Doing something a bit different this week, instead of a specific recipe, going to recommend 10 unique ingredients for you all to look for in stores and experiment with!

1. Mission Chalupa Tortillas – For those of us who want to make their own Taco Bell Gordita Crunch or have a sudden inexplicable craving for the soft shell tacos that their high school cafeteria served them, seek out the Mission Chalupa Tortillas, these are EXACTLY what you are looking for.

2. Casa Firelli Italian Hot Sauce – highly recommend giving this a try, it’s a unique hot sauce made out of Calabrian peppers, balsamic vinegar, and porcini mushrooms, results in a more savory hot sauce, with a vinegary zing that is OUTSTANDING on pizza.

3. MOCO Black Sauce – something I came across at a local craft fair, it’s a Ghanian black pepper sauce that is an amazing umami booster for any dish. The proprietor was actually kind enough to send me samples of their new vegan AND gluten free version (not available online yet), used it to marinate some chicken thighs, came out delicious!

4. Cara-Sel Salted Caramel Sauce – something else I found on the craft fair circuit, this is a decadent salted caramel sauce. Personally I use a jar with bananas, rum, and some French Toast for a Banana’s Foster French Toast (recipe forthcoming!).

5. Sodium Citrate – ever wanted to keep your fondue, queso, or alfredo gooey, without it burning or separating? Add a bit of sodium citrate, this special salt has a bit of citric acid added to do exactly that!

6. Ruby Chocolate Chips – did you know a new form of chocolate was discovered in 2017? Dark chocolate is made from fermented cocoa beans, milk chocolate you just add milk, and white chocolate is primarily cocoa fat. Ruby chocolate is different in that it uses un-fermented cocoa beans, resulting in a natural pink color and raspberry like flavor. Not something you would find at every grocery, but it’s neat!

7. Kraft Caramel Bits – if you are baking something and it calls for caramel chips, don’t buy the butterscotch chips you see at the grocery store, go to Target or Walmart and find Kraft Caramel Bits, they actually taste like Caramel and melt much better.

8. Gluten Free and Vegan Japanese Curry Powder – my Japanese curry recipe will go up in the future, but for now, here is the brand I recommend to replace Japanese Curry Roux blocks. It’s made in Japan, Gluten-Free, and Vegan.

9. Crown Royal Peach – for every time you are going to make a cocktail that calls for peach liquor, or Southern Comfort, use this instead. I don’t know how Canada did it, but they beat the USA on this, they have made the best peach liquor on the planet.

10. Barilla GF Pasta – We have tried a variety of Gluten free pastas over the years, but Barilla has all the competitors beat. My one suggestion is to boil them for like 1-2 minutes less than the package says, otherwise the pasta will start falling apart.