LCHF Sauteed Kale Recipe and Tips on Cooking Kale



Check out the ribs on that baby.

I am all about the kale, people.  

Check out these recipes that I found online for Kale (chips), Kale (salad), and More Kale (sauteed).  Last night I made sauteed kale - I just winged it.  It was a success! 

Here are a couple of pointers for cooking kale: 

This plant is tough.  The ribs of the leaves are just not going to break down with fast cooking methods like a sautee, so they have to go.  I bought a whole bunch of kale yesterday, and just used the top leaves of the bunch (essentially, giving it a 6" haircut or so).  I removed the ribs, rolled the kale and did a fine chiffonade.  This is a good technique for getting very thin kale ribbons.  I gave the ribbons a quick rinse with tap water, shook out the excess water, but left some drops clinging to the leaves.  The extra moisture helped the kale steam when they it was first added to the hot pan, softening the plant a bit.  When the water evaporated (pretty quickly), the kale fried up in the buttery goodness that was in the pan. Yummy.

Here's my quickie recipe:

Kate's Sauteed Kale

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 3 cups of kale, chopped into a fine chiffonade

  1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1 tsp salt (or to taste)

Directions:

1. Melt butter and olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet.
2. Add chili flakes and garlic to the melted fat, and cook until garlic is softened but not brown.
3. Add kale to pan, and toss to coat in the melted fat. 
4. Add lemon zest and salt to kale, and toss to combine.
5. Sautee kale for 3-5 minutes.  The kale should be vibrant green, and slightly softened.  Serve!

I served this kale with garlic-y, parmesan crusted, butter fried, wild-caught haddock.  It was really delicious! 

Eating for Your Mitochondria?

I just watched the video of this amazing presentation by Dr. Terry Wahls.  She suffers from MS, and was able to reverse the progression of her symptoms through adherence to a diet that she created. 
You need to see this.

This diet is designed to provide your body with sufficient amounts of the micronutrients that it needs to fuel your neurological system and sustain the myelin sheath which protects your brain.  (MS deteriorates the myelin sheath). 

In short: its all about the brain.

In a nutshell, Dr. Wahls recommends the following diet for brain protection and preservation, and observes that it is essentially a model of what our hunter gatherer ancestors ate eons ago:

• 3 cups of dark greens daily, including kale and parsley;
• 3 cups of colorful fruits and vegetables daily, including berries, peppers, peaches;
• 3 cups of sulfurous vegetabls daily, including onions, broccoli, asparagus, and cabbage;
• 1 serving of organic, grass-fed beef daily;
• 1 serving of wild caught fish (not sure if its daily), including herring and salmon;
• 1 serving of organ meet, weekly, including liver, kidney, "hard tongue" (whatever that is)

The diet is a tall order.  I'm not sure that I can get in 9 cups of veggies every day.  I'm not sure that I've ever eaten kale, although I am going to grab some and play around with it.  Not sure whether you can eat kale in a salad, though, as it seems pretty fibrous and I've only ever seen it cooked.

Anyone have any good kale recipes?

Also, the video contains a number of cites to published literature that is available on pubmed.  I would like to write those down and print them out to review. 

Low Carb Margarita Experiment - 3rd Time's the Charm?

You may wonder: will she ever get tired of margaritas?  I'm not sure what the answer to that question is in the long run, but for now, I'm hanging in there.

Here's quick recap of what's happened to date with our Low Carb Margarita Experiment: our first attempt at a low carb margarita got 3 out of 5 stars, mostly because I can't stand the aftertaste of liquid Splenda, but my husband thought the cocktail was spot on.   The second attempt at a low carb margarita got 3.5 out of 5 stars because, although the taste with Truvia was better than with liquid Splenda, there was still a hint of aftertaste that bugged me, but was not an obstacle to me finishing the drink on my own; I also wasn't crazy about the extra step of making the microwave simple syrup with the Truvia.

Our third attempt is something that my husband didn't actually get to sample.  You see, I came home very late last night after a City meeting, and Pete was already in bed.  It was that kind of a night, so I thought I would enjoy a small night cap.  That nightcap was a margarita.  Here's what I came up with on take three.

