Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Word of the Week: PARFAIT

[Ok, I stopped counting my 21 days to habitual blogging. My husband called me out on it last night, and he said that the days had to be consecutive. I was cheating.]

The Word of the Week is "Parfait". Monday we had Sky Parfaits. Today we made chocolate parfaits. Did you know that the the French word "parfait" is translated to "perfect"?

I have to say this parfait was very close to perfection.

It was a chocolate Oreo Parfait. Here's a brief recipe of it:

Layer One: Crushed Oreo Cookies (2-3 tablespoons)
Layer Two: Chocolate Pudding (We used Great Value instant)
Layer Three: Chocolate Mouse #1 (instant chocolate pudding mixed with fresh whipped cream or Cool Whip. We used fresh whipped cream and it was kind of bland. Cool Whip would probably be better.)
Layer Four: More Crushed Oreo Cookies
Layer Five: Chocolate Pudding
Layer Six: Chocolate Mousse #2 (I tried this recipe, and it was good. I omitted the extract and food coloring.)
Layer Seven: Whipped Cream
Layer Eight: Crushed Oreo Cookie

Basically it's just a pile of chocolate yumminess. You don't really have to do two types of Mousses, but I was experimenting. My second one was much better. I have a bunch of old Christmas Hershey Kisses that I want to use up. They still taste fine, but they are taking up space. So I found a recipe on the Hershey website that used 36 Hershey Kisses.

Poor Jason didn't get to enjoy any parfait. He's in hard core cleaning training. He didn't do his cleaning job today, so he paid the consequence. There were tears, as there should have been, because he really did miss out on a delicious dessert. However, I made him one and saved it for him. He can have it tomorrow IF he does his cleaning job. Part of me hopes that he doesn't clean so I can eat it.

We didn't really do a fun activity or lesson today. I stubbed my toe on my nightstand this morning and it is EXTREMELY sore. I also bumped the sore toe three more times throughout the day which made me shout in pain and cry. So Mommy was a bit grumpy today from the annoying injury. I've also been VERY tired! All I wanted to do was sleep today, but I did the responsible thing and only took a 20 minute nap for a moment this afternoon.

In perfect homeschool world, I would've had a lesson on the different layers of earth and talked about sedimentary rocks and stuff like that. Then I would've followed it up with making the parfaits. But today was a not a perfect day, and we simply indulged in chocolate. It made my toe feel better.

I finished staining our benches today. I should be able to post a picture of our new table soon. Like, hopefully tomorrow! During the process I had to use steel wool to sand down between staining and polyurethaning. Wendy asked, "What is that?"
I said, "Steel wool."
She said, "Does that come from a goat or sheep? Sarah said it comes from a sheep."

I love kids. This is the sheep where the wool comes from.

2 comments:

  1. I'm going to leave you a really long comment... get ready... here it goes.... my fav recipe for chocolate mousse and cream puffs (haven't ever made the puffs actually, I use my mousse in trifles - chocolate cake, mousse, pudding, cool whip, repeat layers, add oreos or heath bars, etc.). Anyway, the recipe:
    Chocolate Mousse
    1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
    1 tablespoon cold water
    2 tablespoons boiling water
    1/2 cup sugar
    1/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
    1 cup (1/2 pt.) cold whipping cream
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    1. Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in small cup; let stand 1 minute to soften. Add boiling water; stir until gelatin is completely dissolved. Cool slightly.
    2. Stir together sugar and cocoa in medium bowl; add whipping cream and vanilla. Beat on medium speed of mixer, scraping bottom of bowl occasionally, until mixture is stiff. Pour in gelatin mixture; beat until well blended. Store in the refrigerator while you make the pastry.
    Pastry
    1/2 cup water
    1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
    1/8 teaspoon salt
    1/2 cup all-purpose flour
    2 eggs
    Directions:
    1. Heat oven to 400°F. Grease cookie sheet.
    2. Combine water, butter and salt in medium saucepan; cook to boiling, stirring until butter melts. Add flour all at once; stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or until mixture leaves the side of pan and forms a ball. Remove from heat.
    3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating with spoon after each addition until smooth. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons into 6 mounds, 3 inches apart, onto prepared cookie sheet.
    4. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Horizontally slice small portion from top of puffs; set tops aside. Remove and discard any soft dough from inside puffs. Cool completely. Fill puffs with the chocolate mousse; replace tops. Refrigerate about 1 hour and sprinkle the top with powdered sugar just before serving.
    Makes about 6 puffs.

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  2. Oh and yes we did build the table and benches! I don't know if I posted about it, but Steve made it around Christmas time. He's working on a bed frame for us right now, the projects never end!!

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