My children love ice cream. In this hot weather, they’re having it at least once a day, usually twice, and sometimes even before breakfast. (Shhh! Don’t tell grandma!)

So I was thrilled to discover a great recipe for healthy ice cream by the lovely JJ from 84th & 3rd. JJ made a Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream for our recent Death by Chocolate bloghop, made of only bananas, avocado, chocolate and maple syrup. I made it the other day and was amazed by how good it tasted. It wasn’t exactly ice cream but it was a damn fine substitute and one I’d be happy to eat any day of the week. And I wasn’t alone in liking it either – my kids absolutely loved it.

So today when I spotted some lovely strawberries at my greengrocer I decided to make a strawberry version. I only had half an avocado in the fridge so it ended up being midway between a sorbet and an ice cream.

This Strawberry Sorbet is refreshing, delicious and very pretty. It’s healthy, too – it’s literally only fruit with a couple of spoonfuls of jam added. You could even omit the jam if you wanted it to be completely sugar-free.

Best of all, it’s a cinch to make. So I can give this healthy, homemade snack to my children once or twice a day feeling quietly satisfied with myself rather than guilty.

Gotta love that.

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I’m excited to be guest posting for Kristy Bernado at The Wicked Noodle this week.

Kristy began cooking seven years ago after her children were born and she had to adjust from a life of DINK (Double Income No Kids) to OIWK (One Income With Kids). Prior to having kids she was VP of Human Resources at a large restaurant chain and ate out every meal so it was quite a lifestyle change, but one that led her on a journey to where she is today – a successful private chef and award-winning blogger.

Of her new, food-focused life, Kristy says she finally understands the old saying: “if you find a job that you love, you’ll never work another day in your life”.

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It’s hot and I’m bothered.

I want instant refreshment, instant karma (calmer).

I need something to cool me down.

But what?

Let’s see: I have Greek yoghurt in the fridge and an unopened bottle of rosewater in the larder.

Aha! A Rosewater Lassi.

Quickly now. Make it. Drink it.

Ahhh. That’s better.

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I was recently chuffed to be contacted by The Hoopla to provide a canapé and drink recipe for their Happy Hour section.

I immediately knew that I wanted to do my Mini Vietnamese Pork Buns, which are so easy and unbelievably delicious, but which cocktail would go well with them?

Eventually, I settled on a summery watermelon daiquiri. They taste great and are such a pretty party drink – watermelon daiquiris immediately make you want to kick up your heels and throw your head back with laughter.

So here it is. Enjoy!

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There are times when a little restraint is called for. After all, too much of a good thing can get you into all kinds of trouble.

Happily, this is not one of those times. For too much of a very good thing – in this case, chocolate – is what this Sweet Adventures Death by Chocolate bloghop is all about.

Sweet Adventures is a group of Australian food bloggers – myself,  84th & 3rd, The Capers of the Kitchen Crusader, Delicieux, and Dining With a Stud – who host a monthly, dessert-themed blog hop.

Our inaugural event, The Great Australian Pavlova Blog Hop, attracted 34 entries in November 2011, while our second event, the Festive Favourites Blog Hop, attracted 38 entries last month. Click on the above links to drool over all the entries.

It was my turn to host this month and as I scanned our lengthy list of theme ideas I realised there was one glaring omission: Death by Chocolate.

Why Death by Chocolate? Well, if you’re going to indulge in chocolate you might as well go all out, right? There’s no point in the single square of chocolate, the lone chocolate truffle, the tiny chocolate brownie, the mini chocolate biscuit or the slender piece of chocolate cake. Worst still, are diet versions: I’d rather go without than eat some kind of ‘lite’ chocolate abomination.

So for my Death by Chocolate entry, I wanted complete chocolate decadence. I wanted creamy pillows of velvety chocolate-ness. I wanted a dessert that would have me swooning over its richness.

I trialled a multi-layered chocolate cake, which fell well short of expectations, before deciding to make a classic chocolate mousse instead.

I’ve always been a pushover for chocolate mousse made with top quality chocolate. I love its intense chocolate flavour, silky texture and the way it melts away into sublime nothingness in your mouth. It’s an incredibly sexy dessert and perfect for a romantic supper but you could also serve it in shot glasses for a cocktail party or hen’s night.

This chocolate mousse is made with standard pantry ingredients, and in under 20 minutes, but tastes like a dessert that you’d enjoy in a fine dining establishment (with the addition of a few ‘dirt’ crumbs and flowers sprinkled artistically around the plate, natch).

Is chocolate mousse a dessert to die for? No, it’s better than that: it’s a dessert to live for.