(Once again, I'm using Laura Dolson's original recipe as my base.)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons) water
• 1 jigger (1.5 oz) tequila
• 2 Tablespoons (1 oz) lime juice - bottled more convenient, fresh tastes a lot better
• 1/4 teaspoon orange extract
• 1 oz of pomegranate juice
• 1 packet of Truvia
• Ice - small handful
• Margarita salt or kosher salt

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients (minus the salt), and stir stir stir until fully incorporated and the liquid is icy cold.
2. Serve in a salt-lined glass if you wish.  I like mine without salt, on the rocks.  Or... if you like it frozen, just dump the margarita and rocks into a blender and let it whir, baby.

Here was my thought process: I hypothesized that the pomegranate juice would sweeten up the margarita just enough without destroying the carb count.  So, I put one ounce of the juice in (which added about 3 grams of net carb to the drink), and took a sip before I added any artificial sweetener.  It was WAY too tart, so I added the packet of Truvia.

So, the carb count was about 5.5 grams per large serving.  However, the pomegranate juice didn't really add that much sweetness or pomegranate flavor, although it did turn the margarita pleasantly pink.  The Truvia didn't dissolve completely, but I didn't notice that until I looked at the bottom of the glass and saw a few crystals clinging to the bottom.

Honestly, this wasn't a bad margarita, but I'm going to give it 3 out of 5 stars because, for the extra 3 grams of carbohydrate, there wasn't any noticeable improvement in flavor.

My next experiment will involve Thai coconut palm sugar paste (jaggery), which is a natural, less refined form of sugar that has 3 grams of net carbohydrate per tablespoon.  I just have to grab some at Whole Foods today.  Onwards!!

Low Carb Margarita Experiment - Take 2

Last night, me and the hubby were at it again.  Making low carb margaritas, that is. 

Our first attempt got a 3 out of 5 stars.  I didn't like the aftertaste of the liquid Splenda in the cocktail, but thought that the initial sip and the scent of the margarita were pretty good.  My husband thought that it was spot on. 

Recognizing that I've never been a fan of the flavor of liquid Splenda, I thought we'd use Laura Dolson's original recipe as our base, once again, and just tweak it a bit. 

Here's what we did:

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons) water
• 1/2 - 3/4 tbsp Truvia 
• 1 jigger (1.5 oz) tequila
• 2 Tablespoons (1 oz) lime juice - bottled more convenient, fresh tastes a lot better
• 1/4 teaspoon orange extract
• Ice - small handful
• Margarita salt or kosher salt

Directions

1. Measure the water into a large microwave proof glass, and add the Truvia.  Microwave on high for 30 seconds, then remove from the microwave, and stir until Truvia is completely dissolved in the water.
2. Add the remainder of the ingredients (minus the salt), and stir stir stir until fully incorporated and the liquid is icy cold.
3. Serve in a salt-lined glass if you wish.  I like mine without salt, on the rocks.  Or... if you like it frozen, just dump the margarita and rocks into a blender and let it whir, baby.

I liked this margarita better than the first version.  The net carb count is right there at 2.5 grams, as well.  There was a slight fake sugar aftertaste, but it was not offensive, and I hardly even noticed (and I'm sensitive to the stuff).  I drank the margarita all by myself :)

I have a plan for margarita #3, but you're just going to have to wait for it! 

Low Carb Margarita Experiment - Stage 1

On Sunday, my family went out for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, in honor of my husband's birthday.  I had a frozen key lime margarita.  I KNOW!  It was undeniably full of sugar, and a real treat for me, as I hadn't had a margarita (my favorite icy cocktail) in nearly a year. 

As good as that one was, I decided that I would look into making a guilt-free version, one that I could imbibe on this WOE. 

There are a number of sugar-free margarita drink mixes out there.  Some are liquid mixes that come in huge bottles, and some, cleverly, are little single-serve packets of powdered margarita mix, that you can add to your glass of tequila and water on the rocks at a restaurant, if you wish.

Since these options are a little pricey, I googled "low carb margarita recipes" and found this one, created by Laura Dolson:

• 1 jigger (1.5 oz) tequila
• 2 Tablespoons (1 oz) lime juice - bottled more convenient, fresh tastes a lot better
• 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons) water
• 1/4 teaspoon orange extract
• 1 Tablespoon's worth artificial sweetener (I like to use liquid, carb-free types)
• Ice - small handful
• Margarita salt or kosher salt

Basically, you take these ingredients, minus the salt, combine and stir or shake until really cold.  Alternately, you can blend them up and serve the margarita frozen.  This recipe makes one sizeable margarita, weighing in at about 2.5 grams of net carbohydrate per serving.

