Chocolate, Spaghetti Squash Pie, and Meatless Crumbles

I love chocolate I'm not too fussy about it either. I really love it with peanut butter. I really love it dark or milk. I really love Hot Chocolate and Hot Fudge on ice cream. I must confess I ate a bunch of it Thursday night. My Santa Elf (my co-teacher/friend) left me little treats this week each day, it was a lot of fun and it included chocolate. Christmas and food go together very well. Today I plan to make my Aunt Sally's Chocolate Cut Out cookies. I'm not going to eat any this year but my son especially likes them (with no frosting) and there are few things that he craves so that's a no-brainer since he plans to be home.

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I have created a recipe that I want to share, it's a spin off of spaghetti pie. I took baked spaghetti squash that I forked out the noodles and pressed into the bottom of a baking pan (9"x 13" or a wide casserole) I poured over it about a cup of milk mixed with an egg, I sprinkled this with parmigiana cheese. On top of that I put left over chili (or you could use spaghetti sauce). On top of that I put shredded cheddar (or mozzarella if spaghetti sauce was used). I baked this until bubbly at 350 for about 30 minutes and then let it set to cool, I serve it cut into pieces like lasagna. I packed a serving of it for my dinner this week when I had to work late, it is really good reheated. Hints: Don't make this all in one day. Bake the squash some time when you're already baking something else it can wait in the refrigerator a couple of days already forked or the whole squash. Have chili another night so that it really is the leftovers. I use jarred spaghetti sauce and add the meatless crumbles (see below).

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I recently discovered that I like meatless crumbles as a substitute for ground beef. I have used them in chili (above recipe was actually meatless) and spaghetti sauce and I plan to use them in tacos over the holidays. My daughter is vegetarian and it's a big plus when I can sub in this for some of our favorite recipes that normally have ground beef. I try to strive to choose products that are animal friendly. Below is the URL of a brand I've used that I thought had the best meaty texture.

http://www.kraftheinz-foodservice.com/en/productsandbrands/meats/bocaveggiegroundcrumbles