Mole Monday

Since Sunday's and Monday's are my days off from the salon, they tend
to become my grocery shopping days and cooking experiment days. This
week I could not afford to do a grocery store run so things might get
interesting. Since I had been having the urge to try my skills a a
mole sauce, and I know my live in boyfriend Rooster would not like it, I
made two dishes.

I had chicken, I try to always have chicken since you can do so many
things with it. I cut up and pan grilled half of it and put the other
half in the oven to bake.

Dish one, Roosters meal.
Simple. I added salt and pepper to the grilled
chicken and a can of drained diced tomatoes (an always in my
cabinets) Now, Don't ask me why I have this but it must have been some
strange urge at the grocery one week, we all have them, I added a
little over half a jar of a Rosa Alfredo sauce. I had a small block
of Parmesan that I grated the rest into the sauce. Mean while I had
been boiling some penne pasta. Done and done, I had some, it was
good...

Dish two... My mole meal.
I made these dishes simultaneously, so don't
think I'm just standing around in the kitchen all night. I found a
recipe on the Internet and then modified it due to the ingredients I
had and the flavors I like.
In a sauce pan I took the drained tomato
water, which was about half a cup, and added another half of cup of
water to it.
Added salt and pepper and two cloves of grated garlic.(my garlic press is useless, I just got it for Christmas from my little brother, it's not his fault that this particular "Michael Graves" garlic press does not press garlic).
I thinly sliced the last large half yellow onion I had and brought it all to a simmer for about 30 minutes, till the onions were nice and
soft.
30 minutes later I added
Two cans of tomato sauce (another always)
A huge scoop of cashew butter ( I like it better than peanut butter for cooking, it's smoother)
A handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips
A few pinches of chili powder
A few pinches of chipotle pepper
I let it all simmer and melt.

Mole is a general name for various
Mexican sauces, this one is similar to a mole sauce I use to eat at a
small restaurant here in Nashville that no longer exists, Rosarios. (I
worked there as a waitress for a short period of time.)

After taking the chicken out of the oven, I shredded it slightly with
two forks and then mixed it into the sauce. I ate it on a few, warmed
in the microwave, corn tortillas... It was exactly what I was craving.
I am a sweet and spicy fan and it was just that.

Next time I would add some grilled poblano peppers, a little sour cream and some black beans would complete the dish just nicely. Like I said, off grocery shopping week. I did eat the left overs for lunch today, scooping it with
some tortilla chips, even better. I then had some left over pasta dish
for dinner... It was still good.

Two different meals for two days, as my mom would always say, kitchens closed