So, last night Pete and I mixed one of these up.  The smell of the margarita was right on.  Lime-y and delicious.  The first sip tasted pretty good too, until I hit the artificial sweetener aftertaste that I dislike so much.  My husband didn't even notice the aftertaste, but complained about the tartness.  So, I added some more artificial sweetener.  He loved it, so he finished the cocktail.

I should have known that the liquid Splenda would bother me, as the aftertaste is bothersome in baked goods, and now I use erithritol or Truvia.

I am going to try this recipe again, but use Truvia instead of liquid Splenda.    I will report back!

Do you have any good, low carb cocktail recipes you'd like to share?

Fit Day

I just started a Fit Day account.  Check out my public profile.  I've gone back and inputted my weights since starting LCHF in January 2011.  So far, Fit Day seems pretty cool.  

There are definitely some positives, i.e., I like seeing my weight loss charted on a graph.  What can I say, I'm a visual type of girl ;)

I do have some reservations about their nutrition tracker.  I had chicken soup today for lunch. Fit Day's "chicken soup" recipe that they analyzed for nutrition contains about 10 grams of carbs per cup.  Considering that my soup was mostly broth, chicken, and some veggies (no rice, noodles or potatoes), I'm pretty positive that my carb intake from the soup was quite minimal. 

So, the nutrition tracking of homemade foods is probably going to be iffy.  Unless you are eating completely whole foods (1 cup of raw broccoli) or major brand food items (1 cup of Cheerios), the carb counts in your food are going to be off, maybe even way off. 

 

I will investigate how to get around this and report back... 

Crock Pot Cheesecake

Check out this recipe for Crock Pot Cheesecake by Wellness Mama.  It looks phenomenal.  Who would have thought...dessert in a crockpot??

Recipe: LCHF Sausage and Bread Stuffing

I served this recipe last night with Roasted Chicken and Garlic Mashed Cauliflower.  Even my high-carb loving family members loved it.  This stuffing was a huge hit!  No one believed it was LCHF.

Note: my husband made the roasted chicken (not pictured).  It was his first-ever attempt, and he accidentally roasted the entire bird breast-side down. 

Guess what?  It was phenomenal: the skin was extra crispy and the breast meat was extra juicy.  

We will be roasting all of our poultry breast side down from now on!

Here's how to make the stuffing:

LCHF Sausage and Bread Stuffing

Ingredients:

• ½ package Jimmy Dean pork sausage
• ¼ stick butter
• 12 oz mix aromatic vegetables, diced (I used a package of soup mix veggies, which included 1 small onion; 1 carrot; 1 small leek; 1 very tiny turnip)
• 6 oz sliced mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon each chopped fresh parsley and fresh dill
• 8 LCHF Buttery Garlic Cheese Biscuits, torn into pieces
• ¼ cup chicken stock
• ¼ stick butter, cut into pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. In a large frying pan set to medium high heat, brown sausage and break apart into crumbles.
3. Remove sausage from pan, leaving fat behind.
4. Add butter to pan, and when melted, add the aromatic vegetables and cook until the onion is translucent.
5. Add the mushrooms, and cook for approximately 5 more minutes, until they begin to soften.
6. Add the herbs, biscuits and stock to the pan and stir to combine.
7. Place the prepared stuffing into your baking pan of choice, and dot with butter. 
8. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the stuffing is well browned and crispy on top. 

Serve with roasted chicken and mashed cauliflower for a fabulous traditional dinner!

Recipe: LCHF Buttery Garlic and Sharp Cheddar Biscuits

Success! 

I made garlic and cheese biscuits on Sunday, and they turned out buttery, delicious and all-around amazing!  The recipe made exactly nine good-sized biscuits (using my 2 oz scooper).  Best part of all, these biscuits weigh in at about 1 net carb per biscuit. 

