Seriously, chocolate?!

Yes, that is a chunk of chocolate!

Well, I came home early from work (WAFT) to cook lunch. I had this hankering to try the Black Bean Cakes with Mole Salsa that I was telling you about. It's a recipe from The Taste of Home site.  If you're like me, my first question was, "What in the world is mole salsa?" The best definition I found was...are you ready for this?......."the generic named used for a number of sauces in Mexican cuisine." Well, that answered it for me, how about you?! Ha, Ha!  The black bean patties were quick, easy to make, and held their shape.  The salsa was the surprise.  At first glance it seemed to be a basic pico de gallo recipe, until you looked closer.  It has HONEY, CHOCOLATE, and chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.  Now, that was an interesting recipe to make. I had no idea what to expect.  It was good!  Remember chipotle has a smokey flavor; it wasn't real hot and spicy.

So close: parsley and cilantro

Not cilantro...

I did get a little bummed.  When I was making the salsa it called for fresh cilantro.  I was so excited that we had some still hanging on in the garden.  I ran outside and snipped some off and starting chopping it.  Something did not seem right.  I looked at it again, smelled it and realized I had parsley. Sad times.  Fortunately, I had a tube of cilantro in the frig that I keep on hand for emergencies....such as today!

I had forgotten that we had bought some fresh squash when we were at the Farmer's Market the other day. I threw those in the pan and got them to cooking right off the bat.  I do it the southern way, just olive oil, onions, squash and salt/pepper.  I also like to cook mine down. Scrumptious!

Lunch was a black bean patty, salsa, fresh squash and cornbread. And of course, sweet tea

on the side!  Now I'll be honest....I think you could use this recipe for a veggie burger.  Grab a hamburger bun, add some regular toppings and a patty.  I think the salsa would add a nice twist, perhaps even some pepper jack cheese.

Just buzzed his head!

Bill liked the salsa the best.  He thought the bean patty looked too much like a hamburger patty.  I mean, it's not like I didn't tell him.  The taste was fine, it was just in his head that he should be biting into a regular hamburger.  I enjoyed it all.