Menu Swap: October 13th

Okay so I was a little belated in getting the menu up and running but I hadn’t thought that the hosting was switched to Cheryl, at Gluten Free Goodness, who is now standing in for Natalie during her ill feeling days. I say ill but in being pregnant days come and go of feeling wonderful to feeling like hell in a hand basket.

I just came back from a con weekend and it was a riot, as always. This, however, is another reason why I’m belated in posting as well since I got home extremely early/late Saturday night/Sunday morning and then had to work an eight hour shift. Fun timing - and yet I still cook like a crazy lady. It’s my passion, it’s my life. Can you blame me?

Because I went to Arlington to the con and stay with my fiancée for the weekend, I went to their supermarket to stock up on hard to find products here. It’s not that its difficult to find just more along the lines know when they have it since I do see yuca root on sale all the time. It’s insane. I did, however, score a 5 lb bag for 2 bucks. Now that’s a bargain. It’s frozen, too, so I don’t have to worry about spoilage. This weekend I might be able to drive off to Charlottesville to the only Whole Foods in my area which is about an hour or so drive. It’s in a nice shopping development, though, so I can spend some of my paycheck on gifts for Christmas and buy some specialty items at Whole Foods.

Cheryl chose chocolate as the ingredient for the week and unfortunately I’m allergic to chocolate. It’s rather amusing since I can tolerate coffee but not chocolate. My substitution is always carob for chocolate and that is nearly one per one. It’s a very fun ingredient and I do have a mucho chaotic amount of recipes including ‘chocolate’ but I’m not really a fan. My favorite is my Turbo Pup BBQ sauce and mole sauce in general. I might be creative but with the baking, my mother-in-law is demanding my cornbread. As if that’s a bad thing?

In dedication to Cheryl and since I haven’t had ‘chocolate’ in a while, I created another mole variation! And because I love my mother in law so much, I’ll make her a batch of chocolate chip cookies too - Halloween inspired! Sorry for the delay but here is my menu for this week.

Week of October 13th
Dinner
Seneglaise Mafe - African
Yam/Taro Rice - Malaysian
Bean Mole stuffed Squash - Mexican

Lunch
Tamarind BroccoCauli Salad - Thai
Yuca Fries - Peruvian

Baked Goods
Cornbread
Halloween-y Chocolate Chip Cookies