Week 20 done of my US National Food challenge with 4 out of 7 accomplished! Only 3 were what I would consider successes, though. Lots of learning still to do!
October 22 – National Nut Day
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Just had to do something with peanut butter, or peanuts, for this day. I found a recipe for ‘healthy’ peanut butter and jelly cookies, using only peanuts, pecans and raisins (recipe here), and stored them in the freezer – they didn’t last very long because they were very yummy! |
October 23 – Boston Cream Pie Day
Couldn’t find the time to look for a gluten-free recipe …
October 24 – National Bologna Day
Processed lunch meat? Not for me …
October 25 – National Greasy Foods Day
Needless to say, I sat this day out!
October 26 – Pumpkin Day
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Our first Halloween in America – had to do the carved pumpkin thing. So I got some carving tools from the local hardware store and let the kids go wild – this was the result. I was quite impressed! I used the pumpkin I managed to salvage from the carving attempt in some pumpkin soup, combined with cauliflower, quinoa, spinach, peas and corn, with a little nutmeg and cumin for flavour. It was a little odd, but still formed my lunches for the following week. |
October 27 – National Potato Day
| Growing up, my mum sometimes took my brother and I to a food court during a day in town. I would generally always get a baked potato … and my toppings of choice were cheese and coleslaw. When I was a little older, I remember being taken out to lunch for a week by a colleague during a research project, and every day I ordered baked potato with cheese and coleslaw. So for this day, I made … baked potato with cheese and coleslaw … and it was YUMMY! |  |
October 28 – National Chocolate Day
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I had some mini-marshmallows and graham crackers (gluten-free) in the pantry, and wanted to try a recipe from Gordon Ramsay again. It worked well in Australia, when I had golden syrup. But, molasses is not a good substitute for golden syrup. These just didn’t taste right, so it was a baking failure for me … and they ended in the bin. |
Coming up next week:
- October 29: National Oatmeal Day
- October 30: National Candy Corn Day / Buy a Doughnut Day
- October 31: National Candy Apple Day / Trick or Treat for UNICEF Day
- November 1: National Deep Fried Clams Day / National Vinegar Day
- November 2: National Deviled Egg Day
- November 3: National Sandwich Day
- November 4: National Candy Day
Stay tuned to see which ones I choose to make/eat and how successful (or not) I am!
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