I used one biscuit to make a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich (which was great), and the rest I crumbled and set aside to use in a stuffing for roasted chicken.  The coconut flour gave the recipe a true biscuit texture, with plenty of body and good crumble.  Thanks to the copious quantities of butter, garlic, and cheese, you couldn't taste the coconut flavor very much - even my husband liked them (and he is not a coconut fan). Quite simply, these were to die for, and I consider this recipe one of my top LCHF recipes to date.  I am now trying to think of several recipes that I miss where I can switch them in for traditional bread.  Here's the recipe:

Buttery Garlic and Cheddar Biscuits

Ingredients

• ¼ cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1/3 cup sifted Coconut Flour
• 4 eggs
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
2. Line a cookie sheet with foil, and grease.
3. Whisk together eggs, butter, salt, and garlic powder.
4. Add coconut flour and baking powder and whisk until there are no lumps.
5. Fold in cheese.
6. Drop batter by the 2 oz scoop onto greased cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. 
8. Let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes before removing and serving.  Make sure that biscuits are completely cool before storage or they won't stay crisp!

It's Thanksgiving Somewhere...

Just the other day, I was reading a post on a low carb blog, and learned that Canadians have Thanksgiving, too.  And it's earlier than ours.  Who knew?

I was immediately filled with the desire for juicy turkey legs, dripping with gravy, served with stuffing.  Then it hit me.  OMG.  How do you make low carb stuffing without bread??!! 

I googled and found a couple of recipes for low carb stuffing bread, which you can use to make low carb bread cubes, which you then incorporate into your stuffing recipe. 

I also noodled over this for a little while, and thought that Wellness Mama's banana muffins (which are made with coconut flour) could be de-bananaed and made into a cheddar-bay type biscuit (the link is to the carby original recipe, where 2.5 cups of bisquick makes 12 biscuits at about 17 grams of carb each), which could then be used in place of regular bread in the stuffing recipe that I make (with oodles of butter, sauteed veggies, and succulent sage pork sausage).  I found a coconut flour cheddar biscuit recipe here:  

Cheese Biscuits

Ingredients

¼ cup butter, melted
1/3 cup sifted Coconut Flour
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Method
Blend together eggs, butter, salt, and onion powder. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and whisk into batter until there are no lumps. Fold in cheese. Drop batter by the spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes. For a cheesier biscuit increase cheese to ¾ cup.

You know how I love me some kitchen experimentation!! 
Biscuits tonight...turkey on Sunday.  I will report back!!

Barbeque Restaurants: Primal and Low Carb(ish) Dining Opportunities Abound

Hi, my name is Kate, and I'm addicted to barbeque. 

Here's a photo of me enjoying the yabba dabba doo rib, with sides of cucumber salad and collard greens, at Smokin' With Chris in Southington, CT, this summer.  My friend snapped this shot with her cell phone because she was amazed at the meaty proportions of my dinner.  What can I say?  I can eat.

Here are some tips for eating out primal and low carb: 

First of all, barbeque restaurants are a great choice for someone who eats primal and low carb, because there is a lot of meat on the menu, and oftentimes, there are more veggie-only sides served ala cart than in a typical restaurant, including collard greens, coleslaw, buttered green beans, you name it. 

So hop on google and check out barbeque restaurants in your area, and how they've been rated.  That's how I found Smokin' With Chris, and it ended up being one of my favorite restaurants. 

You've got to be vigilant, though.  Our common enemies, sugar and starch, are lurking about, ready to hop on your plate and climb into your belly. 

Recipe: LCHF Hungarian Goulash and Garlic Mashed Cauliflower

On Saturday, I caught a Good Eats episode called "Stew Romance" and spent about 30 minutes salivating over the Hungarian Goulash recipe that Alton Brown made.  I decided that I would low-carbify it, and see how it came out.

The results?  So good that I didn't even have time to take a picture of the finished plate before my family dug in and destroyed the entire batch.  (Sorry for the lack of picture!)

Try this recipe and you won't be sorry!  It is meaty and unctuous, smoky and just a little tangy.  Served with garlicky mashed cauliflower, this is a Fall/Winter meal that just cannot be beat! 

Here's how you do it:

What Do I Do With All Those Green Tomatoes!?

...and why don't they RIPEN during the SUMMER, like they're supposed to? 

Check out this tasty looking recipe I found online for Sugar Free Green Tomato Relish, at the FarmGirlFare blog (which is phenomenal, by the way!!) 

My plan is to follow the recipe with 1/2 the apple cider vinegar, and add some whey to lactoferment the relish.  You know me, Nourishing Traditions, and kitchen experimentation ;)

I knew I bought that 12-pack of mason jars for a reason! 

