Heartfelt Thanks and Moo-less Chocolate Protein Pie

It's been a really really busy month so far. About a million things going on at the same time and I just about manage to keep up some days.
Hey, it's a full life and I'd be stupid to complain.
Thank goodness for the blessings; a wonderful spouse, family and extended family.

The blog's birthday came and went. I'd meant to write a long heartfelt and warm post to all the people who come here and leave sweet comments, but that didn't really happen.

I just wanted to say that your comments mean a lot and the blogging friends who visit me regularly - you guys rock! Even being a teeny weeny part of the blogging community is a lot of fun and a big reason for why I continue to do this. Some days I really struggle and I know I don't have that many readers and I know that my pictures suck and that I really should put in more time to give it a better look, but for whatever it's worth, I'm still doing it!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I believe that desserts are meant to be super rich, decadent and so heavy that just a tiny portion is enough. I don't think desserts were ever supposed to be big portions which is why the whole fat free versions of rich desserts (made out of I don't know what- air??!) don't really make sense. People just tend to eat more of it....and what's the point of that?
Your appetite just keeps getting bigger and the next time you want a big portion of that really fattening dessert too. The portions for dessert (and other foods) here in the United States are just ridiculous. No one should be eating those ginormous portions of ice cream by themselves. In Dubai when I was I growing up, we used to go the Baskin Robbins ice cream parlor and I think the regular scoop of ice cream was smaller than what the kids scoop here gets you!
I usually get the kid's size for myself and most of the time, that's plenty.
The moo-less Chocolate pie is a dessert which I had first tried out when I was twenty something. It's moo-less as in no milk, cream or dairy. Silken tofu gets blended along with melted chocolate chips to form a pudding.
I don't remember being that impressed; maybe it was the chocolate brand I used.
I tried this again last week and it turned out amazing!
Perhaps it's being a thirty something now and knowing that calories don't just melt themselves away any more that did it. Or perhaps it was just the silky mousse like texture or maybe the chocolate chips that I used were better quality.
True, it's not as rich as a regular cream based chocolate pudding/mousse but I can truly say that it feels like it.
A little goes a loooong way.
And that's how desserts are meant to be.
As for why we call it protein pie..the kids were watching me make it and the were amazed that the whole block of tofu was going in it! And right there it was nicknamed the protein pie! Now how do you say no to that?
(Yes, yes..silken tofu is not as high in protein as the regular tofu, just indulge me please!)

Moo-less Chocolate Protein Pie
Recipe from Alton Brown on Food Network

Ingredients

• 2 cups chocolate chips,
• 1/3 cup coffee liqueur (I used 1.5 teaspoon instant coffee mixed in water)
  
• 1 block silken tofu
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 prepared chocolate wafer crust (I had a graham cracker crust on hand)

Method

Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds and mix with a dry spatula. Heat again and mix. Do this till the chips are completely melted.

Combine the tofu, chocolate mixture, vanilla essence, coffee and honey in the blender jar. Liquefy until smooth.

Pour the filling into the crust and refrigerate for 4-6 hours, or until the filling is set.

You can also pour the mixture in to pretty cups and serve by itself w/o the crust.

Tastes much better the next day.