INGREDIENTS

350 grams top quality chocolate (I used a mixture of dark and white this time but would ordinarily use only dark)
175 grams unsalted butter
7 large, room-temperature, free-range eggs, separated
100 grams raw caster sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
Pinch of salt

METHOD

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler and then let it cool down off the stove.

In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick and creamy, like home-made mayonnaise. Stir in the vanilla and salt and then the cooled chocolate mixture.

Beat the egg whites in another large bowl until soft peaks form. Add one spoonful of egg whites to the chocolate mixture and briskly stir it in – this lightens it – before gently folding the rest of the egg whites in. Try not to bash all the air out of the egg whites.

Use a ladle to pour the mixture into glasses and chill in the fridge for a couple of hours or until required.

Remove from the fridge 10 minutes before serving and decorate with raspberries – their beautiful red tones are the perfect visual contrast while their tartness cuts through the richness of the mousse.

Makes 10 glasses.

Don’t forget to scroll to the end of this post to check out all the delicious
Death by Chocolate entries

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Sweet Adventures Blog Hop: Death by Chocolate

If you blog about food we’d love you to join this hop. Simply follow the steps below and join the fun!

1. Publish your Death by Chocolate post on your blog sometime between 16th January 2012 (9am Sydney time [AEST]) and 23rd January ( 11:59pm Sydney time [AEST]). Entries are linked in order of submission so try to get your entry in on or as close to the 16th as possible. Only new posts featuring chocolate are eligible.
2. Click here for the Link Code. Copy the code and add it to the bottom of your Death by Chocolate post (you will need to do this in HTML view). Adding the code will create the thumbnail gallery of all the other entries and let visitors hop from other blogs to your blog and vice versa. If you are on wordpress.com (i.e. not self hosted) the list will not show on your blog so please create a text link back to this post instead.
3. Grab the SABH Death by Chocolate badge and add it to your post. Just right click on the image, ‘save as’, upload to your site and add it to your Death by Chocolate post. Link the badge or a line of text to this page so that others can view the instructions on how to join.
4. Click here to Enter the Hop. This is the really important bit! The badge and thumbnail list are on your post so make sure to enter the hop so that you appear in the list. For question 1: add the URL of your Death by Chocolate Post, not your homepage. For question 2: for caption/title add the name of your dessert. For question 3: for ‘your name’ please enter your blog name. For question 4: your entry is automatically submitted when you click ‘crop’.
5. Your linked post WILL NOT appear straight away in the blog hop thumbnail list. To combat spam this is a moderated hop. Your post will be visible in the list after approval.
6. Hop around to all the other entries in the blog hop, sharing the comment love.
7. If you are on Twitter use the #SABH to tell the world about your Death by Chocolate post. Follow us @SweetAdvBlogHop for new hop announcements and general deliciousness.

If you aren’t sure how to do something please leave a comment or get in touch.

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For The Hungry Australian’s first guest post, I’m delighted to hand the reigns over to JJ from 84th & 3rd.

I knew JJ’s delightful blog before I met her in person at Eat Drink Blog, the second Australian Food Bloggers Conference in November last year. I remember telling JJ how much I liked her blog header and how impressed I was when she told me she designed it herself.

Afterwards, I got to know JJ better when we decided to organise the Sweet Adventures monthly dessert-themed blog hop together, along with Delicieux, Dining With a Stud, and The Capers of the Kitchen Crusader. On our lengthy email group discussions, JJ’s contributions are always helpful, diplomatic, dry and smart: she is definitely the kind of person you want on your team.

I didn’t need further evidence of JJ’s competence but I was extremely touched when she sensed I was being overwhelmed by family matters this week and kindly offered to help out with a guest post. So, without further ado, please read on and enjoy JJ’s Mac-n-Cheese guest post. And then head on over to 84th and 3rd for more deliciousness covered with “a good dusting of cocoa powder”.

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Fish and eggplant may sound like a bizarre combination, but trust me, this curry is fantastic.

When our daughter was due to arrive my mother came to stay with us in Shanghai. Every day she did the shopping and cooking and this was one of the dishes she cooked for us after our daughter was born. I remember wolfing it down for dinner and then eating another huge bowl at 2am after a lengthy breastfeed.

This Fish & Eggplant Curry is super easy to make and incredibly rich, hearty and sustaining. Sardines are high in omega-3s and calcium and low in mercury. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese, as well as all the B vitamins, so this curry really does make you feel very good.

I love eating curry in cooler weather as it warms up your bones from the inside, but I also like eating it in summer, as it reminds me of eating curry in the sweltering humidity of Malaysia.

Serve it with plain rice and pappodams for a simple, everyday feast.

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One of the wonderful things I love about food blogging is that you meet all kinds of people who are mad about food: chefs, producers, restauranteurs, home cooks, people who love to eat out, people who love to entertain, and, of course, other food bloggers.