("Um, Kate, they only sell them in 12-packs...")

Navigating the Pitfalls of the Party Circuit

Disaster!  Okay.  Here's the deal.  I am very involved in State and local politics, and this is municipal election season, as well as preseason for a number of federal candidates who are going to be seeking endorsements in 2012.  In short, this is fundraiser season, and I have 2-3 functions per week to attend for the next month and a half.  It is causing problems, y'all.

Just last week, I whined about being so close to my milestone of 200 pounds.  Three social events later, and my weight this morning was up to 207.5 pounds.  At least half of that 6 pound weight gain is water and other stuff that will be passed.  The rest of it is comprised of something a bit more insidious, I fear! 

I'm a Renegade and So are You

Do you love high quality butter, grass fed meats, and raw and fermented food?  

Then you just might be a food renegade.

In related news, we took a trip this weekend to Karabin Farms in Southington, Connecticut.  They raise their own hormone free and fantastic livestock and have fresh, local dairy and eggs.  We had their handmade italian pork sausage.  OMG!  So good!  (They also have amazing produce, pick your own apples, hayrides, etc. and are very family friendly).

I called today to confirm and they have soup bones at $2/pound and beef shanks at $2.95 per pound - all organic, grass fed and hormone free.  Soup's on!  Recipes to follow!

Recipe: LCHF Coconut Vanilla Custard Ice Cream

Last week, I purchased a Cuisinart ice cream maker from Amazon.com. 

I had two reasons: first, my daughter has exhibited some lactose intolerance in the past months and there is really not much out there for lactose-free ice cream; and second, I have had good experience with store bought low carb ice cream but thought I could probably make my own tastier version, using high quality and healthy materials.  Plus, the low carb ice cream on the market is pretty much all low-fat.  I thought I could fatten mine up, and add in some coconut to make it feel healthy.

This recipe was my very first attempt at ice cream making.  I have made several batches since, including sugar-free for me, and sweetened dairy-free for my daughter.  This LCHF coconut custard ice cream recipe remains the best of all my efforts.  Each 1/2 cup serving contains 6.4 grams of net carbohydrate, and 24.2 grams of healthy, mostly saturated fat from the coconut oil and milk.  Enjoy!

UPDATE: This is an incredibly versatile recipe!  Check out this post for other delicious ways to use this ice cream base...

LCHF Chocolate Coconut Candy Cups

Check out this recipe!
Each candy cup contains less than 2 grams of net carbs, and just over 1 gram of dietary fiber; each candy cup contains 6.5 grams of nourishing** fat (predominantly medium chain triglycerides - see why this is important**) from the coconut alone. 

Best of all, the only sweetener is that used in the chocolate that you melt.  There is no additional sugar or faux sugar added.  This is an unbelievably decadent treat. 

Warm roasted beet salad with kielbasa and horseradish

This was tonight's dinner...

Super delicious. The kielbasa was simply browned in butter until the skin was good and crisp. Serve with mustard and horseradish sauce.

Here's the recipe for the beets and the horseradish sauce:

 

Recipes: Thyme Browned Butter Pork Chops; Loaded Roast Asparagus

This was dinner last night, and baby, was it good.  The pork chops were tender and delicious, but the hands-down star of the show was the asparagus.  Topped with crumbled blue cheese and roasted in butter and bacon fat, it was downright sexy.  Best of all, this meal makes it to the table in record speed. 

Loaded Roast Asparagus

Ingredients

• 3 rashers of bacon, cut into small pieces
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 3 tablespoons fresh thyme, left on the stalk
• 1 bundle fresh asparagus
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

Directions

1. In a small ovensafe skillet over medium heat, combine butter, thyme and bacon, and cook until the bacon is crispy.  Remove from heat.  (Note: Let it go slow so that you can get the maximum flavor out of the herbs and into the oil.)
2. Meanwhile, trim the ends off of the asparagus, and place in a microwave safe bowl.  Wet a paper towel, and place on top of asparagus.  Microwave for 3 minutes, until asparagus is vibrant green but still not fully cooked.  (If you don't like to microwave, you can steam or blanch the asparagus very quickly).
3. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the skillet and reserve (this is your cooking liquid for the pork chops); remove the pieces of thyme from the skillet and reserve.
4. Add asparagus to remaining bacon and fat in the small skilled and toss to combine.  Add salt and pepper as desired.  Crumble blue cheese over asparagus. 
5. Broil the asparagus for about 2 minutes, or until the cheese is gooey and the asparagus starts to brown.  Serve!

