HOME & GARDEN CONSUMER GUIDE
Now You’re Cooking -- Sweeten the Romance with Chocolate and Music
(ARA) - You could go to a restaurant for Valentine’s Day, but why when you can score even more points with your sweetheart by creating an amorous experience at home! Make a delicious meal and garnish it with ambiance.
Good food and pleasing music are a winning combination for any romantic celebration. Here are some suggestions from Reader’s Digest Music to help plan your evening.
Start dinner with a delectable course of tomato and red lentil soup and the soothing sounds of “Annie’s Song” (John Denver) and “I Had A Lovely Time” (The Kendalls).
Showcase your culinary talents with a main course of warm duck breast salad with red wine and apple and heart-shaped biscuits. Keep the mood flowing with the soft sounds of piano and strings playing in the background, including “Always” (Gordon Langford, piano and orchestra), “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing” (Ronnie Price, piano with Nick Ingman and his orchestra), Pachelbel’s “Canon In D” (The Romantic Strings & Orchestra) and “Yesterday” (The Romantic Strings & Orchestra).
Finish the meal with a flourish -- chocolate, of course! Bake a chocolate mousse tart that your sweetie pie will never forget. Turn up the romance with tracks from movies like “Ghost” and “Gone With The Wind.”
Reader’s Digest Music’s new romantic CD collection includes all the songs mentioned and more on four CDs -- Romantic Strings, Romantic Piano, The Heart of Country and Romancing the Screen.
The romantically-inclined can receive free beautifully-designed recipe cards for all of the dishes mentioned and hear an audio clip of the romantic music included on the CDs by calling (800) 269-8783.
* Chocolate Mousse Tart
- 1 3/4 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs (about 9 large crackers)
- 1 large egg white
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 packet unflavored gelatin
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
- 1/3 cup reduced-fat milk (2 percent), warmed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 container (12 ounces) fat-free frozen nondairy whipped topping, thawed
- 1 bar (3 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate, made into curls (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat 10-inch nonstick tart pan with removable bottom with nonstick cooking spray. Toss cracker crumbs, egg white and honey with fork until evenly moistened. Pat crumb mixture onto bottom and up side of tart pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool.
Put 3 tablespoons water in saucepan and sprinkle with gelatin. Let stand 1 minute. Stir over low heat until gelatin completely dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Mix sugar and cocoa. Stir in milk and vanilla until cocoa dissolves. Blend in gelatin. Cool.
Whip cream until stiff. Fold whipped cream and half of whipped topping into cooled cocoa mixture until blended. Pour into crust. Swirl remaining whipped topping in center. Refrigerate until filling sets, at least 2 hours. Dust with cocoa powder. Decorate with chocolate curls if desired.
Courtesy of ARA Content
