works and the more flavors, the better. Because Laura loves olives I felt she'd approve of this addition. =D

We rounded out dinner with a roasted beet salad and it felt like the perfect summer meal.

Again, this really isn't a real recipe, but here's what I did.

Olive, Garlic & Herb Dipping Oil:

I chopped a handful fresh mixed herbs finely with 3 cloves of garlic.

When they were chopped I added about a cup of drained jumbo black olives and roughly chopped them.

I put the mixture in a bowl and covered with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I used freshly ground Himalayan Salt, Black Pepper and Hot Hungarian Paprika to season the dipping oil. We have kept extra dipping oil two or three days in the fridge.

Happily shared on Gluten Free Wednesdays over at Gluten Free Easily!

Enjoy!