I made dinner tonight since the SO was craving Caribbean Corn Bread. I made sloppy joes to go along with it. Here’s the recipe I used for the filling.

4 Kaiser rolls
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, or more as needed
1 onion, diced
12 ounces soy ground beef, crumbled
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
3/4 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup vegetable Stock
Dashes hot pepper sauce to taste, optional
4 ounces shredded low-fat cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Slice the rolls in half, cutting off the upper third of the roll to leave the larger bottom section. Scoop out the inner portion of each bottom section, and set the tops and bottoms aside on a large baking sheet.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, sauté the onion for about 5 minutes.
Stir in the soy ground beef, celery, mushrooms, barbecue sauce, stock and hot pepper sauce, if using. Cook over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the mixture is heated through. Remove from the heat.
Spoon equal portions of the mixture into the bottom sections of the rolls. Sprinkle each filled roll with cheese, and spray the insides of the top sections of the rolls with nonstick cooking spray. Set the tops on the baking sheet, cut side up.
Bake the tops and bottoms for about 5 minutes, or until the tops brown and the cheese melts and spills down the sides of the rolls. Remove from the oven, and serve.
Serves 4.

That’s from yumsugar. Quick and easy and very good. Even the house carnivores, the SO and Freckles, liked it. We have Z this weekend. Let the dramatics begin.

She didn’t know what sloppy joes were. She freely stated that. It is amazing to me then that as soon as she looked at the plate she was able to start screaming, “You Made It Wrong!!!!!” I explained that it wasn’t a hamburger – it is sloppy joes. The screaming didn’t end. So it was off to her room with her with her screaming, “I hate you!!!!!!!” the whole way. I miss the days of her screaming, “You’re a bad cooker.” Screams and the sounds of things slamming around drifted down from upstairs. There were whuppings. Eventually she settled down and we let her come back down where she had to eat part of the sandwhich and try the corn bread. The SO dealt with that crap. She tried spitting on her food and all kinds of stupid.

There is a magical chocolate pie for dessert that she isn’t getting. I decided this when she started arguing with me again. The child told me that she wouldn’t eat the sloppy joes or corn bread because she didn’t know what they were. She knows about chocolate pie. I said that she’d never had this recipe. She informed me that her mother made this exact recipe. Mind you she doesn’t have a clue what recipe I used. She just wants to be right.

Chilled Double Chocolate Torte: The No-Bake Version
Crust from Healthy Hoggin. Chocolate avocado mousse from my Chilled Double Chocolate Torte.

No Bake Chocolate Crust:

2 cups pecans
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tbsp coconut oil (other light taste oil may work)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp kosher salt
 

Chocolate Avocado Mousse:

2 cups avocado flesh (approx 3 small avocados), pitted and scooped out
1/3 cup almond milk 
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
1 tbsp smooth peanut butter (or other nut butter)
1 tbsp arrowroot powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup + 2 tbsp chocolate chips, melted
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted if clumpy
 

Directions:

1. Crust: Oil a 7-10 inch springform pan and line it with a circle of parchment paper. In a food processor, pulse the pecans until crumbly. Be careful not to over process them as you still want them a bit chunky. Now add in the rest of the crust ingredients and pulse until just mixed. Scoop mixture onto prepared pan and press down firmly and evenly with slightly wet fingers or a spatula. Pop into freezer to set while making the mousse.

2. Chocolate mousse: Place all mousse ingredients (except chocolate chips) into food processor. Process until smooth. In a small bowl, melt your chocolate chips in the microwave and scoop melted chocolate into food processor mixture. Process until smooth.

3. Remove crust from freezer and scoop this mousse on top of crust. Smooth out as much as possible and then place in the freezer for 2 hours to firm.

4. Once firm, remove from freezer and allow to sit on the counter for about 5-10 minutes before serving chilled. Place leftover torte in the freezer wrapped and placed in a seal container.

Note that this torte should be served chilled as it gets soft at room temperature.

From oh she glows.

Isn’t that amazing? I must confess that I used a store-bought chocolate crust instead of the pecan one because it was almost $10 to buy enough pecans and I’m cheap. The mousse tastes great. Smooth and creamy and chocolately without a hint of avocado. Amazing. So sad that the kid doesn’t get any.

Apparently you can spit at my food, scream at me, and call me stupid, but I only really get pissed off when you argue about something when you are not in full possession of the facts but insist that you are right anyway. I’m sure there is some abnormal psychology coming out of me at this point but I don’t care. I get to eat chocolate mousse pie that it relatively healthy and watch TRUE BLOOD Season 3 tonight when she goess to bed. Life is good.