 

Thyme Browned Butter Pork Chops

Ingredients

• Reserved butter, bacon fat and thyme from the asparagus recipe, above
• 3-4 boneless pork chops, no thicker than 1" (bone in or any thicker will increase the cooking time too much for this recipe)
• Sea Salt
• Garlic Powder
• 1/4 cup white wine

Directions

1. Heat the reserved fat and thyme in a large skillet over medium-high heat. 
2. Season pork chops liberally with sea salt and garlic powder (you want to use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic, because the fresh stuff will burn in this application).
3. Gently fry the first side of the pork chops for about 4 minutes, or until well caramelized.
4. Flip the chops and cook for 2 minutes, until you can see no obvious traces of pink on the outside of the chops. 
5. Add the wine to the pan and gently shake the pan to move the chops around.  The wine should be bubbling, and everything should be pretty fragrant.  (This is a good time to put the asparagus - above - into the broiler).
6. Cook for another 2 minutes or so, until the wine looks to have reduced a bit.  Let rest off of the heat for a couple of minutes, and serve with asparagus on the side.  Very yummy!!

Coconut Chocolate Mousse Recipe

Last week, I posted about a low carb party menu that I was working on for the weekend.  I thought I would make this paleo-friendly coconut chocolate mousse I had read about on marksdailyapple.com.  Well.  I made it.  Unfreaking believably good.  I had to tweak the recipe a little bit, because there was an issue with the fat content of the coconut milk I had in my pantry (not really creamy enough).  Also, I've borrowed a "separatory funnel" technique that I learned to clarify butter, and applied it to separating the coconut cream from the watery coconut liquid.

Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

• 2 x 13.5 oz cans of coconut milk (preferably organic, NOT light)
• 1 x 3.5 oz bar of dark chocolate, melted and cooled (I used IKEA's 60% dark chocolate bar)
• 2 tbsp coconut oil (it happened to be liquified)

Directions:

1. Put a large, ziplock storage bag inside of a medium bowl.  Pour the contents of both cans of coconut milk into the ziplock bag, get as much of the air out of the bag as you can, and seal.  Place the whole thing on the lowest shelf of your fridge, and chill for at least 8 hours. 
2. 8 hours later... melt the dark chocolate in the microwave at 1 minutes intervals, until melted, stirring between each interval.  Let it sit on the counter and cool a bit while you complete the next step.
3. Separating the coconut cream from the water: First, get the mixing bowl out that you intend to use to whip the coconut cream, and do the same with the container that you intend to use to store the coconut water - place them next to each other on the counter.  Remove your bowl from the fridge.  Second, gently grasp the bag of separated coconut milk by the seal (careful not to mix it up), and holding the bag over the coconut water bowl, snip off a small part of one corner of the bag with scissors.  Third, let all of the coconut water go into the coconut water bowl.  Fourth, when it appears that mostly coconut cream is left in the bag, quickly move the bag so that it is over the mixing bowl, and squeeze the remaining coconut cream into that bowl (it is okay if a little coconut water is left in there).
4. Whip the coconut cream with a whisk, or mixer, until it appears to be slightly fluffier.  Add the melted, cooled chocolate and the coconut oil to the bowl, and continue to whisk until thoroughly combined.
5. Divide the mixture into 4 little cups, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours on the lowest shelf of your fridge. 
6. Serve, with a little unsweeted whipped cream, and a couple of raspberries.  Each serving is about 1/2 cup.

The result is amazing: the mousse is dense, rich and creamy.  The flavor is deeply chocolate-y, with only a slight floral hint of coconut.  My guests - none of whom were either low carb or paleo, enjoyed the heck out of dessert.  I had one with them on Saturday, and one after dinner on Sunday, and it was phenomenal. 

The best news is that, as of Sunday night, I am in ketosis!  So, color this recipe low-carb induction friendly, as well.

Some ideas for future experimentation:  This would be PHENOMENAL frozen, either as a kind of sorbet, or as a fudgsicle-type ice pop.