I hope everyone had a great Valentines Day with the chocolate and roses and the loving. Check out my newest Cooking with Egg TV clip, Vegan Chocolate Mousse. This recipe was inspired by one of my vegan cooking classes that I taught about a year ago. Being a vegan recipe, it can't have any animal products or byproducts of any kind. This means no milk, eggs or gelatin! I am no vegan but trust me, this dessert is one of my favorites and will fool anyone that tastes it.

Even without all of those fatty, animal based foods, this recipe is full flavored and extremely decadent. It uses avocados as a smooth and creamy base, unsweetened cocoa powder for chocolaty goodness and is sweetened with agave nectar. This is a great new food to use because it is a very sweet liquid that will dissolve easily and bind the mouse together.

The video was shot by my friend Wannakhavi Wakisi at Wana Film, edited by Brian Morrison at Woodroom Cinema and was shot in The Foley Household in Silver Spring MD. Music was provided by some very talented artist in Baltimore including Can't Hang, Daren Lake and Lazerbitch, which I think is the coolest name for a band ever! The theme song produced by Jay Crawdads and The Ill Grocer from the funktastic group, Higher Hands.

Even if you are not a vegan, this new form of chocolate mousse will blow your mind. The recipe is below and couldn't be easier to make. I hope you enjoy the video.

Now Get Crackin'!

Chef Egg

Vegan Chocolate Mousse Serves 4

2 Avocados

½ C Cocoa Powder

½ C Agave Nectar

½ t Vanilla Extract, Optional

Strawberries, Blueberries and Sliced Almonds

Place the first 4 ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth, about 10 minutes. You can also blend the mixture in a food processor or with a hand blender until smooth Garnish with fresh strawberries, blueberries and sliced almonds

I'm Chef Egg and I want you to get cooking today. But the big question is how do you start cooking when you don't know where to get started? The answer is, we are going to start small, learn some basics and then grow from there. You don't need special food or equipment, just a desire to get cooking today!

The first lesson we are going to learn is how to cook vegetables. There is no real recipe, just a couple of tips you can follow for endless possibilities of healthy vegetable options.

First, clean your vegetables and chop them into small pieces, about ¼ in size. When all of the vegetables are the same size they will all cook at the same time and look really nice when you serve them. Today I have diced half of an onion, diced one red bell pepper and cut a zucchini into ¼ inch cubes. All of these veggies are inexpensive, healthy and versatile.

Next, put a large skillet (any kind will do) over medium heat. Now here is the big trick, a medium flame will be perfect for most cooking methods. At this heat level, the food will brown nicely and cook perfectly on the inside. If the fire is to low, the food will never brown properly and your veggies will steam and get mushy. If it's too high you will burn the outside before the inside cooks through. You will also smoke your kitchen out and that is never fun.

Once your pan is hot, add a tablespoon of oil and cover the bottom of the pan. If the pan is hot enough the oil should smoke just a little. Once it starts to smoke, add the veggies and toss. After that first toss, don't touch the food and let it cook for 2 minutes. This will allow the food to brown and become flavorful.

Once the food has browned, toss it around again and let it cook for another 2 minutes. Do this for 8 minutes, until the veggies are cooked through, but slightly undercooked. They should have a little bite to them.

I like to season my vegetables with salt and pepper because it is simple and brings out the natural flavor of the food. You can always add a dash of dried Italian herbs and a pinch of red pepper flakes for heat.

Veggies taste great sprinkled with a little Parmesan cheese. You can use Kraft from the green jar or Parmigiano Reggiano from Italy.

You can use this technique to cook most soft vegetables like squash, snow peas, corn kernels, greens and even apples and pears. Hard vegetables like green beans, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli can be either boiled in salt water for 2-3 minutes or microwaved for 3 minutes before adding them to the pan. This works well with frozen vegetables as well.

You can switch up the theme by changing the sauce, whether it is a sweet teriyaki, spicy salsa and hot sauce, creamy curry, tangy tomato or herbal Brazilian chimichurri. Match the sauce with the sides like rice and grains, beans, cous cous or pasta for a complete meal.

Don't worry, I will set you on the path to culinary eggcellence! Next time I am going to teach you how to cook chicken, steak and fish perfect every time.

Now let's get crackin', Chef Egg!